*Athena’s Corner* Colombia, What a place for a Doggo!

Welcome back Furends,

Athena here! I hope you are all doing well and that you are all enjoying PawzandProse.blog. You may remember that on my last update I shared with you that I was traveling to Colombia with my hoomans. I also shared with you my perspective on what it was like getting ready to go meet the rest of my family (i.e., vets visit, the airport, etc.) and fun fact, I actually wrote that post on the plane on my way there to meet them!

Well, it’s now been a month since I’ve been back home in SoCal and am happy to share with you how everything went. Let me start off by saying, Colombia… what a BEAUTIFUL place for a doggo and boy do I have a great family back there! From day one that we got off the plane EVERYONE was ready to spoil me. Mommy wasn’t kidding when she told me that I had a TON of people waiting for me and the best part is that they’re all animal lovers! They did have to take it a little easy with me at the beginning though, as I’ve explained before I am a nervous doggo and take a bit of time to get to know you when we first meet, but after I check and make sure you’re safe for me and my hoomans… it’s fair game to play with me. I even started recognizing those family members that would spoil me extra and started saying hello to them by crying of happiness when I saw them (I do the same thing and cry of happiness when mommy, gramma, and grampa come home so that lets you know how much I ended up loving them). I can’t forget to mention as well that since my family are animal lovers, I got to meet some AWESOME fur-cousins! One of them, Luli, became my fur-bestie on this vacation paw wave and shoutout from SoCal Luli. Every time I saw her at our apartment or at my aunt’s house, my tail would automatically start wagging and I was ready for some fund play mode ACTIVATED. Oh, I had so much fun chasing her around and expelling some of that puppy energy I still have in me and even stealing her kibble hehe. No worries, she ended up stealing some of mine to so at one point we just ended up calling it even shared LOL.

Now, as I was saying…Colombia… what a fun place! We have an apartment there and it was super easy for me to get acclimated! I easily learned where mommy’s room was so that I could sleep with her and ended up having no trouble adjusting to sleeping in a new place and bed (I had my favorite spots as usual, right next to mommy or at the bottom of her bed). I had no trouble going from a carpeted apartment home tile, my food and water bowls were easy to find, and my new potty places were marked in our apartment complex on day one (check ✅, check ✅, and check ✅!) Another thing mommy and I were happy about was that my new kibble overseas did not cause me any tummy trouble at all (due to luggage weight restrictions we weren’t able to take my normal kibble with us; thus, we had to buy some when we arrived which was new to me). I was also excited to find that everywhere we went around Medellin there were other furends to meet. Mommy and I guess that at least a good 80% of the Colombian population have doggos like me so going to the malls, restaurants, and towns was definitely a fun adventure. I got to meet looks of great people too who keep wanting to pet me and compliment me. Although I was a little protective and nervous around them I can say I really appreciated their love and efforts to show me that South American hospitality!

Now, that being said, there were just a few details of the trip that were perhaps not as fun and that was the noise. As I said, Colombia is great; however, there is a lot more hustle and bustle around the day than I’m used to. From approximately 5:00-6:00 a.m. I would start hearing trucks, traffic, and construction around our home and the noise didn’t end until anywhere from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. (this includes construction, traffic, parties, and even fireworks). As I’ve shared with you, noise is one of my biggest nervousness triggers so it was a little rough when I was surrounded by it and crowds for too long. Mommy even got a little nervous at time because I would get shaky for long periods of time and even endless hugs/kisses/cuddles didn’t seem to help. She also noticed my little body would get SUPER warm… kind of like my blood-pressure was going up. There were even days where we ended up staying at our apartment just so I could relax a little from being overstimulated the day before.

All in all, I have to say furends that, even though there were little rough patches here and there on this vacation as I shared with you, I would say the trip was an overall success. All the noise was definitely made worth it because I got to play with Luli, meet new people, new places, and new family. I love them and miss them all SO much already. Mommy says she promised we’re going to try our best to go back very soon and I’m SUPER excited and keeping her to that promise! I might not be excited for the process, let’s not remember the vet’s visits and shots shivers, but I’m definitely ready to be spoiled and loved by my loved ones again. Furends, if you’re going to be traveling soon, please don’t be scared. It may be a long way to get there and there may be a lot you and your hoomans have to do to get to your destination but all the adventures you’ll get to have when you get there will make it all the hassle worth your while. Until the next update everyone!

❤️ Much Love Furends ❤️,

XOXO Athena 🐶❤️ XOXO