Your yearly bath

Today I had the honour of witnessing an annual event in one of the communities where we are working - the annual bath of their cows, sheep, and dogs. We arrived at 7am at an altitude of 3700 metres to find that the ground was covered with frost and that all water in the area was frozen. This was the first time I have been in such low temperatures in this area, and I was a bit worried about how the animals would manage being wet and cold. Of course, as is always the case here, I was not dressed at all like the people who had invited us: the women had their multiple skirts over leggings while I was went a bit overboard with toque, scarf, down vest, and gloves.

Some of the ice once it had broken up

On an annual basis, the entire community gets together and bathe their animals in an area they have built of stones which consists of two corrals joined by a bath - a narrow and deep opening fed by spring water.

The bath is the circular area with the blue tarp, filled with sheep

The process went roughly like this:

1. Everyone met to discuss how much they should pay per animal per bath while they drank chicha from a shared glass

2. Various medications and creosote were added to the spring-fed bath to kill off infections, fleas, parasites, etc.

3. People with cows brought their herds over to the bath

4. Cows were led into the first corral and the entrance/exit was blocked by friends and neighbours yelling and waving their arms

5. The owner lassoed the bull's/cows' horns and dragged him/her into the bath, whereby the cow charged out the other end into the second corral and peacefully chewed some cud

6. Alternatively, some farmers stood behind their cows, yelling and pushing until the cow dove not-so-gracefully into the bath - I had no idea cows could dive

7. Once the whole herd had been bathed, they were allowed to leave the second corral and go to pasture

8. The process was repeated with sheep, bathing the lambs first so that the ewes jumped into the baths of their own accord to follow their babies.

The animals don't seem to really enjoy the bath

My ears are still ringing with the sounds of bleating ewes and startled cows, but what was most incredible was the way in which the entire community worked together to make sure that no animals were lost and that all animals were bathed in a short period of time.