Meeting Luci

Hello again, friends! Today I’ll be sharing how I met Luci.

Near mid-way through our Chile trip, my family stayed in a cabin at Cascada de Las Animas resort in the beautiful Maipo Valley. This resort has a beautiful view of the mountains and river, and we got to do fun activities like ziplining, white-water rafting, and tours through the mountains to see the waterfalls and the animal sanctuary which was home many exotic animals.

On our first day, we were all eager to eat, so we headed over to the restaurant after we got settled into our cabin and claimed our spots. After ordering my meal, I excused myself to go take pictures of the beautiful mountains. While trying to find somewhere to take the money shot, I stumbled across this beautiful, ragged girl who blended in under one of the tables. I couldn’t resist giving her some love despite being warned not to. And that was that, we were attached at the hip. The more her and I bonded, the more I knew saying goodbye would be incredibly difficult, but knowing she had a good life there made it okay.

From then on, our days consisted of the little one following us around, sleeping on our front porch, and greeting us when we left our cabin for the day. She even ate meals at our feet (thanks to sneaking her into the outside dining area, hoping she wouldn’t be seen and shooed away by restaurant staff). My brother’s girlfriend suggested we call her “Boomer”, since she was like a boomerang always coming back to us. And partly because we thought she was a he at the beginning.

While on our way for a guided tour of the animal sanctuary, we headed towards a bridge when we came across a gate. On the gate was a sign that said “IMPORTANT: Please do not allow any dogs to pass through this gate in either direction”. We had to say goodbye to our little sidekick, and she waited by the gate watching us walk away until we were out of view. It was hard on both of us!

The next day, we visited the pool area for some relaxing sun time. Dogs weren’t allowed or else they would be shooed away, so we once again had to say ‘see you soon’ to the pooch. I was taking a little nap soaking in some rays by the pool when I was startled by a dog yelping in the background. It wasn’t terribly uncommon as there were many dogs on the resort, but this particular yelp stood out and I thought to myself ‘that better not be my pooch’ and went back to my napping.

An hour or so later, while heading back to the cabin, we see our sweet little thing limping towards us. My heart sank. I squatted down to inspect her wound and noticed a big chunk taken out of her between her shoulder and forearm. Was it another dog? Did someone attack her with a rake (which staff often used to shoo the dogs)? I will never know. I immediately scooped her up and walked her over to the information booth to see if they could wrap her wound so it wouldn’t get infected. When asking if there was anything they could do, they shrugged their shoulders and suggested I put the dog back down and forget about it.

While sitting on the bench in front of my cabin inspecting the pup, I started crying. How am I supposed to just leave this little thing behind, while it’s defenseless and injured? Up until that point, I was content with saying goodbye and knowing we had a nice bond while it lasted. But her being injured changed everything. I turned on my data and reached out to a friend whose mom has extensive experience rescuing and adopting out dogs and cats. After discussing my options with her, I approached my mom.

I think my mom thought I was joking when I asked if I could bring the dog home, but knew I was serious when she saw the tears in my eyes. She was incredibly supportive, and after a conversation about this new pup being my sole responsibility financially and otherwise, she agreed to help me bring her home (isn’t she the best?!). After calling her Chilean cousin for advice and Googling rules about bringing home foreign animals back to Canada, we sought out the owner of the resort to see if we were actually able to adopt her and bring her home. We were able to track down the niece of the owner of the resort (thanks to my moms stellar Spanish skills), who told us that of course we could bring her home and that they encouraged and loved seeing dogs being adopted by families. And that was that, my mom reached down and put her bandana around our canine, and she was officially ours.

Next, we shared the news with my family. My brother was less than impressed, considering we had an old family dog at home already that we had to care for, which I completely understood. I knew it would just take some time for him to warm up to the idea.

Once we finished packing up the car to head to the next destination, I looked to the sweet little brown eyed girl who was watching us from the picnic bench, called her over, and she excitedly limp-ran and jumped onto my lap in the car.

Stay tuned – next post I’ll be sharing her stay at the vet, flying her back to Canada, and bringing Luci home.