Rabbits

Recently, Tio (great uncle) Roman caught a baby rabbit on the farm and brought it to the house for the girls to see. He was tiny and cute and the girls loved having a cuddle.

“We had 2 wild rabbits as pets once,” Tio Roman reminisced. They used to go wandering in the day and always came home at night to sleep. It was great having them around. They were two brown rabbits. Very friendly they were.”

I nodded, imagining this scene of domesticity and love.

“Then, one day, one of the rabbits didn’t come back,” rugged Tio Roman continued. “We couldn’t bear to see the poor rabbit left all alone, so we ate it.”

I blinked in shock at the sudden dramatic ending to his tale. And then I could not help laughing to myself. It was such an Ecuadorean thing to say! People here are always talking about “Accompaňamiento”, doing things together, the horror of being alone. Doing things with other people definitely trumps efficiency. People generally try to avoid spending time alone. And after all, guinea pigs, rabbits… they are all ultimately meat aren’t they?!

We let the wild rabbit go, and have acquired two pet rabbits… that are not destined for the pot.