Lupita

The newest member of the family and a big lifestyle change for us: Lupita. She’s awesome! Beautiful, well behaved, sociable, and comes with a great story.

Isa had been talking about getting a dog for a while. She eventually mentioned it to our friend Lhyoba, who immediately pounced at the opportunity – she had just had a second kid and couldn’t handle them both along with two dogs. (I hear it’s a common Craiglist phenomenon to find pets being offered up by folks that have recently become parents.

I knew Lhyoba and her husband Peter had lived in Mexico, so I assumed Lupita was linked to the Virgin of Guadalupe casts long shadow, a cultural icon that casts a long shadow in Mexico. Wrong. She was born in Venezuela, and was real cry-baby when she was a puppy. So Lhyoba named her after Lupita Ferrer, a Venezuelan drama queen soap opera actress from the 1970s. When they moved to Mexico they ended up calling her just Pita – turns out half the female population of Mexico is named Lupe or Lupita, so when they’d call out her name at the park all the women would turn around. Now in Brazil she’s back to Lupita.

I’ve always loved dogs but haven’t had one since I lived with my folks. I’ve always had the lazy streak that leaves me not wanting to deal with the responsibilities of a pet – daily walking, feeding, finding someplace to leave them when we leave town, etc. Turns out pets are worth it. Just over the last week, we’ve been waking up earlier, doing more exercise, and having more random interaction with people fascinated by our beautiful Golden Retriever. I can’t imagine this having worked out better.