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Published: September 17th 2006
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Since our last exciting account of our time spent in the freezing altiplano, we have visited Potosi (the highest city in the world at 4200m) and Sucre to see their beautiful colonial architecture (a square with a cathedral on it), then finally we arrived in Villa Tunari. Now, as many of you may know, whilst on this trip we really wanted to do some volunteering and the opportunity arose at the Inti Wara Yassi animal refuge, a 4 hour bus journey from Cochabamba.
The refuge depends entirely on funds from volunteers and their labour. When you arrive, you're given a tour of the park which is set in lush rainforest and are then assigned to an animal which will be your responsibility for the time that you're there. This means that every day Tim goes to work with a whole bunch of spider monkeys clambering all over him, and Laura has to cope with the noisy squawks of the birds (mainly macaws and amazonas) but her biggest priority is a puma called Quirqui. we have now worked 2 weeks without a day off and plan to stay for 2 months.
Laura - Quirqui Quirqui is a big old
cat (1.4 metres long not including his tail, his back comes up to just below my hips), he's the biggest at the park and has really bad legs - he can't run or walk very well but he tries!! He spent a large part of his life in a zoo where they didn't feed him properly and this led to his bones becoming weak and now he has severe arthritis. Every day I let him out of his cage and we play together, chasing each other around and generally having lots of fun. He's a beautiful cat with a gorgeous temperament, but it can still be pretty scary having an enormous puma running after you! The other cats at the park basically spend the whole day walking for miles, but poor Quirks isn't capable of walking too far. I have tried to encourage him to go for walks through a small part of the rainforest on a lead which is now happening every day...it's really weird calling for a puma to follow you like a dog!
When he's tired he likes to be stroked and have his chin rubbed if he's feeling really generous. He has a purr as
Ahhhhh!
Its love. low as a motorbike which sounds like a rather frightening growl the first time you hear it. He also has a rather unfortunate love of feet and legs, which means that when he's feeling playful he likes to try and batter them with his enormous paws, then his teeth if you don't move fast enough! The first time I met him he tried to establish who was the boss by nipping me (on the leg of course) but he didn't break the skin so obviously didn't mean it. He does this to every new volunteer to see how much he can get away with, I think! However, we get on very well now and he very rarely tries to bite and swipe me these days, only when he wants to remind me that he's a puma and not just a big pussy cat!
Tim - Spider Monkeys I'm working with a group of 28 Spider Monkeys that have been brought to the park from various backgrounds. They were kept in small cages in homes, hotels or circuses. Most of them are free to go as they please during the day and go to bed in cages at night.
The alpha male of the group died some time ago which means they don't have a male leader, which is very important to spider monkeys. There is one male adult, Oogy, who should be the alpha male but sadly he is a big wuss and is scared of the others and hence doesn't have their respect. So in the absence of a leader up stepped yours truly to play the role of the alpha!! I have to be aggressive at times (something that doesn't come naturally) and shout at them if there is a fight or they are being violent towards volunteers. But being the alpha male I do get the alpha females making sexy faces (a scrunching up of the nose) to try and attract me!! There are 5 volunteers working with the group and I have to say at times we do feel like primary school teachers.
It is so rewarding working with spider monkeys, they give so much love (especially Oogy who gives me lots of less than manly hugs!) and each one has there own quirky personality. There are 3 monkeys kept on leads connected to runners because they keep running into the village which
is very dangerous for them. Perhaps the craziest is Negra who always has so much energy. She loves to climb up and sit on peoples heads and hangs on tightly to your hair. Sometimes she freaks out and holds tighter and tigher and refuses to let go. Luckily we are getting on well and she tends to listen to me.
We work the longest day in the park starting at 7.30am and not finishing until 6.30pm (1 1/2 hours for lunch). We have a number of chores to do such as cleaning the cages, preparing their food, washing the blankets for the cages and taking the monkeys that are on leads for walks in the forest or on the river bed. I am usually very tired in the evenings, but I wake up happy everyday.
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Sonja!
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Cool man!
That's what's it all about! Lovely pics guys! And I'm so dissapointed I can't come and meet you up! Miss you guys!