My Birthday! One month in :)

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Hey Everyone....
I think the time has come to try and tell you what the first month of my travels has been like and exactly wat Im doing, so here goes!....

I am starting off in Costa Rica in Central America and will be here for the first three months. My first impressions was walking out of San Jose airport into waves of heat and being swamped by approximatly 60 taxi drivers crowding the entrance of the airport!
Haha Lucky we had arranged for a lovely guy called John to pick us up (Me and my friend Jo) and we were saved at this point (have learned taxi drivers are very pushy and funny...they stand there and say Taxi, followed by, 'hey baby where u going?'-haha again a have to laugh situation!) and he took us to the cutest hotel and the after a shower (we had been travelling for 40 hours at this point) plyed us with local booze and took us around town..lots of fun had by all!!
Travelled alone the following day (Jo and I were going different ways, to meet up again in October) and my other compatriade was delayed a week and a half). this trip was very hard due to my poor spanish and still feeling very disorientated, but somehow (more by luck than good management) got to Profelis which is a Cat sanctuary in the middle of no-where.

I have been here for nearly 5 weeks at this point and the place is so amazing. The first week I was feeling very homesick and a little out of whack with everything, but you cant help but love the place even in that state. It is assessable only by tractor or very brae 4 wheel drives (involves about 12 river crossings, mud etc through the jungle..but the centre is stunning. The cabin I live in is so beautiful, the stress of the day drains away when im there and i feel so peaceful and happy, even though it is a little basic (you cant put the toilet paper in the toilet (try getting out of that habit!), the kitchen is a 2 burner gas bottle cooker, which generally involves cooking by headlight torch...lots of fun!...and the shower is cold to say the least!
But i love it..surrounded by bush and animals it feels like home right now.
The animals are 34 cats (Oncilla, Margay, Ocelot and Jaguarundi), almost all of whom are rescused cats from the pet trade, confiscated and brought to Profelis, those unable to be released because of lack of hunting skills, age or reaction to human (positive or negative) are kept in captivity here, although some say it would be kinder to put them down, the government wont allow it.

So Catherine and I have been working very hard on some research because that is the best use of our time here. We are using 6 Margay and 6 Ocelot cats and looking at the behavioual effects of novel enrichment and its relationahip to their natural ecology (basically we are collecting data on how the cats react to a new feeding device, placed terrestrially and also arboreally (Ocelots are naturally terrestrial feeders and Margay are naturally arboreal feeders)). Sorry if that seems a little hard to grasp, its quite simple research, but so little has been done of these cats, especially in captivity, so Catherine and I will work on the analysis when we get home (to NZ) and hopefully get the resulting paper published here in Costa Rica and back home too.

Our day consists of rising before 7am, starting data collection (recording their behaviour every 2 minutes) at 8am and solidly watching them until 4pm (8 hours per day). We watch two cats each and study those 4 for the week. So we have three weeks of data collection using the 12 cats. Only one week to go, yay!!! Its good to get so much data, we will end up with in excess of 380 hours of data which is a decent amount so we are very happy!
I do get VERY bored and hungry over the day, but the cats are lovely and fun to work with...the only really annoying thing is the insects and mozzies. The ants here are fire ants and attack at will, and man does that hurt..like excessive pain, like getting strung by 20 wasps all at once..OUCH!! and the bloody mozzies are everywhere (go the mozzie net at night)...all in all the jungle is not a place is you in any way do not like spiders, insects and general creepy crawlys!! The jungle is phenomenal though for the speed of decomposition and things..within 1.5hours of a fresh piece of chicken being put out for the cats (if its not taken) the ants and flies will have been and gone and the maggots already all over it! Things get infected so quickly and the clear up equally quickly...it makes the jungle such an interesting ecosystem. haha interesting fact for you..sorry thats my science mind at work!!

At about 5-6pm I head up and cook us dinner in the cabin, haha yes i am cooking alot..laugh it up..but we eat mainly rice, and if we are lucky some potatoes and pasta as staples and chickpeas, or corn or something to go with it. After 5 weeks of rice, I am thouraghly over it and craving normal eating patterns...no chocolate, no Heinz tomato sauce, no ice cream and no decent fruit (wat is up with that???) Love plantain tho, it a different species of banana that you fry..mmmmm!!! Am in bed by 8-9 and that is a normal day in my life at Profelis...hard work but loving it so much and am very happy and feeling good! The people are so great..I love them to pieces even if I cant understand them 90% of the time..my spanish is coming along but sentence structure is very different so cant really speak to anyone yet..a little more time!!

The only other place I have spent any amount of time is where I am now at Santa Teresa beach on the Nicoya pennisula (pacific coast). It is about 2-3hours bus ride from Profelis and the roads here are shocking..my spine has major issues with me already..its so bad..literally bouncing out of our seats most of the time if the bus goes over 30 km an hour!Me and Caza get a bad case of the giggles sometimes..you have to laugh tho!

Santa Teresa is a small village in which you can do two things...eat and surf. The beach is about 100m away from our hostel which is the dirtiest place ever, but is sooo great, we always stay here and love it, called Brunella, it houses about 5-10 (depending) surfers who chill out all day and just surf...they are lovely tho and its soo cruzy...run by a lovely Argentian surfer called Juan..this place will be home for a month starting next week..time to relax, unwind, learn to surf and enjoy what is perhaps the most layed back place in the whole world! Morning lasts all day, no ones in a hurry for anything, shoes and shirts are optional (for the guys) and being lazy is a must! The people are amazingly friendly (have met three fellow kiwis who run shops here (Kina surf shop-yeehaa) and heard Kathafire playing in the juice bar!)

A piece of my heart is definatly going to stay here and I feel so very happy when Im here, which is why I decided to come for my birthday!!
So after weeks of craving sweet food, for breaky (after a morning surf of course and cup of coffee (thats right, here they have coffee which they claim is the best in the universe and it must be cause i hate coffee and this stuff is heaven, so there you go!!!!!!) I had a breaky of icecream, pancakes with banana and honey, fruit platter and the one chocolate bar I could find..I am suitably full writing this!! Will post another post birthday blog with photos of tonight etc and get some of the surfers (especially for Ema and my Crummer girls..by request!!).

I think that is enough for now...i cud write forever about what Ive seen...seen two wild snakes including capture and release of a boa constrictor that ate one of the rabbits at Profelis (amazing, and a troop of capuchin monkeys travelling across trees over our heads with babies that needed help...so cute!), but I will keep you updated and please do the same with me, I miss everyone back home and what to here the news from you all!!
...Cathy hope everything is going well and looking forward to hearing Im a aunty!!
...And of course lots of love to my girls and family and Jono (love you babe)...miss you all but having a blast here...hear from you all soon!!
Love Ally xxxxx

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Photos

Brunella
The entrance to our Hostel in Santa Teresa

Me wading
Hehe me wading through one of the many streams as we walk back to Profelis after a weekend at Santa Teresa

Cooking
Cooking by torch light...love it!

The Profelis Gang
Carlos, Catherine, Dennis, Cecila and Me..the gang..haha Cecila thinks dad is really hot, and Carlos thinks Sylvs hot..and Dennis wants Jonos beard..These people crack me up!!

Diego
One of the lovely Ocelots we are studying

Me and da boys
Carlos, Dennis and I..the two jokers of the pack..always good for some fun..loco chicos!

My Boa
Snake handler (haha actually bad photographer)..lovely snake, my first capture and release!

Chilling!
One of the lovely Margay we are working with

Santa Teresa
Another shot..more good ones to follow next month!

Monkey!
Sillouette of one of the monkeys we saw-it was daylight at the time, but photos looks choice like this!

Me Today
Hehe Me today on my birthday,,just been for a surf and chillin at Brunella..outfit a direct result of yesterday, where shop assistant is very pushy and doesnt speak English..haha!!

Me Today 2
Me again..today hanging at the beach