ZOOLOGICO, SAMAIPATA 29.12.2011 – 24.01.2012, living in Paradise

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ZOOLOGICO, SAMIPATA 29.12.2011 – 24.01.2012




So after a little visit a few days ago, we decided to stay in Samaipata and work at the Animal Refugee. The owner was a lovely Swiss Lady called Manuela, who lived there with her two sons Maiku and Wayra and also Dennis, a friend of the Family. When Matt and I started working there, there where 3 other volunteers, Guillermo, a 60 year old chef from Argentina who cooked all our meals (vegetarian, much to Matts excitement :o)), Sebastian, a French guy filled with loooove and happiness, and Martin, a guy from Argentina who didn’t speak a word of English, which turned out to be loads of fun once it was just me, matt and him in the end.. The conversations between him and Matt were hilarious to watch..



The work at the refugee was hard and long, but sooo rewarding! We started at 7.30 in the morning, after having Simons face (a 2 year old Spidermonkey) stuck to our carwindow and getting a big good morning cuddle of him. Breakfast, which meant feeding Miel/ Grumpy, a 1 year old Howlermonkey who became our baby straight away. It was supposed to be our breakfast time, but realistically we were busier feeding our little Grumpy then ourselves..

After breakfast we would prepare all the food for all the animals at the refuge and feed them all, which took about two hours. There where about 12 Monkeys, 8 Dogs, 3 Cats, 20 Birds, 2 baby Mountaincats, which I had to handfeed, ouch, 2 big Mountaincats,a Porkypie, 4 Aguccis, 6 Horses, a Mountainpig, 3 Terrones, 20 Turtles, 1 Eagle, 1 Owl, 20 Ducks and Gooses, 40 Rats and last but not least our favourites, 3 big fat Pigs.. Once we finished feeding all of them, we would have to find wood and make a massive fire for the food of the Dogs.. Yes, we cooked for them every single day, a mix of rice, cucumbers and Chicken Heads and Feet, hmmmm…..



Once that task was done, we would clean out all the cages, give the animals fresh water, clean up the refuge and just repair everything that needed to be fixed. In the time we were there we built a new roof for the Parrots, Matt built a shelter for the Aguccis and also built a gate for the Horses (Since they got out nearly every day and we had to look for them absolutely everywhere after work.)



Lunch was around 1pm and after that was usually a bit of time to relax, which means playing chasys with Simon or relax in the Hammock with the Babys..



The animal refugee was also kind of a Zoo, we didn’t have very many visitors dou, but when they came Matt and I would look after them, introduce all the animals to them, collect the entry fee and make sure Grumpy wouldnt get grumpily and bite on of the kids.. lol



At 5pm it was feeding time again, another 2 hours of cutting up food and feeding the animals. Then we would finally relax, usually we would drive into town, have some dinner and come back to watch a movie with Grumpy…



I have to introduce a few of the animals to you guys, since they touched our hearts and lives in a massive way and we will never forget them…



SIMON:



An absolut legend and Matts bro in crime. Simon is a 2 year old Spidermonkey, he is the most curious being on earth, always watching over your shoulders and try to figure out what you are doing. He loooves playing and biting ancles and the highlight of his day would be when Matt or I would take him on our shoulders and run around in the refugee. He would start screaming and just absolutely loving it. Also he loves to play chasys and would always attack and back up with his famous Ninja Roles. Most of the times he ended up Ninja rolling into a tree or a hole and hurting himself. lol

Simon is super clumsy and soooo entertaining to watch, he would make us laugh all day. Our favorite time with Simone dou was first thing in the morning, when his little face is pressed against our carwindow when we wake up, and as soon as we get out of the car, he would run up to us and give us a big good morning hug. This was pretty much the only time of the day Simon stays still for a few minutes, apart from in the evenings after work, when he would cuddle up with Matt in the hammock for a snooze or a little dryhump once in a while.



Yes, Simon is definitely a gay monkey, he was obsessed with Matt. The funniest thing about Simon is that he gets super embarrassed when he has a boner and just curls up in a ball and looks at you with his guilty little face. We discovered this when Matt went up to Simon and wanted to play, but Simon just wouldn’t move, curled up in a ball and looked like he was trying to hide something. Well we soon discovered what it was when he got attacked by Kiki, another monkey and he had to use his arms to defend himself and out came the boner. Lol

Another funny thing about Simon is that he thinks he is a dog, he sleeps with the dogs, eats with them and chases after everything with them. He loves to annoy them aswell, swinging back and forward in the hammock and slapping them in the face or pulls their tail when he gets to them. Funny thing is, when the dogs go after him, he runs away like a litte gay boy backwards with his hands wiggeling in the air, until he bumps into a tree or falls into a hole… Hilarious to watch..





















MIEL / GRUMPY:

We renamed Miel into Grumpy, since she makes this grumpily, moaney noise aaaall day long and thinks she is the princess of the world. Grumpy is a 1 year old howlermonky baby girl who thinks the world revolves around her, and funny thing is, once you lay eyes on her beautiful face, the world does revolve around her and there is nothing you can do about it.



The story of Grumpy is pretty sad, a couple bought here on the blackmarket in Brazil when she was only 2 months old, they took her home to their tiny little apartment in Cochabamba, Bolivia and had her wear nappys at all times. When they realized that having a monkey wasn’t like having a dog, they brought her to the animal refugee after 6 months, since they didn’t want her anymore. Because she always wore very tight nappys, Grumpys waist is a bit misshaped and she cant run very well because of it.



When we arrived at the refugee, Grumpy was just about to learn how to jump, only her jumps where more like bellyflops on the floor, which were hilarious to watch. She did get much better at jumping dou, thanks to many hours of training / playing in the kombi, where everything was soft, so she could jump like crazy and land on her face and it didn’t hurt. Grumpy was absolutely obsessed with our kombi, she loved running and climbing around in there, sunbathing on the pillow and chewing up anything plastic she could find. It was a nightmare getting here out of the van,it always involved loads of crying and grumpeling on her part. When Matt and I had to go into town to get food for the pigs, Grumpy would run all the way from the animal refugee to the campsite, which involved climbing trough a little forest, trough a fence and over a big patch of grass, which was quite a mission for such a tiny little thing like her, just to find that our Van was gone.. poor little thing..



Howler monkeys stay with their mums until they are 3 years old in the wild, and since Grumpy was taken from her Mother when she was only 2 months old, she was wrapped around my or Matts neck pretty much the whole entire day. She was like having a baby ourselves, first thing in the morning we had to feed her while we were trying to have breakfast ourselves. Problem with Grumpy is, she always wants everything that you eat..always..



so after that we would go on working all day with her on our shoulders, feeding her, playing with her, cuddeling with her and the last few weeks she even came to sleep with us in our van. This was the breaking point for both me and Matt to fall in love with her unconditionally. Having this little, beautiful monkey on our chest sleeping, while we are watching a movie, suddenly hear her starting to purr or snorr, having her little hands wrapped around one of our fingers and just cuddeling up to us all night was probably the most beautiful experience we ever had. Waking up to her was amazing aswell, cause she would wake up, start playing around for a few minutes and then getting tired again and just falling back asleep on us.



Grumpy is the most beautiful thing I have ever met, so cute, funny, loving and playfull and we really struggeled to leave her in the end. Manuela told me that I could have her if we would stay in Bolivia and I researched everything to see if we could take her to Australia with us, but unfortunately it is impossible. I cried big crocodile tears leaving Grumpy in the end, she has become our little baby and we would miss her like crazy..








KIKI:

Kiki is a 1 year old Capuccin Monkey baby boy. He is the total opposite of Grumpy, a legend at jumping and climbing, superfast and very very smart. Kiki was also hopelessly in love with Grumpy, and despite the fact that he is the craziest, wildest and fastest monkey ever, as soon as he got near Grumpy he would be very slow, tender and carefull and make this litte kissing noice right near her face to sweet talk her. The first few weeks Grumpy would always run away from him and Kikis heart got broken many times, but he never gave up, approaching her over and over again, trying to cuddle and kiss her until one day she didn’t run away anymore. It was great to see them two become friends and play with each other.



Kikis favourite playing partner was crazy Simone dou, you would see them rolling and running around all day, teasing each other, fighting and pulling each others tails. He also loved to play with Matt and me, coming over to bug us, jump on our shoulders, steel all the food he could find, or actually just anything he could find. Many times when we had visitors you would see Kiki running around with a camera, sunglasses and even 2 liter waterbottles that are twice the size of him.



Funnies thing I ever saw him steel was a coin, he banged it against everything to try to open it and hoping there would be food inside. It took me nearly half an hour to get that coin back of him… Also very funny was when he stole a lolly of a kid, absolutely loving it…



Kiki was the only monkey that always managed to get into the fruteria, which is where we prepared all the food for the animals, he was sooo quick and sneaky. And he would not leave until he found something he wanted, we would catch him and throw him out, but he was always very pleased with himself. Kiki has the most beautiful face in the world. It looks like an old mans face and we would stare at it for hours in amazement. His mimic was amazing, lifting his little eyebrows when he was curious or lifting them both when he was trying to get something from you. He also made the cutest little noise when he wanted something, nearly like a birds noise. And ofcourse the little kissing noise he would make with his mouth..



A few days before we left, Matt lifted Kiki up and Kikki started sweet talking him straight away. When Matt gave him a little kiss, Kiki actually kissed him back, about 3 times.. That’s when Matts heart melted even more for him. We fell in love with Kiki as much as with Grumpy, and when he got sick, we were worried sick about him, giving him medicine and have him sleep with us on the hammock all the time.

Kiki is a great monkey, always running around, up to no good, but once he gets tired around lunch time, he would cuddle up on our shoulders and fall asleep for a few hours. He looks like an angel when he sleeps, soo pretty..




CHITA:

Chita is a 7 year old howlermonkey who is in love with humans. Whenever anyone would enter the Refugee, she would run up to them and hug their face. This was quiet scary for a lot of people who have never seen a monkey before and suddenly have this massive monkey clinging to their face and not wanting to leave them for about half an hour.



She was very friendly, but when there was a lot of people around, she would all of a sudden start to howl very very loud and right into the persons ear that she was clinging onto. People would have half a heart attack, thinking she was angry and getting aggressive, when in reality this is just how howlermonkeys communicate with each other and sing.



Chita was a big and strong monkey, and whenever Matt had to take her away from someone or somewhere, she would cling onto whatever she could grab with all her strength and start making this funny noises with a big “smile” on her face. The only way to get rid of Chita was to sit down on the ground, she would let go of your face just to lie in your lap and wanting to get her belly stroked.



We also called Chita “Mother Theresa” cause when she went to sleep, she would put a towel over her head and look like Yoda from Star Wars. She also had an admirer, Martina, a tini tiny little Squirrel Monkey who would sit on top of her all the times and when it was bedtime, she would defend her Chita against everyone Chita would want to cuddle. Whoever Chita was walking towards, Martina would run to that person first and start shouting and screaming, she was a right little jealous bitch. Sooo cute dou..



MARTINA AND THE BODYBUILDER:




These are two Squirrel Monkeys, they are adorable, absolutely tiny, about the size of Matts hand. They weren’t very human friendly, but as soon as you had a banana in your hand, they would be the first sneaky ones to jump on your shoulder and steal it. (well, a little bit of it, cause they are way to tiny to carry a whole banana..)

Martina would also sometimes come and play with us in the evenings when we were chilling in the hammocks. They both had this very funny thing that when you touched them they would start shaking and sound like they were electricutet. Every single time. We never got tired of it, it was soo funny. The Bodybuilder already looked funny aswell with his tiny head and the big, musculous shoulders and body. Martina also had this habit of dryhumping all the bigger Monkeys, very much to our amusement…



There is sooo many more amazing animals that touched our hearts at the refugio, but I don’t want to bore you guys anyore, so Ill stop here. All there is to say is that Matt and I had an unforgettable, beautiful time in Samaipata and will always miss our little babys…



Four events that passed while we were in Samaipata are definitely worth telling aswell. First of them was New Years Eve. After work, Sebastian and Martin were fuffing around in the kitchen and as we passed them to head into town, they asked us if we wanted some hot chocolate with magic. Turns out they were making hot chocolate and Matt and I shared a little cup. Then we headed into town to have some food and watch the fireworks and celebrate. It was really pretty in town that night, we stayed at the Plaza and watched the fireworks, which was really romantic and beautiful.. We felt the Hot Chocolate for about 3 hours, being all giggley and feeling drunk after one beer. We had an amazing New Years Eve in the Jungle, having a few drinks and food and just taking it all in. It was great.



The other fantastic night was another time Martin was making his “special” Hot Chocolate together with Maiku and Dennis. We had a drink and went into town to grab some food. What a funny night it turned into! We were all laughing our titts of, playing drinking games until we all nearly fell of our chairs.. Martin was somewhere in another world at the end of the evening, since he drunk a whole bottle of whine by himself, which is a lot after a chocolate milk.. We must have sat at this table for about 4 hours, just wetting ourselves..











My Birthday

Another day that I will never forget in Saimaipata was my birthday. We worked all day at the animal refuge and I got loads of birthday hugs and cuddles of the monkeys and Matt was super extra nice and sweet to me, he even fed the pigs all by himself since it was my birthday, how nice of him. Then he made some excuse for me to go to the car where my wrapped up presents where waiting for me…



In the evening, Manuela and her family together with Matt surprised me with a massive birthday cake and some more presents.. It was great. The night before, Matt had already taken me out for a romantic birthday dinner at a really nice restaurant and we planned a big night out after, but we just fell asleep in the car outside the restaurant lol



Last but not least is when went to a Bob Sinclair Concert in Santa Cruz. Matt and I had to get our Visas extended, since we only got 1 Month on entry. So we had to drive aaaall the way to Santa Cruz, which was nearly 4 hours away from Samaipata, just to get a stamp. While driving into the city, Matt saw this massive sign for the Bob Sinclair Concert, which was to our excitement only 2 days away. So we organized a taxi to take us from Samaipata all the way to Santa Cruz, wait outside the stadium for 7 hours and then take us back home at 5 in the morning. And that all for 60 bucks, not bad for 8 hours driving and 7 hours waiting time!

The Concet was great! There was a Raggaton band as a warm up and when Bob Sinclair got onto the turntables, the crowd went crazy. He had a great set and we danced the night away until the sun came up...



Samaipata, we will never forget you....

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