Gato Diaries

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Once again, I´m a little behind the times with my blogging. I've had a fair few requests for this episode, so have written probably far to much. For those short on time, it gets slightly more exciting nearer the end, or there are always the pictures.


A SPLITTING OF PATHS

After once again harnessing various means of local transportation Shaun and I made it to the famous animal refuge, Inti Wara Yassi. TAfter a brief tour (more a tease than anything, as only volunteers could see the exciting stuff) it came time to decide what we wanted to do. We could either work in the monkey quarantine if we stayed for the intended two weeks, or work with a Puma or in the monkey park if we stayed for the full month. This led to much deliberation between Shaun and myself. I was more than tempted by the chance to look after a Puma, and Shaun not sure he wanted to stay even for 2 weeks. We compromised and decided to opt for the monkey quarantine.

A 7am start the next morning to be shown how the 'Appi', or oatmeal gruel, for the parks animals was dished out, the first of the quarantine tasks. This was followed by releasing those monkeys we could from their cages and tethering them to various ropes around the place. We weren't game enough to take the matriarch out, as the girl training us had foolishly shown us her bite marks from said monkey. She had only been in the quarantine a couple of days herself, coming from elsewhere in the park. The vet was enlisted to aid us with this one foot tall terror.

After the monkeys were out it was time to start the day proper. The monkeys were given their Appi, then we had the first round of cage cleaning for the day. Monkeys aren't known for the cleanliness, and the hoses being broken didn’t help the task along. Then a mid-morning snack was prepared, followed by cleaning the bowls and then the best task of all, limpa la ropes. Every monkey had a clean blanket every night, which meant someone had to do the cleaning. Guess who. I thought of Mr Miyagi and my scrubbing skills improved dramatically.

The day continued in this pattern of feeding and cleaning, with a few hours in the middle of the day for lunch and playing with the monkeys. We finished up around 6:30pm, knackered and filthy. It was the first time in my life I felt the need to use shampoo and any other cleaning product at hand before a good soap down. I did this every day I was in the park.

While the monkeys themselves were literally bundles of fun, a couple of days of this convinced us being monkey maids wasn´t quite what either of us wanted to do with our time. Instead we were both lamenting what we could be doing, for me walking a Puma, for Shaun travelling and relaxing in comparative luxury con a certain senorita he had met. So we decided to each follow our own hearts, me staying for a month and walking with a Puma and Shaun curtailing his visit.

LIFE AT INTI

On arriving at the refuge I had just finished the book ‘Lord of the Flies’. This gave me a unique outlook on the social dynamics of group of untrained people in a remote(ish) jungle doing what would be considered dangerous work in our home countries with poor sanitary conditions, for anywhere from 2 weeks to regular half yearly stints. In fact it turned out to be a great group and I had more fun than I had in a long time. Not to say there weren't a few weirdos among us. Patrick.

Every day (there we no breaks for weekends) started with breakfast at the cheap and tasty café, then onto whatever animal(s) you were looking after. At the end of the day a 30min jaunt up a hill with a sack of rocks, or similar pastime, provided a bit of extra extracurricular fun. So did the other life the park supported. Bullet ant stings, bed bug bites and moth larva under the skin all added to the mix, but the ever feared “parasites” were the most rampant. Around half the animal volunteers, in line with the parks aim to nurture life, deigned to become hosts.

Dinners consisted of restaurant food at the local village or group cooking and often followed some entertainment or other, from movies to volleyball to good old texas holdem. Although warned that the animals would smell alcohol on you from the previous night, and could act aggressively, we still risked a drink or six when we felt up to it. Christmas and New Years were big communal events for the volunteers and Bolvians at the park, with the usual shenanigans ensuing. Relationships were formed and friendships, like the parasites, bloomed among us.

FIRST ENCOUNTERS

On the eve of my debut as a Puma walker I was given the typical rookie stories. It differed to other jobs as scars could be used as proof. Another Kiwi guy thought to reassure me that I´d made the right move by telling me that my Puma, Sonko, was "One mean pussycat", "probably the most muscular in the park" and could "jump 5m in the air without a run-up". Oh so reassured was I.

The morning came and I trudged up to the cage with my two trainers, an Israli couple who had been working with Sonko for the last month. While it may not seem it in the photos, Sonko weighs around 70kgs and had the claws and teeth to match. So it was with some trepidation I did as the log and my trainers suggested, and put my arms in the cage as soon as we got there. Surprisingly my fingers remained intact and the cat just rubbed up against them and purred just like his domestic cousins. I was then shown the trick of getting him out of his cage so it could be cleaned, a 10min job rather than all day long. Seems I had made the right choice. Soon the Israelis had attached Sonko to his rope lead and started into the jungle. The day went pretty smoothly, and I even had my first "Jump", a very half hearted grab of my knees as an after thought of jumping the Israeli girl. This gave much pleasure to the my trainers and the cat, and I come out unscathed.

Day two rolled around, and with it my first time holding the rope. Apparently the earlier you did this the better, to show you weren't scared...even if you were. Also, this was the Isralies last day, so the normal 2 weeks of training had to be compacted into 2 days. I was a little worried about my footing, as the "trails" included many a river, eroded cliff and treacherous root resulting in me losing my footing more than once on the first day. It turns being attached to a Puma works wonders for your balance. It didn't, however, do much for my memory of the poorly marked trails.

With the Israelis gone, an affable and confident vet named Johnny was to be my accomplice for day three. This reassured me until I found out Sonko didn't much appreciate injections and liked to show Johnny this whenever possible. Not only this, Johnny didn't know the trails either. I spent the day keeping the cat away from an anxious vet while trying to locate the correct trails. The vets cuts weren´t too bad and we found our way home.

With some pushing I managed to secure a young Bolivian called Freddy to help out for my 4th and 5th day. Freddy had worked trained the Israelis and worked for a number of months with Sonko before, so it was a much more relaxing couple of days. Seeing how the Israelis and Freddy handled Sonko without much apprehension went a long way to reducing mine, which was good as on my 6th day it was time to train up a new volunteer to be my partner.

TEAM SONKO

Time to pass on all my knowledge. You would have thought this wouldn´t have taken long, but somehow I managed to stretch it out over the next 4 weeks, using tid bits of advice from the Israelis as conclusive evidence about taking the course of action I wanted. Prem, my partner, quickly saw through this, but somehow managed to put up with it over the coming weeks.

Over the next few weeks we learnt a lot about Sonko. The way he liked to take the short path, cunningly trying, quite successful initially, to lead us a quicker way home at some junction or other. How much he hated Roy, the fittest Puma in the park, and would love to rip apart his minders given the chance. How he didn't like getting wet, except during his swim on beach day, when he loved it. How much he wanted to kill the old Puma, Quirqui. How you could hold his tail for a good twenty seconds before he got annoyed. Mostly our days were fairly similar. They began with Sonkos long trail in the morning, a couple of hours break in our continuously upgraded shelter, then another walk on the short trail in the afternoon. If it was raining too hard we would generally wait it out, which might mean skipping a walk. Every week we also tried to include a day doing the "mega long" trail and a day at the beach. Although snakes, Puma jumps, monkeys raiding the chest with Sonkos food and our belongings and other little incidents were common, in general things went along fairly smoothly. The few exceptions are described below.

THE ATTACK

Shortly after I signed up for my month I clicked that we were right at the beginning of the rainy session. It was at exactly the same time as I was told that Sonko “got a bit wired” in the rain. This generally just meant he would run home faster if on a trail, or refuse to go out if not. However when it rained all night on his metal roved cage the result was one pent up and moody Puma the next morning. It was just such a day, perhaps half way through the month, that the ´attack´ occurred.

Sonko was predictably restless but still turned back from the walk at the ¨point of no return”. This is in the first 20m of the trail, where I'd been warned to let Sonko go back on his runner for a few minutes if he did turn around. Not to under any circumstances try to stop him. This was a little strange as anywhere else he was forced to go where we wanted him to no matter how big a hissy fit he threw, but finding out the reason proved difficult. Until that day. We had tried two or three times already to start the walk but Sonko wasn't playing along so I employed one of the tricks we used all the time to get him to go somewhere he didn't want to. While Prem had the rope I walked up trail saying “Chao sonko! Chao Sonkito!”, pretending I was doing the trail without him. It worked a treat and I kept it up to ensure we were well past the point of no return. Then I turned and saw the scene I remember just as vividly now as three months ago when it occurred. Sonko had turned and was giving Prem his crazy eyes, always precipitating an attempted jump. And jump he did. Not at her as normal, but almost directly up so his arc ended with his entire body coming down on her from above. With his forepaws on Prems shoulders and his hindquarters on her neck and chest he proceeded to maul her head. Valiantly trying to discourage Sonko Prem lost her balance (not surprising given Sonko weighs more than she does), leaving her prone on the ground with an excited Puma on top of her. Shock, fear, the belief that Sonko would stop, or some combination thereof, meant by the time I had run back and pulled him off Prem she had four lines of blood running down the side of her head and cheek from a bite marks, and scratches across her neck and chest. Not a pleasant sight, especially when the perpetrator is anxiously pacing right next to you and the victim. Valiantly Prem, bloody as she was, agreed we should continue as we didn'twant to show Sonko we would bend to his bullying.

As it turned out this had happened before and was precisely the reason Sonko wasn't meant to be pressured to go past the point of no return. Prem´s bite and claw marks were in fact very shallow and healed up nicely. Sonko hasn't been raised by a wild Puma, and without learning how to hunt lacks the killing instinct. If he extended his claws and used even a tenth of his strength to bite or claw things would have been very different, but even when he is moody I don't believe he would do this, and certainly never has. Nevertheless Prem, and admittedly I, was a bit shaken up from this. Unlike others however Prem didn't let this stop her and saw through her month.

A MONKEYS GOT MY LUNCH!

Now you might think a Puma would be the most scary thing in the park, but the popular vote of volunteers in fact went to the cite little capuchin monkeys. Notoriously aggressive and acting in large troops more than one visitor or volunteer has learned the hard way why you don't try to retrieve stolen belongings from the little pickpockets. So you might understand why, when ambushed by a few capuchins on the way back from lunch, I was eager to rid myself of Prem and Sonkos food. Fortunately Johnny the vet happened to be walking the other way, so I quickly passed the food to him, which by that time included monkey cargo. Johnny shock the offending monkey off and started hollering and throwing sticks at the other bandits. A running battle ensued, with the monkeys coming just out of striking distance with fangs bared. Eventually however monkey master Johnny sent them packing.

On returning to the cage it was surprising to hear the fearless Johnny anxiously telling me not to go the normal way to the cage, as Sonkos had been put on his runner with a longer loop than normal, effectively extending his territory. I wasn't so concerned, and walked up to Sonko, who nuzzled me and wanted a scratch. Prem later told me Johnny had come earlier unaware of my mistake with the rope, and had only just escaped an impressive attack by Sonko, who then wouldn't let anyone near him for examination. My pride was somewhat restored - Johnny might be the monkey master, but he wasn't Sonkos.

BEWITCHED

On my very last day with Sonko there had been overnight rain (very common by this stage) and the air was taut with the threat of a storm. I was fairly unconcerned by this, and didn't think too much of Sonkos frisky behavior. I only really took notice when Sonko continued with his unusual mood on the trail itself. Sonko, and most Pumas I believe, are animals of routine. This meant a high level of predictability - he would literally smell the same branches, complain at the same points and want to rest in the same places every day. Only outside influence or a could deal of persuasion would change this. So when he started sniffing every few meters, looking warily down any vantage point regardless of the vista and running past places he always rested or tried to avoid, it struck me as very odd. Given it was the afternoon we were intending to go on the short work, as we had every other day. Normally Sonko would snarl and hiss vigorously at the turn off to the long trail, far preferring the short. That day however he ran right down the long trail without even a thought, and past every “I´m grumpy at you for making me do this” stop. But he kept up his sniffing and looking at spots he never had sniffed nor looked before. We thought the cause may have been the wild Puma, or Jaguar, that had been rumored to be in the area. Not so reassuring.

Thirty minutes or so into the walk the strangest thing of all happened. Sonko stopped on a rock just where the trail leads down a stream with what I can only describe as a look of fear. He'd never stopped anywhere close to that point before, and none of the normal techniques for getting him to move worked, including the infallible water splashing. Instead he continually stared up at the bare dirt slope we had just descended, at a spot that was obviously empty. This kept up for a very drawn out fifteen minutes until suddenly Prem, who had been feeling uneasy all day, looked at me with fear and said she had just seen vivid images of snake skins. Shes not someone prone to seeing visions, and hadn't had anything that might help them along (surprisingly no magic mushrooms or other hippy drugs were seen at Inti). I tried my best to reassure her and Sonko, but the Blair Witch feeling I´d been getting for a while certainly didn't subside. A tense and spine tingly ten minutes followed, until I eventually had to physically pull Sonko away.

The day continued in this vein with Sonko heading down the “mega long” trail without any prompting at all, a completely unprecedented event. The eerie feeling did slowly dissipate though, and I was able to give Sonko a good farewell hug before heading home for the last time, two hours late.

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Photos

Sonko
New volunteers, puurrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Villa Tunari
The village next to the park, and surrounding jungle.

Monkey Fun
Part of a game where we threw this little guy at a rope, where he turned around and leaped back at us. The he loved it...I'm sure.

Work Stories
Kellie´s scars after a couple of days. For some reason people gave us the strangest looks when we travelled together after Inti....

Lil' Critters
Two of the parks insect contingent. The spider was in our house, probably hunting cockroach's. Or the other way around.

Playtime
Some of the fun and games after dark.

La Jaula
Sonko´s cage and runner, where he paced between walks.

On The Trail
Just another day in the jungle.

Packing Heat
Sonko showing off his feline arsenal.

The Cafe
A time for tales over a cerveza or two.

The Shelter David Built
Well I had to do something with my downtime. The frame and roof wasn't my doing, but the mosquito net, back and side walls were. My Christmas present, a lilo, made a welcome addition.

Beach Day
The river beach treat Sonko got once a week, until the river was too swollen.

Other Inhabitants
Some of the other animals looked after at the park.

Cutest Pussy Cat
Yes he is.