Her name is Taza (dah-sah), which is the Spanish word for teacup. Here she is with a bag of coca tea to show her size. She has been sleeping most of the day so we are a little worried that she's getting all rested up for a wild night. We'll see. She instinctively knows not to "go" in her crate, so she wakes us up a lot to get out and use the box of newspapers by her bed. I guess I'd rather have that than her making a huge mess in her crate for me to clean up.

For now, we've been taking her with us to school (where she sleeps during our classes), and I usually just carry her in my purse. We get lots of "Que liiiiiiindo!" and always a few people wanting to know if she is real. She looks a lot like a stuffed animal really. Diego asked today (as a joke) where we put the batteries.

I think she's out to be the most socialized pet in the world. She's getting to know a lot of people and places as well as the two dogs in our house, Chovis (something like a hot dog) and Sally (boxer). They are both fascinated by her, and as soon as Sally sees her, she starts slobbering like crazy. She must want to bathe her or something. It's a little gross, but I'm glad to have some affectionate dogs around to show her the ropes.

A note about COCA TEA since it's in the photo. This is just about the national drink of Peru. It's made from the coca leaf, which is also the source for cocaine. Because of that, it's illegal to bring any back to the US, either in leaf form or tea bag form. The coca leaf is somewhat of a miracle drug here. Either chewed or in tea, it helps with digestion, altitude sickness, fatigue, and a number of other common local ailments. It doesn't make you high in either of those forms, by the way. We drink it a few times a day probably. "Real coffee" is not too common here (more Nescafe), so it's a good alternative.

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