Rat chews off nose of baby

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

sometimes the rats are so bad that you just give up.

True. My last assignment was a shantytown by the sea called Esmeraldas. The houses were all bamboo and many on stilts over stinking swamps that served as cesspools (holes cut in the floors) and accessed by bridges. I used to see 50 rats a day minimum alive or dead. The people were very friendly and we used to walk up to members' open windows and call out to them. Once I was talking to this woman through her window and I noticed behind her probably ten rats or so were popping out of a hole in the wall and milling around in the corner. Aghast, I pointed and said, "Mire!" (look!). She turned, looked, shrugged, and said "Y?" (And? i.e., who cares?).