Lanzarote blog — day five: the party

Mural on wall of the Sara building for rescued cats and dogs which they look after and seek to rehome. Photo: author’s own. All rights reserved

The party started in La Ola. R and I got decorations from Maxi Hogar, and I’d managed to find the stand for Sara, the Cats and Dogs (and Plants, I see) Protection Association which is based in Tahiche, but had a stand in Deiland before Christmas. I got some dog and cat neckerchiefs (quite sweet, all hand made from cotton offcuts with various fun patterns) that I made into bunting, and told them that when we’d finished with them, I’d return them. They said, yes, and maybe you could walk one of the dogs. So I did. Marrone, or Marrona? An older, rather feisty, black dog with white patches. You can walk around the grounds near the centre, which isn’t that hard to find. It took a little while to register me (mostly because they’re extremely busy, and I hadn’t made an appointment). It struck me that it’s been far easier for me to engage with an animal protection organisation than with, for instance, the Red Cross or Cruz Roja, who I contacted a few years back, when we were first here, but who didn’t get back, except to add me to their email list. Maybe I could have pushed harder to get involved: I used to teach English as a Foreign Language, and I also worked with refugees and asylum seekers in Africa, and South East Asia, so I felt I could probably do something useful, even if it was only the occasional English Conversation class. But I was shy because all correspondence is in Spanish, and I’m still really…