Journey America

It’s a dog eat chick world

From the town of Andradina I rode south towards Latin America’s largest rodeo, Barretos. With each sunset, a nostalgia – triggered by the fact that we were nearing the end of our Long Ride – was building. My three beautiful horses seemed to glow stronger with each new sunrise.

“I can’t believe we are only a few hundred kilometers from Barretos,” I told Bruiser as I scratched his face.

On a rainy afternoon Emma and I found refuge in a small farm on the side of the road. A very welcoming family offered us warm coffee and a shelter, as others like them had many times before on this lonely road.

“My son too has traveled the world and I have seen how well he has been hosted in foreign lands… that is why my door is always open to strangers,” the matriarch of the family told me.

Her son learned Japanese at an early age in an oriental school offered for free to farm children in the area and decided to chase his life’s dream – to become a Buddhist. Today he lives in São Paulo but has already lived in Japan and many other countries.

“My son is a very special person,” she said as her eyes lit up.

As we enjoyed her delicious coffee, grown right there on the farm, Nevada stole the show by eating a live chick.

“I’m so sorry,” Emma said as we grabbed Nevada and told her she had been a bad girl.

She swallowed the chick whole… feet, beak, and all. We tried to stop her but it all happened so quickly. Emma and I were so embarrassed, but the owner of the house laughed so hard at the scene it made everything okay. May that chick Rest in Peace.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. Chicks are born and they die. That is the circle of life,” the owner said.

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