Did you feed the goats?

La Hesperia is amazing - 2000m above sea level and surrounded by nothing but nature/wildlife. Jaun Pablo and Alexandra (the couple that run the reserve) lead an awesome lifestyle. I´ve done a lot of practical work and some teaching too. The village school has two classrooms and a playground. There is only one class with an age range of 7years - from about 5 to 12 - and they only have one full-time teacher. After Alexandra had finished teaching the class was separated into two with me and Ali teaching the younger ones. They have bugger all. The older kids had to carry their desks into the other classroom!

So, one of my duties was to feed the goats twice a day. On Monday - my first day - I forgot to give them dinner..oops and I only remebered cause Ali asked me when we were having our dinner. Tuesday morning I walked up to the goat´s patch of land to feed them and the big male is out of the enclosure - it happens often.....they just jump over the wire. He is eyeing me up good and proper but I just walk straight towards the bin full of grains and scoop out some. He is giving me some grief whilst I´m doing this but I just stand my ground and carry on. The distance between the food bin and the bit of their enclosure where the food goes is only 20m or so. I managed to get that far and put it into their tray....then he attacked me! I shat my load!! He comes up to me with his head down and then takes a swing and his horns go right into my groin! Immediately, I grabbed the bugger´s horns I find myself wrestling with this blady goat. I never let go of his horns and my hands were aching for the rest of the day. I´m laughing now but at the time it was pretty physical....I was shouting ´Señor! Señor!´whilst wrestling this git and finally Carlos - one of the workers - comes to the rescue with a rake. I let go and Carlos takes a huge swipe at him. Then Carlos starts chasing him and is constantly lashing at him with this rake. Things calm down after a while and Carlos goes to me that I should always go into the goat area armed - thanks for telling me before! The rest of the week was fine - partly because after the incident they tied one of his front legs to his back leg so he couldnt jump. I need to get a picture of that animal so you can appreciate what I was up against!

A lot more to say about La Hesperia but it can wait for another time