“We lost a donkey”

(And a mule too) on our first day of volunteering at the animal rescue sanctuary in Andros, Greece.  The donkey and the mule — aka Marco (will not respond back with Polo) and Cyla (will not respond regardless) — escaped out of the front gate (actually not our fault) of the large mountainside home where they normally graze with their other rescued donkey friends along with 29 cats, 19 dogs and a few humans.  We arrived at the sanctuary last Saturday.  It’s run by an amazing British woman, Sandy, who’s been living on this island a few hours’ ferry ride off the coast of Athens for 40 years.  Sandy lives here with a stream of international volunteers who, like us, come for a few weeks to a few months to help her run it.

View when you first pull into Sandy’s, aka Magic Mountain.

Just some casual lemons on the mountainside.

So on any given day we can be found cleaning/feeding/walking animals, painting various fences, preparing the AirBnB guest rooms, disemboweling a life-sized blue stuffed animal to make smaller dog toys (real example – see photo), or – oh yes – chasing down a vigilante mule and donkey.

Donkey friends. (A rare moment when the younger one isn’t taunting the older!)

The mule/donkey day found us, Sandy, and two other volunteers from California fanning the island in two cars, stopping locals to see if they’d spotted the pair, and jumping in and out at various green patches of trail or field in search of fresh donkey/mule poop or hoof prints.  That’s right, detective sh*t.  We excitedly stopped at one low-hanging tree branch that had a bunch of animal fur stuck to it – but sadly that turned out to be from a nearby sheep.  False alarm.  About two hours in, though, we spotted what we were looking for – FRESH POOP AND PRINTS! – Cyla and Marco had definitely been there.  The field was gorgeous – wildflowers, clover and streams as far as the eye could see – so who could really blame them.  We fanned out, feeling lucky.  Even Billy the dog, who had joined us, had a good feeling about this.  We could tell.  But after much hiking and climbing still no luck. 

Until, just as we were about to give up, Juan ran up one more trail and – BOOM! – ran right into our fugitives.  (Acting innocent as ever.)  They came right to us (or ok, to the barrels of bran Sandy wisely brought) and we were able to get them on leash.

 

But.  There’s always a but.  Ever walked a donkey or a mule on a two-lane mountain road for half an hour?  Me neither.  So not surprisingly there was a dramatic moment shortly after this photo was taken when both animals – spooked by a car – re-broke free and set us back in our donkey/mule repatriation journey.  But we did eventually get them both home and are happy to report they have not attempted re-escape.  At least this week. 

PS – we head from here to Cambodia on April 29th, but are currently distracted by the prospect of taking half of this shelter’s dogs and cats home with us.  So just stay tuned.  (And more photos below!)

Balou!

Fuzzy. Balou’s brother (believe it or not). Both were found as puppies after being thrown out of a moving car.

Some of los gatos. Outside our bedroom window!

Good morning from our bedroom door. 😉

Walkin’

Pantin’

Pulling against the leash, Selena’s favorite activity.

Fuzzy’s first car ride!

Our three favorite dogs, if you can’t tell. 😉

One of dozens of amazing wildflower trails on the mountain.

View at sunset yesterday. (Sigh.)

The emptied once-bunny.

Pow-wow.

Selena!

View from the other side of the island of Andros.

Side-bar: this young couple, friends of Sandy’s, hand-built their entire home with clay/glass/rocks here — just the two of them!! Gives a whole new meaning to permaculture. So amazing.

The inside of their home. Let me reiterate – HAND BUILT WITH CLAY.

Billy the dog, messing with one cat or another.

And a final shot of our donkey/mule chase in action (Sandy in front of us). And the many goats along the way.