The Fishers in La Paz, Bolivia

We have said goodbye to Barkie twice in the last two days. Yesterday, we had a day off of school for All Saints Day, a big holiday here. Tom took out the trash, and I wasn’t able to close the door behind him quickly enough. Barkie ran out behind him and then took off down the street. Tom hunted for him for about a half an hour, but he didn’t have any success. Barkie seemed to have a major burst of energy and initiative once he got outside. He apparently explored the whole neighborhood. Avery and I went out a little later to look for him. After about ten minutes, I was ready to go back inside when Avery said she saw him about two blocks away. Sure enough, there he was. We got within a couple of feet of him, but he acted like he had no idea who we were and quickly went off on his way.

Just when we had accepted that Barkie seemed to prefer freedom to a nice safe place to eat and sleep, eagle eye Avery spotted Barkie out the window. He was trotting down our street. We put some food outside our door, and he eventually came over to it and came in the house. He was quite tired after his adventures so he slept for most of the day. He seemed very restless after that and started barking often for the first time. This scared Avery and frustrated us since we try to keep him quiet for our neighbors’ sake.

Our friends who found Barkie in the first place said that a family with a large yard had agreed to take him, so they picked him up tonight. We were glad to say goodbye under better circumstances than yesterday. We think Barkie will be happier with more space and Avery will be happier without the barking.

We have decided that we might like our cat better than we thought we did. . .