Cow life and chicken death in 24 hours

* Warning * - This blog entry contains pictures that may be 

considered gross, or really cool, depending on your perspective.

So it seems that it's now cow season in Guatemala. The corn and potatoes have been harvested, and beans were planted so recently that all plots of land still appear brown and barren. Minus the cows, that is. I don't know where they all came from - maybe they were secretly hiding in between corn stalks all this time - but I am now surrounded by cows. Five in my back yard, three across the street, and many more visible from my roof. My sleep is constantly disturbed by 

moo-ing. 

But, one plus-side of lots of cows is baby cows! I got to see my first ever live animal birth yesterday, by a big mama cow in my back yard. Since the moment my host mom told me the cow was pregnant, I'd been constantly reminding her that I reeeeally wanted to see that little baby cow come out, doesn't matter if it's 2 in the morning just come wake me up (she repeated that detail to my neighbor, haha) and so yesterday she shouted my name from the back "yard" and I ran out to see the event.

The neighbor/my host mom's best friend came over to help, and while we waited for the more "interactive" stages of the birthing, we whispered about various giving birth stories, and both my host mom and my neighbor concluded that I should definitely not ever get married so that I wouldn't have to give birth.

My host mom pouring on vegetable oil to help the baby come out

Tada! Only took about 20 minutes

She immediately started drying the baby off with a towel so it wouldn't be too cold

My host mom sprinkled salt on the baby so that the mama
cow would be enticed to lick her, thus keeping her warm

My neighbor keeping watch over the baby
while my host mom brought food for mama

This afternoon - already walking

Margarita and baby cow in a stare-off

So I've also begging various people to show me how to slaughter a rooster. I don't really know why, but slaughtering animals is kind of fascinating to me - dissecting animals in Biology class was definitely a highlight of high school. Kind of strange, I guess, considering my various bouts with vegetarianism.

But anyway, there's this family I visit about once a week, and lately they've been teaching me to cook. When the subject of chicken soup came up, I immediately jumped on the opportunity to ask them to show me how to kill and prepare and chicken. And today, less than 24 hours after seeing the baby cow birth, we joyfully (but respectfully) slaughtered pretty little Johnny the rooster, below.

Johnny the rooster

Self-explanatory!

Pouring on boiling water to make
the feathers come out easier

The feathers come out like magic! Also, I never realized I was taller than this woman until I saw this picture.

Naked Johnny

Holding Johnny over fire to burn off
extra little hairs that we couldn't pull out

Starting to take out the insides

The "crop" - like a stomach before the stomach. Obviously it's hilarious!

A lung, still with air in it

The outside of the stomach

The inside of the stomach

The heart

What I got to take home - half of the meat (thigh, breast, wing, and
undetermined part), the stomach, the liver, and the heart. Most of this
will probably be donated to my host family because uhh... liver = gross!

Yummy!

The new, corn-less view out my kitchen window. Not sure what those droopy trees are, possibly banana trees.