Parque Ambue Arí, Day 8

Hey everyone! I`ve read everyone`s emails but don`t have time to reply to all of them so I`m just doing a quick blog entry.

I`ve been working with Inti Wara Yassi in the Parque for a week now and man am I having a good time. The rainy season seems to have started a wee bit early to the jungle is full of mosquitoes, almost to the point of unbearability sometimes, but aside from that it`s been an incredible experience so far. The jungle is beautiful and full of life, and the people I work with here are amazing as well. Volunteers are going to be scarce in a few days cuz people are leaving and there has been a roadblock on the way for a few days, but hopefully more will show up soon cuz it`s gonna be a lotta lotta work soon.

For now though we are all working together with the animals, trying our best to give them the best lives they can have in their situations. It turns out only a few can be released into the wild; the others were either treated too badly before they were rescued and are too used to humans, or they have some sort of disability (ex. a baby howler monkey with an amputated arm) that disallows them to survive in the wild.

I am working with Wayra, a 2.5 year old puma that was poached and owned previously by a man who treated her badly and took her to schools to make her do tricks for the kids there. She`s very tempermental and difficult to deal with sometimes, but she`s wonderful and when she`s in a good mood she gets very playful. I work with her with another volunteer (there has to be 2 to take her for walks and for general safety). The first few days Wayra was in heat so she was pretty grumbly, but yesterday she was in a better mood to we were able to play soccer with her and it was so so much fun. I have to be really careful cuz she`s a big cat and very capable of hurting me if she wants to, but as long as I and everyone else respects her space and her mood, things are fine.

The other animals here are also spectacular and some are very lovable, big as they are. We`ve got an anteater, parrots, pios, tucanes, howler monkeys, a little baby nocturnal monkey (I forget the type), ocelots, pumas, jaguars, pigs, an eagle... So much to see and to much to be done.

I`ve been writing in my journal a bit about the park and how it`s run, it`s good bits and it`s injustices, but I just don`t have time to write about all that now.

We are in a nearby town at the moment for a night out and a cold beer or two - it`s important to get away sometimes so we don`t go crazy in the jungle.

I gotta see what`s going on in the world so I`m signing off for now. I have 2 more weeks here and may or may not get to the internet again. This is a good place though; I`m glad I came. More to come later.