Being a Maruja

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure hanging out with the neighborhood Marujas. A Maruja is what Spanish people call the old ladies that are always at home and spying on all the happenings of the neighborhood. They know everything about everyone's business. This is a new word for me and didn't learn it until I was sharing this story with my spanish family.
So, the story....I had just got home from my early class and passed my neighbor leaving as I was arriving. She lives directly in front of our door and never once had I spoken with her but on this particular day she asked me if I've seen the cat that lives in front of our building in the bushes. This is a street cat that we've seen for awhile and we feed it every once in awhile. We've dubbed him pop-eye (he only  has one eye) and he makes Goonie go crazy (Goonie is obssessed with cats).
Anyway, back to the story, I told my neighbor yes I've seen the cat and she says he's been there two days and then asks me if I know someone to call to get the cat. I think to myself this cat has been here a lot longer than that but ok. Then she says she has called the city hall and the fire department. I'm confused, why did you call city hall? You don't like stray cats? The neighborhood is full of them. I didn't really understand and I said well my husband volunteers at an animal shelter and I'll ask him. She then tells me she lost her mother who went to the market and hadn't returned and had to go find her. Ok, random, and good luck!
I get home and call Pablo and tell him what the neighbor said and we're confused why she is so concerned about getting rid of the cat. About 15 minutes later I hear grandma return home, she was found. Then the neighbor rings our doorbell and asks if I talked to my husband I said he was asking and would let me know. She said ok and left. I went upstairs to eat lunch and watch tv. 20 minutes later I come back down and look at the window to the street and I see a fire truck right in front. I thought this is weird. Then I look up and I see the cat- he is UP A TREE! Everything clicked at this point. Now I know why the neighbor was all freaked out. I had no idea the cat was up the tree and she said he was there 2 days.

view from my window (the cat is black on the left)

I then call Pablo again and explain what is happening and if he can take the cat to the shelter. I then feel like I have to go tell the neighbor what Pablo is telling me. So I walked down to where a group of ladies (marujas) are watching all the happenings. It is kind of funny all of them watching, all talking, discussing how they are going to get the cat down. Meanwhile, a second fire truck arrives with a longer ladder. They set up the basket and two firefights head up. The rest are down below with a blanket to catch the cat in case it falls.

Waiting below with the blanket

As the basket gets closer the cat begins to get nervous and starts moving around on the branches. Closer and closer they get but can't reach the cat. This is when the cat takes a leap of faith, literally, and jumps and tries to land on other branches. He misses and falls and takes off running. Everyone gasps and the cat is gone. My neighbor was super nervous and worried for the cat and now she is tearing up. Other Marujas are saying they had cats that feel from 4 stories up and survived, no problem. I took this opportunity to escape and head up stairs.

I felt really bad for the cat and hoped he was ok. We didn't see him for two weeks and during that time we had the major Siberian cold snap so we thought he was a goner. Well about a week ago Pop-Eye returned to his same bush without any signs of injury. I haven't told the neighbor so hopefully she has seen him but I think Goonie is the happiest out of everyone!