Perro Bigote

the weather's been baking recently in nicaragua, and it's brought forth an intriguing streak of ingenuity that has sparked a whole new direction for the legendary Agent McBryan.

check out the latest missive from our favorite compadre...

So here's the real low down on what is happening...

You see, the Surf Camp/Trip business idea is played out down here.  That was last year, man.  Every Canadian who liked Blue Crush is starting the same business.  F-ING BORING!




So I’ve changed focus.  I still surf and all, but I’ve decided to take things a step further by starting “Perro Bigote” (in English it means the mustached dog).  I’m not exactly sure what it is going evolve from it yet, but I assure you that nobody else is doing it now and nobody else will start doing it in the future. 
 
It all started late last year with “Salva los Perros” or “Save the Dogs”.  Like most Latin American countries, Nicaragua has a problem with strays.  It used to be especially bad here in San Juan Del Sur too, until I started “Salva los Perros” with my roommate.



As a Cancer and a Taurus respectively, we both have a natural affection towards animals, specifically dogs.  We both discovered this after a long night of drinking and decided we could make a difference here in Nicaragua. 

At first it was a small operation, only one or two dogs a week.  We would collect them off the street and bring them to a rehabilitation facility that we rented.  It isn’t much, but we had room for 25 dogs and we collected food scraps from local restaurants to feed them.



We taught a few of the local kids how to care for the animals, word got around town and the program really started to take off.  In fact, we’ve been so successful, that we’ve reintroduced almost 175 dogs as domestic pets to date. And we've now got jobs for a bunch of the local crew.



 
 
The breakthrough finally came when we met the local veterinarian who recommended that we brand the dogs (he was used to working with cattle) to identify the ones who successfully completed the “Salva los Perros” program. 

After some deliberation, we decided that it would be a good idea to distinguish our dogs from the other “street dogs”, but we were uncomfortable with the whole branding idea.  That’s when the “bigote” idea presented itself.




 
It is common knowledge here in Nicaragua that hair can be transplanted and re-grown on animals.  It started back in the 1800’s for the Latin American “Fur Pelt Rush” (similar to the gold rush in the US).  This is why Nicaragua is home to Rogaine and several other major human hair replacement corporations. To increase the quality of fur pelts, several techniques have been successfully trialed here on beaver, opossum and several species of cat. 

Anyway, our vet suggested we use this as a more humane method to distinguish our dogs and we quickly agreed.  We decided that we could extract a small bundle of hairs from the dogs tails (because that is where it is the longest and most fertile) and attach it just below the nose with two small stitches (because that is the most receptive point on the body). 

Naturally, it looks like our dogs have mustaches and thus are easily distinguishable from other dogs in the area.  From this natural evolution, “Perro Bigote” was born.




 
We’ve since saved over 90% of the dogs here in San Juan Del Sur and have been recognized by the Alcaldia (Mayor’s office).  No shit man, we’ve got this great picture of my roommate and I holding our first rescue dog, named Tsunami, standing next to the Mayor!  Because of our success, the operation has now slowed down to a trickle and we’ve begun to look for ways to expand. 

We have several ideas, including bilingual dog training classes, “Salva los Gatos” and “Leche del Toro” (We feel Bull Milk is an untapped market waiting to explode), but we haven’t settled on anything yet. 

In the meantime, I’ve decided to grow my own mustache to show my continued support for rescued dogs and several people in town are doing the same.  (Actually, I grew it more for the picture with the Mayor.)  I know it sounds a little crazy, but let me tell you - It sure beats the hell out of one more surf camp.




 
Other than that, it’s hot as a motherfucker down here and we are just trying to keep cool.  Several nights, I’ve contemplated sleeping in my truck with the engine running and the AC on high, but the seats just don’t lean back enough.  I can’t wait for rainy season to cool things off next month and make some new sandbars. 

Oh yeah, and if you can, please plug my new website so people can check out the surf in Nicaragua:  www.nicaraguasurfreport.com. I’ve got a picture of Tsunami somewhere in the archives if you want to check out his mustache!
 
OK man, I’ll shout back at you soon.
 
Bryan

and there you have it, my friends. solid proof that the bojon is alive and well out there! agent mcbyran, you're an inspiraton!

Posted by bojon at June 2, 2005 10:34 PM