Los 'Animalitos' in the Hood

Jan 30th 2012 Pto. Esc. Oax, Mx.

    The packs of wild  and very aggressive dogs of past years known to occasionally  attack beach walkers- although they generally  favored motorcyclists feet, (a true delicacy for the dogs and  known to them  as 'cucarachas del motorcycles' )-  have largely been exterminated. I check in  on a wild black beach dog with her few-days-old litter, who sleeps in the sand, coffee cups and plastic , under the shade of a small  glossy-leaved 'Beach Almond' in the arroyo between the vehicular and pedestrian bridges on Zicatella beach. She like her beach compatriots can behave aggressively with a passers by, growling, nashing her teeth and behaving like bitches will. ( Married wives of gay husbands act remarkably similar) . I fear she may not be long for this world too, culled for her threatening ways.

  Yesterday just below me in the shallows of Carrizalillo bay a polka-dot Manta Ray with narrow three foot tail,   extended and flapped its two foot wings in slow motion and with sublime balletic grace,  oblivious to the gringo swimmer. Several years back and a thirty minute 'collectivo' ride up the coast,   I swam with a seven to eight foot , Darth Vader-charcoal colored Manta Ray, so by comparison this little girl looked festive and cute  with her 'Nemoesque' polka dots. The Jewel Moray Eel,  Parrot fish, and Puffer Fish just a hundred yards and two rocks over also sport spots and polka-dots,  as does a  weathered 'Abuelita' in Mexican 'dotted swiss' uptown.

   The local long tailed crow-gackles 'or 'Senates' as they are known here bathe in the shallow 'benches'  of our small hotel swimming pool, three to six at at time with sentry bird nervously pacing the white concrete edge. Late afternoon when backlit by the westerly sun, their very physical wing and feather  flipp-drying technique shoots water drops in a wide arc of one to two meters, and on further thought, perhaps bird mites. Which begs the question,, " How much clorinated water does it take to kill a bird mite?" Not to worry, I swim with poison eels and snakes and sharks and even sometimes Orcas every day.

   Two four inch brown  bats hang under the alcove of the cement stairs to my room. Why I looked there I can't say-no stone unturned- but I startled one , and she me,  when she flew out practically in my face. They are good mosquito hunters, or at least I am assuming they aren't Vampire Bats like in Nicaragua.
 
     I am naming the bat pair Cortes' and Malinche, after the Spanish conquerer of Mexico and his indigenous guide, lover, and mother of his child. Malinche has been traditionally vilified in Mexico for being a traitor to her race,  and first parent of Mestizo, or half-breed as Cher would sing. Given the  choice, to continue enslavement by a Mayan tribe,  or become a  guide, translator, and wife to Mexico's prestigious conquerer and ruler, what would you do? Certainly you've read of the horrors the enslaved  might entail in that brutal Aztecian era. Severed enemy heads and hearts dropped  like Beach Almond fruits. Given the choice, most of us would probably grab the gilded, silken cape, and enjoy the prestige of power and the benefits of  travel as Malinche did.

  They named their son Martin. Yes Martin. Pretty boring as names go. We can only imagine the discussion between Malinche and Cortes' on their future childs name. She probably wanted something like Xochijuapanato, a fitting name for the son of the former princess of Paynala, and he wanted Philipe. They compromised on Martin. Not very imaginative, but then Cortes' was known more for his ruthlessness than his creativity.

   Therefore, in honor of Malinche, I'm naming the first stairwell alcove bat sired by the sweet couple: 'Xochijuapanato'. Heres to you Malinche!
Abrazos
Esteban