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Published: February 17th 2009
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Quirqui!
This is my puma! How cool is it that I could pet and play with him like a large dog/cat? On Boxing Day (wow I´m getting behind with this) I left La Paz for the second time and headed to Villa Tunari, a little jungle town in the middle of nowhere to volunteer in an animal refuge for two weeks. The organization is called Inti Wara Yassi (meaning sun, moon and star in the three indigenous languages of Bolivia respectively) which was started by one man and a group of street children he took in about fifteen years ago. Their idea was to rescue wild Bolivian animals that were being maltreated in captive situations and rehabilitate them as much as possible. The group now has three parks and the one I went to, Parque Machia, specializes in monos (monkeys). I was lucky enough to be able to work with basically all of the animal types in the park: a puma, birds and monkeys.
I started off working with Quirqui, an old, arthritic (but gorgeous, playful and genuinely sweet) puma who had been rescued from a zoo. Due to his condition, he doesn´t do much all day and reminded me tremendously of my own three-legged cat, Boots, at home (only much, much larger). I was also put in charge of the
Pedro!
One of the macaws I looked after. He could say hola, Pedro and fuera (the word we say to the monkeys, meaing out or leave, when they come and try to steal food during bird feeding times). aviary, containing lots of red and blue and yellow macaws (some of which spoke a bit...in Spanish), one little parrot and a mountain turkey. There were also three birds of prey off by themselves. Bascially I fed, watered and cleaned cages for all of these animals and talked to visitors coming in. All of these animals lived in cages (cat included, except he was let out during the day and tied up or watched by me) and the birds were showcased to visitors coming through. In some ways this all bothered me because I didn´t really see how the animals were better off than in a good zoo. On the other hand, the birds can´t fly or fend for themselves (or hide from predators) because they´ve been brought up in captivity and were in cages for their own safety. The cats (especially the other pumas and ocelots that were younger and more active) spend about 16 hours a day in a small shelter and the rest of the time walking on a leash on trails. I suppose given that the animals can´t be released this is better than being locked in a box and not able to move at ALL
Capuchinos!
Mommy and baby being friendly. but it would have made me happier if they had more space.
After a few days, I negotiated my way into working a bit in the monkey park with the wonderful capuchin monkeys. I was known as the ¨monkey chef¨ because I helped with their breakfast, lunch and dinner (which sometimes seemed better than the food we were being fed). I knew I liked monkeys before coming there but I didn´t know if their antics would annoy me or be amusing. They were the latter. All of the terms about ¨monkeying around¨ and monkey business are so apt for these amazing animals. They would often run and jump on your shoulder to eat or to groom your hair (and steal hair elastics), sometimes if you were sitting they´d bring a banana and eat on your lap alternating taking a bite and offering you some by trying to shove the banana in your mouth, they´d search through your pockets and take anything of interest (which was always nothing because we´d been forewarned about their stealing), they´d take off your boots and put rocks in them, they´d unzip your jacket and crawl inside if it was raining, they´d smash rocks together
Spider monkeys!
The baby spider monkey and his mom. to see if they´d break and lots of other things like that. They really are incredibly intelligent and wonderful beings and I think I´ll probably go back to that park someday to see them again. Because it was spring there were also lots of babies (SOOOOOOOOOO cute) and they would play and learn how to crawl in the trees and it was just amazing to watch them. This one mother seemed to take a liking to me and I was allowed to name her baby (I called him Robin). So one day I can go back and see him all grown up. There were two other kinds of monkeys at the park as well: spider monkeys (black monkeys who were very lazy and very affectionate) and squirrel monkeys (Telus commerical monkeys! these were pretty shy but they did come to visit sometimes). The monkeys had a pretty good life at the park: they were rehabilitated as they arrived from wherever, spent time in quarantine to clear up any illnesses and were gradually introduced to their respective troops. Most of the monkeys without behavioural issues (for the safety of people and other animals) can then roam free around the 40ha park
Miner!
Here I am ready to head into the sketchy Potosi mine! and receive food if they need it, but are more or less free. This is more of what I had in mind for the animals and it simply warmed my heart to see these previously abused animals having a great new life.
Leaving Villa Tunari was fun because there was a massive landslide (not the last one I had to navigate across either) on the highway to where I needed to go. I spent a very long afternoon hiking along the highway with all of my stuff because buses weren´t allowed over certain parts and eventually made it to where I needed to go...Potosí!
Potosí is the highest city in the world (around 4100m) and it´s main attraction is its mine. Apparently in the 1600s or so it was larger and richer than big European cities like London and Paris due to its rich supply of silver. Cerro Rico (literally Rich Mountain) doesn´t have much left now but they are still digging zinc out. And digging is definitely the right word, the conditions in the mine are like what I´d have expected to year several hundred years ago: they blow out a section with dynamite and then shovel
Salt Flats!
Welcome to the Salar de Uyuni! it in buckets (by hand) to carts, and then haul it up by hand with pulleys. Men work long hours without food (they chew coca leaves) and start their sons in their as early as age 8. Most die or have serious respiratory problems after a few years. It was actually quite sad to see (even though blowing up dynamite and crawling around in the tiny mine was cool).
After, I visited Uyuni and its famous salt flats in southern Bolivia. I did a three day tour with a lovely group of people. We saw the famous salt flats, lots of wild flamingos, geysers and very cool landscapes. I´m getting tired so that´s the description it´s going to get. I then headed back to La Paz for the third and final time to fly to Quito, Ecuador where I embarked on the last leg (and best) of my trip. That story´s to come!
Inti Wara Yassi Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2247195&id=21003528&l=1a994
Potosi and Uyuni Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2249189&id=21003528&l=05199
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Callie
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Bit by a Monkey?!?!?!
Rebecca, I cna't BELIEVE you got bitten by a monkey in Bolivia! That's the exact same place where a little spider monkey almost bit off my thumb! Crazy. Love reading about your adventures - keep up the postings. See you soon.