Category: Pets

An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language. ~Martin Buber

We have two pets at Hostel Tinktinkie and a regular guest. I will tell you more about the guest later. Let me first introduce you to our dog Ru.Ru is a very special dog that became part of our family in 2009.One sunny morning Andrey and I visited the Supermarket in town. I saw an elderly man standing outside with a puppy in his hands. I stopped to stroke the puppy, when he said something to me in Spanish. I didn´t understand much and wanted to know how much he wanted for the puppy.

Andrey was already close to the car and I was running behind him like a little child. “Baby, please ask the man how much he wants for the puppy!”, I cried. “Please Baby, I want the puppy.” Andrey reluctantly went to ask the man and he said we could have it for free. Before Andrey could change his mind, I took the puppy and went to the car.

Andrey has never owned a dog before. He is a cat person and was very sceptical about the dog. There I sat with this tiny white bundle, while hubby rushed back to the Supermarket to buy dog food and shampoo.

I will never forget how Andrey took this puppy and studied it from all angles. Now we had the big task to choose a name. None of the names that I have picked seemed to work. Eventually Andrey came up with the name Ru. It is a unique name and one of a kind. In Argentina Internet URL´s end with.com.ar,in South Africa it is .co.za and in Russia .ru. The @ sign in Russian is called ´Subaka´ which also means ´dog´. Subaka Ru or @Ru got a name that day!

Ru is such a big part of our family. She has the sweetest nature and loves people. This is so important for our business because people like to stroke animals. She loves people too much and when they leave she goes into depression and refuses to eat for 2 days. It is sad to see her like this.

Ru is not camera shy and when our guests pose for photos she is there with them, watching and smiling! Our guests love Ru! We know, we love her too!

Ru posing for the camera

A couple of months ago we heard a noise at the kitchen door. When we opened it a small cat walked in. We looked at each other and smiled. We didn´t have any cat food in the house and gave him some milk and human food. Andrey and I both loved him immediately. We called the cat Minkie.

Maxie when her first arrived at the Hostel

A couple of days later we realized our mistake and renamed the cat to Maxie.

Maxie stayed with us for 2 weeks and suddenly left. We were heartbroken. He stayed away for almost a month and then suddenly reappeared with a female cat. This is our guest. She is a very timid cat and does have a home but she stalks poor Maxie. Every day she is waiting patiently outside for him, while he is snoozing on the bed!

Maxie hunting

Maxie has a beautiful nature and the two of them are getting along just fine! We often see them lying together underneath a tree. This makes me smile.

Ru and Maxie

Ru and Maxie are looking forward to be meeting you one day!