I held an ostrich egg!!!

So, this week we had a couple of folks here from the Cy-Fair Christian Church youth group in Houston, TX. They came down in March and spent a week with our youth as they do every year. This time the two youth pastors brought a few of their seniors because they chose to have their annual senior retreat here in Cofradia! They only came for a couple of days to spend time with the youth here, and we had a good time doing just that! On Wednesday afternoon, we took everyone to Arrayanes to hang out, and then that night we did a movie night showing The Prestige. Then on Thursday, they hung out and relaxed in the afternoon, and then we took their team and a few of our own youth to have Tacos for dinner in Pilas. It was a great time of hanging out. In addition, the team worked on the new church and up in Mojocuautla in the mornings. At the end of their trip, they had some debriefing time and shared about what had impacted them during their time here and how they were going to carry that with them as they start the new phase in their lives, heading off to college. It was wonderful to see them again and to spend time with these few once more before they graduate from the youth group.

One very interesting thing that happened on Wednesday on our way back to Cofradia for the movie night: we stopped at an Ostrich farm that is about half way between the two towns. I have never seen an ostrich up close like that, and this place had a ton of them! They sell the meat and the hides. They also had a ton of goats, bunnies, and some other strange looking birds.






It was a ton of fun and extremely fascinating. One alpha-male was very actively protecting his "woman" and his territory. It was hillarious because one of our youth was provoking him, and he even did some weird dance thing that they do not only to intimidate others but also to attract females! We had a good time laughing at Chupa and teasing him that the male ostrich was hitting on hime! Check out the video of this intimidation dance!

Here's a still shot of the alpha-male.

The coolest part though was that the owner, who is an uncle to one of our youth boys, actually went in and brought out an ostrich egg that had just been laid that day for us to hold!! It was still warm even!! And it was gigantic! Sandy said that they gave one of these eggs to her aunt Pola once, and Pola cooked it. She told Sandy that the one ostrich egg made as much as 10 chicken eggs and it filled the whole pot she used!

Me holding the ostrich egg with Papa looking on!


Here's a closer-up of the egg...I told you it was big!!
(That's a storm coming in the background!)

I have to say that one thing I never realized was how odd-looking and ugly ostriches are! I mean, I don't mean to malign the ostrich as an animal, but it certainly was not the most attractive specimen of the animal kingdom that I've ever seen! The female that the male was "protecting" had lost most of her feathers underneath her wings. It was a very strange sight to see. Check out this photo!


Anyway, it was a really fun and extremely interesting experience! They never stuck their heads in the sand, but at least now I can say that I held an ostrich egg!! The best part though was watching the youth hanging out and enjoying their friendships. A couple of the Texas youth have been down here the last two years at least, so they know our youth and have friendships with them. Mili and Sandy had such a good time with Sarah, and the boys seemed to be enjoying Will and Ryan. It's neat to see that they don't let language get in the way of knowing each other and enjoying a friendship that means something eal to each of them! We can all learn a little something from that! I know I do every time!