Thursday, December 2, 2010

animales

Buenas Noches mis amigos. I am in Puyo at the moment, a five minute taxi from the animal reserve, Yanacocha, where I have been since Monday afternoon. It is highland jungle here, so warm and wet, but not too warm, but still pretty wet and still warm...just not toooo warm. Or really too wet either. Okay yea, so I like the climate, it´s great and very different from the farm. Still rains HARD though, but only for a half an hour or so. Then it is is just humid jungle weather for the rest of the day. But the roof of the volunteer cabin is tin, or some kind of cheap metal and it is bloody louudududuuddddddd when it rains. Woke us up this morning at 6:30, but it was alright cause we get up at about 7am anyway, have breakfast, and then get to the cutting room to start preparing the big and small morning rounds for feeding all the animals. It´s an absolutely gorgeous reserve, they clearly pride themselves on the appearance of the foundation because it is very well kept with quite a majestic feeling. Winding sod paths enclosed in bright green vegetation weave around in a kind of a maze that  somehow ends up being a circle around the entire reservation and tours past all the animals. They get a lot of their funding from leading tours through the reserve so I think this is the prime reason for the aesthetic appeal. I am working with the Volunteer Coordinator, a young veterinarian from Spain and the two other volunteers, a very amiable couple from Australia, who in comparison, make me feel like I am fluent in Spanish. Gracias. Por favor. The owners don´t speak Spanish, but are a very friendly retired Ecuadorian couple who used to teach Spanish apparently.
We´ve got about 6 different kinds of monkeys, including some wild ones that hang around and steal food, one of which bit me yesterday when I was trying to stop him, but we´ve made up and he got his three grapes in the end. Lots of birds; different kinds of parrots, and then a couple rodents of the jungle, but big ones, I only remember the Spanish names right now, but they are three that are more like very small bears and another pair resembling the behavior of small dogs. Also we have some exotic cats, different species of ocelots, very beautiful. We got to go around with them yesterday when they were getting their chickens, two out of the four brutally played with them pre consumption. We actually had to walk away before the job had been finished because it was too hard to watch the cats indecisively nudge the terrified chickens toward death. And also wild pigs! Who are apparently brutal, so we never get in the cage with them. All except two groups of monkeys, the crazy rodent dog guys and the pigs we are able to get right up in the cage with the animals to care for them, set out the food and change their water, etc. It´s pretty routine work, but in a beautiful location and with animals who always like to keep things interesting.
(this photo was minutes after that little guy bit me! Squirrel Monkey)

This weekend is the big celebration of the city back in Quito. Apparently every city in Ecuador has their own special celebration for the founding of each city. Tomorrow afternoon I will head back over for a long weekend of fiestas and free concerts and meet up with all the folks from the farm and my old school mates from Yanapuma, should be some great fun.
XO
( there are two of these guys, and they are like little rats, but much looking like monkey rats but are adorable and make the crrrrrrraziest facial expressions. one day in the cage one jumped on me during feeding, and was running back and forth across the back of my t-shirt as I was trying to hand him a plum.)

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