monkey madness

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It´s taken me a while to get around to writing here, but hopefully when I get a day off I can get some photos and stuff up.
Have been moved from my kitty kat Quirqui to a more energetic cat called (imaginatively) Gato. He´s a short, nuggety little puma, but he can move when he wants to. We normally walk him along his track in the morning, which is about 10km, although today the storms had caused some tree damage, blocking our path. So we ended up having to backtrack hree-quarters of the path, making it a 15km day. Then we ususally stop at the mirador (Lookout) for a four hour lunch and nap, before heading back to the cage for dinner and sleep (the puma, that is). I´m working with George (Georgina), who also work with me when I was with Gato. She seems to know her stuff when it comes to the cats, so I don´t worry so much about doing the wrong thing. THe trails that we walk Gato on are pretty tough (especially after Quirqui´s non-existent excercise regimen), through the mud and rocks and general jungle messiness. There are water crossings (albeit fairly shallow), hills to climb, rickety bridges to risk life and limb on, and plenty of bugs to keep your hands amused. I´m surprised how well I am actually surviving working with Gato, I haven´t hurt myself too badly yet, considering the tacks that we cover every day. I fell on my butt on the first day, giving myself a typical Emily bruise (i.e. black as tar, big as a dinner plate) - don´t expect pictures.... I also got attacked by two capuchin monkeys in the ¨special¨monkey area - the boys looking after them thought it was all great fun to watch, the bastards didn´t bother to help get the damn things off me. Now that they´ve seen the bruises (once again, typical Emily style - freaking everyone out) all over my arms, they feel a little more contrite. No wonder they're in their own area, they're insane! The rumour is that there are trained thief monkeys, misogynist monkeys and even androgynist monkeys, so they have to have both male and female volunteers up there working (and they have to watch their valubles too). I´ve already had chocolate, peanut butter, my wallet and money stolen by the little buggers when I was working with Quirqui - I was most annoyed about the peanut butter, cos it´s so much harder to replace than anything else.......
What else? My bites are gradually lessening in number, the weather has turned from hot and humid to hot and humid and raining a hell of a lot, I´ve met heaps and heaps of cool people from all over the worls, I have indulged in a little drinking and gambling (poker night this Friday night, gonna wipe the floor with them). All in all, pretty good. Will put photos up as soon as I can. Apologies for any spelling istakes, but I´m too lazy to go back and correct them. Ciao!

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Comments

[Chez]

You've turned into me!!
Drinking, gambling, fending off angry annoying little creatures . . . you are more like me than you care to admit!!!!!!!!! Stay well!