As you might remember, we got some chickens. Emily and I have been excited about the idea of chickens since we were both little, and it’s a funny sortof “dream come true” for us to have some. But there have been some hitches along the way: it took us about 2 months for the chickens to finally get here after we bought them, some of our neighbors thought we stole one of theirs, things like that. But in general, we’re happy, and we’re getting the hang of being chicken owners. However…

Turns out, we don’t have chickens. I was watching them leave the coop yesterday morning, and Lina (the younger) was stanging there. “Those chickens have been acting kindof aggressive lately,” I began, trying to make up some sort of conversation. “I am starting to wonder if they might be roosters.”

She made a small smile and nodded her head. “Yep. You won’t be getting any eggs from those two.”

I paused. I was only half joking. “Are serious?” I asked. “How do you know? They still aren’t full grown.”

She shrugged. “It’s easy. The have this mini-comb on top of their heads.”

I guess that explains the cryptic comment that Maria made the evening she brought them by. “No estoy seguro,” she said, “pero tal vez son varones.” (I’m not sure, but maybe they’re boys) Um, yeah. According to Lina, you can tell they’re males WAY before they get as big as they were when Maria brought them by.

So, now Emily and I have to decide if we should be angry or not. We have to make this decision a lot here in Guatemala. Looking back, we are 99% sure we told Maria we were buying the chickens so we can have eggs. Did she cheat us on purpose, getting rid of the mostly-useless roosters by pawning them off on the gringoes? Or did she actually not know, despite her years of experience raising chickens? Solo dios sabe. Like usual, we give people the benefit of the doubt, to make life here smoother. That, and we stop doing business with the individual in question. Not a big problem, there is another lady up the mountain that was also interested in selling us some chickens. I guess we’ll go see her in a month or two, so we can buy our next batch of REAL chickens.

Because, you see, we are having rooster stew in another month or two. When asked, Lina offered to let us know when they are the ideal size for cookin’, and we’re going to gift them to our nice neighbors that always invite us over for dinner. I even told Lina she can have the head.