We arrived in Portrerillos and were greeted by two stray dogs and saw a very helpful sign the tourist information sign. As we made our way towards the tourist information sign (a little less than a mile away), our pack of stray dogs swelled, a big black labrador, a rust colored large mutt that begged adorably while standing on its hind paws with its front paws together, a large golden powerful mutt, and small longish collieish sort of black and white three legged mutt who happily chased cars on his three legs while the fourth unuseful leg had blood on it. We didn't pet them or feed them any food (yet) but they followed us for some unknown reason. I guess they could just sense our doggy love.
We were in luck when we got to the tourist information center. There were actually people there and they were helpful and nice about where to hike (7 miles away) and how to get there (bus). We came back outside to where our pack of dogs were waiting and we waited at a covered bus stop very close to the tourist information center.
As we waited, I decided to feed our pack of dogs. Normally, I would not feed stray dogs for the usual reasons, such as, in the US, it is weird (or even prohibited) to feed an animal that is not your own. I also don't feed stray animals because I don't want them to follow me and I can't adopt them. But in this case, we were planning to take a bus so I figured that I could feed them and then get in the bus and not be followed. Wilson was not too happy with my plan to give them cookies. But my argument that people feed stray dogs in South America won out. Or maybe it was the little bloodied happy mutt who had followed us for almost a mile on 3 legs.
After the cookie feeding, Wilson, I and the dogs continued to wait. The humans for the bus and the dogs for more cookies. All of sudden we heard growling and barking, 3 little/medium sized dogs lunged at our stray dogs. Our stray dogs bloodied the attackers with their bigger jowls. I thought that one attacker was going to die as the rust colored dog swung the attacker around by its neck. Wilson thought they would pull one of the attacker dogs apart. It was traumatic as Wilson yelled no and swung a trekking poll, and I ran away. Luckily the attackers ran away too.
We were traumatised and hoped that the bus came soon. We continued to wait - jumpy and nervous. Then a small red car pulled up with the guys from the tourist office. They asked us if we wanted a ride to the mountains. I think they saw the dog fight and took pity on us because one guy, Pablo, said something about the "perros locos".
In the car, away from the pack, we learned that Pablo is a guide up South America's largest peak, Aconagua. As Wilson blogged, we got a good look at Aconagua when we crossed the Andes from Chile to Argentina. Pablo told us that he trained by hiking the mountains we were about to hike. They dropped us off in the small town at the foot of the mountains.
We began hiking up the road to reach a trailhead when I was almost knocked over by a huge German Shepherd and yellow mutt. Gratefully both dogs had collars on. The two dogs ended up happily trotting ahead of us all the way up the mountain. The German Shepherd barked at us when we took too long at the top of the mountain. It was endearing. Earlier, it was less endearing and actually scary when he had barked his deep bark at us. In his excitement to hike, he had gotten in our faces when we had to climb through a hole in the fence. That beautiful dog just wanted us to hurry through the fence so that we could take him on the hike.
During our hike we saw condors and 6 or 7 other raptors. I think that the dogs might have also chased out this jack-rabbit like guinea pig called a mara. When we returned to the mountain town and began our 7 mile walk back to the Porterillos bus station, the yellow collared dog disappeared. Presumably back to his house but the German Shepherd continued on with us.
As we passed other dogs, there were multiple reactions: some friendly, most guarded, and some friendly turned to nasty fights. One big skinny dog, in particular, was dominated by the German Shepherd after the skinny dog got feisty while the German Shepherd was wagging its tail. After the German Shephard had the skinny dog in a choke hold under itself, the skinny dog began yelping and the German Shepherd trotted off. It trotted off just in time because the skinny dog ran into a yard and out ran a St. Bernard and a big golden retriever. Me, Wilson, and the German Shepherd moved even more quickly to put as much distance as possible from those three dogs.
More dog interactions ensued as we got farther and farther from the small mountain town. I became anxious that the German Shepherd would not remember its way home and we would bring it to our stray pack from the beginning of the day.
The situation took a turn for the worse as we met three more rangy strays. One had a large gash in its black neck. The German Shepherd seemed particularly interesed in bothering the black dog's neck. But the German Shepherd was even more interested in the dog that the black dog seemed to be protecting: a female. The female rebuffed the German Shepherd. The black dog would nastily defend the female. And a smaller stray kept close to me and Wilson's feet. The tension was constant as we walked with four dogs. We ran into even more dogs who paused when they saw the German Shepherd but then readily fought with the 3 stray dogs. We could hear the fight beyond us and thought we had lost our extra 3 charges. But they caught up to us. I began to panic. We were only a mile or two away from Porterillos and the dogs of the morning. So I stuck at my thumb so that we could escape. Just then, the little red car from that morning, one of the tourist information guys, drove past. He gave us a ride to town and we left the dogs behind.
I was sad and worried to leave our faithful companion. But I hoped that in the 2 remaining hours of daylight that he would make it back safely. Wilson thought with his king of the jungle genetics and swagger, he would be fine. In fact, Wilson thought that with the hike, the fights, and the female dog, overall that German Shepherd probably had a great day...
As did we.
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