Strange Sightings at a Traffic Light

I’ve been living in Ecuador for over a year now. Every once in a while, I think about adding a regular feature to this blog about my observations of living overseas. I haven’t mostly because I don’t want to offend any of my in-laws by remarking on something strange from an American’s point of view that might be just fine from theirs. Keep in mind that this isn’t the first time I’ve lived in another country. I spent six months living in Northern Italy after high school and my junior year abroad in Finland. Add that to all of the other travel I’ve done and the long visits to visit my wife’s family down here, and I consider myself very well traveled.

Well, today, I saw something even my wife has never seen before, so I figured I’d share.

We were at a traffic light in the middle of Quito. For those of you unaware, this is the capital of Ecuador and as urban as you can get. On the corner, I saw four goats tethered together. I sat there watching them, wondering what they were doing there. We were too deep in the city for a farmer to have just walked them into town or something.

Then a man crossed in front of us and approached the goats. The owner of the animals joined him and money was exchanged. The herder then pulled out a paper cup, milked one of the goats, and handed it to the man, who enjoyed his refreshment and continued on his way.

This scene needs to find its way into one of my books...