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Published: June 30th 2007
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Hi again. Here as promised is the entry for the last few weeks of my time in the jungle. I can’t really remember it in that much detail, so I’ll just fill you in on the highlights.
Hmm, I think that the most memorable event during that time would have to be the attempted (you’ll see why) release of Winston the white lipped peccary (which is a lot like a wild boar). It was Winston’s lucky day and the time had come for his release. Most of us weren’t too saddened by this fact; Winston has rather sharp teeth. So bright and early in the morning, a group of six of us plus Eugenio, experienced Peruvian jungle man, gathered around Winston’s enclosure. Lying on the ground outside were two plastic sacks. We all looked at them dubiously, none too convinced that this was going to be sufficient to transport a 30 pound pig to the other side of the reserve, but Eugenio waved our worries aside and assured us it would be just fine. So in Eugenio went. Winston likes to come and say hello to everyone who comes into his enclosure, and occasionally give them a friendly (blood drawing) nip. We wondered how Eugenio was planning on getting him into a sack. But as soon Eugenio started stroking him around the eyes, Winston, to our amazement, calmed right down. After a minute or so of doing that, he called for assistance. I happened to be standing right by the gate, so I entered timidly. Eugenio asked me to take over the stroking job so that he could man handle Winston into the bag. To be perfectly honest with you, I could think of few places in the world that I would rather be than right by Winston’s (sizeable) teeth whilst Eugenio tried to force him into the sack, but that seemed to be the luck of the draw... Winston started making the most awful squealing sounds as Eugenio grabbed him, and I had to resist the urge to run away... all the parrots started screeching "hola, hola", which seems to be their distress call.
Eventually Eugenio managed to get him into the first bag and tied it shut, and with a sigh of relief we heaved him outside of his enclosure and placed him on the ground. Then Eugenio went off to find a stick to tie him too so that we could carry him. The instant that he left, Winston’s teeth and snout appeared out of the first sack... we all shuffled back nervously and yelled for Eugenio. He came back, armed with a big stick, and forced Winston into the second sack. This, he promised, would hold. So with that, two of the members of our little band hefted Winston onto their shoulders. It became apparent that it wasn’t going to be easy to carry him... after about an hour we came to a rotten bridge that we had to walk over. As we went two of the planks broke and I and one other volunteer nearly got very wet.
Winston made frequent attempts to break free, accompanied by loud squealing. I had a quick go at carrying Winston along with another girl, but we had to give up pretty quickly... after another hour of walking, we came to a final, completely overgrown, swamp, which had to be crossed via a large floating log... hurrah... By this point, Winston had calmed down and fallen asleep. Amazing. Quite a few people got wet after falling through reeds as we crossed the swamp, but then eventually, after wading through lots mud, we reached dry ground and the spot where we were to release Winston. Winston had started squealing again when we stopped, and no one seemed all that keen to go near him... in fact a few of us climbed a tree. So Eugenio took on the task alone. But in fact, as soon as Winston was out of the sack, he calmed down completely. Eugenio gave him a few taps with the machete to encourage him to wander off into the rainforest. We all cheered as he trotted off into the distance, and then we began our journey back, which involved a lot more walking through swamps. And swimming. Yay. The idea was that this way Winston wouldn’t be able to follow our scent trail back.
We arrived back dripping wet, smelling of swamp, bruised and hungry, but at least Winston was free. So off we went for showers and lunch.
At about three in the afternoon, three hours we had arrived back, a group of tourists coming back from visit to canopy arrived at the lodge. And guess who came trotting along behind them. Winston.
Rachel ushered him back into his cage, and we all looked at him murderously. We're not quite sure what’s going to happen to Winston now. The popular vote seems to be roast lunch.
Other than that I can’t think of any particularly unusual events… I stayed in the rainforest one weekend rather than coming to town. It was quiet but relaxing.
The river went down significantly as it is now dry season, so there was lots of mud in my last few weeks, as well as an emerging beach. This meant that every time we wanted to go anywhere in the boat, we first had to get out and push. At one point, the water level off the river went down significantly over night and it was all hands on deck to try and get them back into the river. This involved chopping up a number of logs, then lifting the boat onto them so that we could slide the boat out to river. After about an hour, both boats were once again floating. Then the whole thing somehow degenerated into a large scale mud fight. This was not the first of the season. The previous week we started one when seven of us decided to try and get Eugenio off the boat and into the river. He managed to get all of us in in the process, but eventually we succeeded. And then we decided that everyone should really go in the water. Hence the mud fight.
In my last week we took an outing on a boat to a nearby beach where every year they go and camp out at night to collect turtle eggs. They then take them back to an artificial beach at New Farm, and then look after them until a few months after they hatch before releasing them back into the wild. Without these measures most of the eggs are taken by poachers to be sold as food at the market. So we had a day trip to check what kind of condition the beach was in this year and to check that the turtles hadn’t started laying eggs yet. This basically meant for a fun day out at the beach. Unfortunately I wasn’t around for the start of the turtle project.
Thursday came and we had a party to celebrate the fact that I and another volunteer, Daisy were leaving… which meant for a late night, and rather reduced numbers for early morning obs the next day. Before I knew it it was Saturday, and we were taking the boat into Puerto and then suddenly I was on a plane, looking down from at the rainforest. I had the most amazing time there, it is truly one of the most beautiful and magical places in the world, and I can’t wait to go back.
Will give you an update on Argentina asap, lots of love to everyone xxx
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hii alex! this story is so weird/cute! i hope you didnt eat him in the end :S love the blog, hope you keep on having an amazing time! x x x x