I went to the zoo this morning. It was a great experience! Even getting there was an adventure: first I tried to ask the taxi how much he would charge me. He told me to take the bus. But I could not find the line he was telling me to take, and I asked the bus that said "zoolígico" on it and the driver said something I didn´t understand entirely but at least meant ´not this bus´. So, I went to mail some postcards and decided to just ask the postal clerk. She was actually helpful and we were understanding each other. The lady in line behind me started helping, too. Then she told me to not worry about it, that she lived near the zoo and would drive me there. YES!!! Some people are so awesome!
So, that nice lady drove me to the zoo. We talked a little - not much because of language of course. At one of the intersections I tried to ask here what this fenced-in park-looking place was. Apparently she did not understand me because she explained how traffic lights work: stop on red, go on green. Then she looked at me like I was crazy and asked if we had traffic lights in the US. Yeah :)-
The zoo itself was a great great experience. Some parts did smell pretty bad, and unfortunately the animals generally have very tiny cages. But some of them sure don´t seem to mind. There were little monkeys wrestling with each other. Even other move one of them would look over to make sure that people were watching them. And there were some kind of clawed mole-faced things that were loose around the zoo. First I saw them in the trees, then I saw another one crawling across the grass. I have to get the pictures of these posted - I´ve never seen anything quite like them. Creepy and gross and unthreatening; weird combination.
The snakes. Oh, my God, the snakes! Sista, you would have loved it (and yeah I got pictures). The freakin´ snakes were just piled up on top of each other. The the cage is maybe 4 x 3, and there were AT LEAST 15 rattle snakes in it. It was scary how much lethal power was in that little box (though I think they are probably devonomized (if that is a word)). I glanced at this heap of snake body, and noticed there were about five heads in it. Seriously like the stuff you read about in the science fiction books. Crazy!
There were lots of pretty birds. Blue and red and GREEN :) I like the green ones. There was also this gray bird that made me think of a mix between a volture and an eagle. Weird.
Oh, the turtles! There were tortugas all over! There was a line of them on a log, and there were these little huts with the floor completely lined by turtles! SO many!!!
And I got to watch gators eat. There was a fake pony that kids were playing with. The deer were laying in their little shelter - the photo I have looks like a Christmas card. (Yeah, I will post all these photos, but the computer I am on now I don´t think will handle that operation too well.) The flamingos were pink. ;)- There were lots of cats. Big ones and little ones. And some that I am not sure if there were really cats. It looked like part cat, part fox-like creature. I don´t know! Oh, yeah, there were rabbits, too.
I watched a little boy line up along the cage so his mother could take his picture with the animals in the background. The little ostrich-type bird grabbed his hat. ha ha. His brothers thought it was super funny. Then they tried to feed the birds their hats, to.
Also, I had some really good gummi candies. I bought them from a little girl who was working the stand with her mother. She was so adorable and friendly and helpful! I went back two more times. And, no, there´s nothing grand to say about it other than that - but I thought she deserved some recognition on my blog :)
Then I rode the bus back to the square and on now here to finish my school essays. Advice: whenever you visit a place, make sure you try out all the modes of transportation. It is just such a great way to see the city and touch the people. Yeah, sometimes it seems hard because it is all so strange and you might not know the language, but people are generally very helpful. And I do think that in some small way it makes you a better person.
