Well it is odd timing but I was able to come into town today! Three other volunteers (John from N.Y., Zack from Boston, and Yves from Quebec) and I were assigned the task of taking the trash into town. We felt a little trashy doing it;) hehe. Then we loaded twenty bags of sawdust into the boat, which I am now covered in. I am going to be quite random in my blog currently. For example, the police just came into this internet cafe and is interrogating my friend for no apparent reason... i hope they don´t interrogate me because i do not have my passport on me. oh well haha i´ve learned to go with the flow and love the adventures. Two nights ago i twisted my ankle on the way back to my room in this hole but just laid on the grass and looked at the moon with heather. Quite splendid actually haha. So we have three new volunteers now! Nard (pronounced Na-ca-td) from Holland (correction from last entry when i said poland), Max from Germany, and Duncan from Scotland. They are all very funny and crazy.
Yesterday I was a true amazon woman... machette and everything! I went picking for fruit for the animals in the morning. We had to knock papayas out of a tree with a long stick. Then we hiked into the forest until we found these leaves the tapirs like. We started machetting them off the ground (they are like a vine) and I apparently am allergic to them haha. I started sneezing and couldn´t stop. Then my face started to itch and my nose wouldn´t stop running. I´ve never been allergic to anything so it was a weird experience. Then we get on the boat and i found an ant burrowing into my skin. I later found out there are ants that do this and if you try and take them out their head breaks off in your skin. Thank goodness mine came out whole. My task last night was bird watching. We hike out about ten minutes or so and get onto a platform. Not the most exciting thing, but very relaxing.
So this week our goal is to have a party every night and stay up late because 4 volunteers are leaving this weekend. I have only been here a week but it will hurt saying goodbye to people. I feel like I have known them for so long.
Heather and I have been labeled the "crazy american girls" haha. No one minds our crazy free spiritedness though. They tell us that we are their entertainment. It´s crazy because we are so similar that we say stuff at the same time and finish each others sentences and such. Tina said sometimes we are just like one person haha. Last night we entertained ourselves for bout 30 minutes with a piece of rope. We pretended to be calfs and the other a cowboy and rope them down like in a rodeo. It was probably a had to be there moment but I just thought i´d type it anyways hehe.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
WOW
I am in town! Volunteers are allowed to go into town every weekend but it is quite expensive for us... it would cost Heather and I $600 to go every weekend if we wanted to. Therefore, I will probably not write for another three weeks or so.
It is breathtakingly beautiful here. The trees are unique and the forest is so dense. I took a 4 km hike the other day to feed grown spider monkeys. They are secluded so far away because we are trying to make them independent and introduce them back into the wild. They are not too friendly to humans anymore so to feed them two people must go in the cage. One has a net to catch monkeys trying to bite us. We do have a 10 months year old spider monkey named Nicole... she is a sweetheart. Nicole stays in a cage with a young howler monkey named Muneca (toy in English). Muneca is a little rascal. She`ll climb all over you and then try and bite you. It doesn´t hurt though.
There are so many animals here it is amazing. We get to feed most of them, but only the staff gets to feed the jaguars and other dangerous ones. There are macaws, a toucan, spider monkeys, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, chapichin monkeys, tapirs, jaguars, an otter (his name is Sid and he is very friendly, I might get to swim with him in the river), wild dogs, a few wild cats I am not sure the name of, butterflys, turtles, and much more. Of course there are the unwanted visitors, too. Our room happens to have cockroaches. Other rooms have had termites, tarantulas, geckos, and of course other spiders and various insects. Perhaps our worst enemy while we work are sand flies. They don´t get repelled by mosquitoe repellent much and leave a nasty red circle. They do not itch though.
The people here are very friendly. There are about 20 volunteers here and they are from all over the world. Me and Heather have been teaching them lots of American games and most of them like them. Some think they are too ridiculous. Anyways we have people from New York, Boston, United Kingdom, Austria, France, Germany, Denmark, Quebec, and we just me a volunteer from Poland. It is fun to try and understnad each others languages. Most everyone speaks English but some we have to talk slow to, understandably of course.
There are so many things that have happened it`s hard to include in just one blog. Yesterday in the evening we played futbol (soccer). It was immense fun! We have just a small clearing big enough to play. First the goals were wheelbarros but then we got more people se we made them bigger. The Peruvian staff were extremely good.
We do not have many modern things here. We have electricity only from 6pm-9pm each night. The wáter is not completely clear, that is it is slightly murky and has flakes of something Brown in it. It is still good to drink though. We only hav cold wáter for showers bu that feels awesome because we are always hot and sweaty. The river is completely murky and includes paranhas, leeches, camans, and sand flies. Our romos are covered in spider webs and dirt. Oh ya and sometimes we run out of wáter and have to Yell AGUA! When we are showering to get it turned on again. It sounds like I am complaining, but I am not. I absolutely love everything about this place. It is a break from the technology obsessed, fast paced, and Money obsessed world. We are all here to help the environment and help with the ongoing research of animals. Not everything is easy though. Yesterday morning I helped build parts for the new encolsure for Sid the otter. It took us 3 hours in the humid and hot weather to build 4 walls. The Wood is extremely hard. It has to be because the termites like soft Wood. It took all my effort and might to hammer in just one nail. The boys had trouble, too. My hand is sore today and I have two tender blisters.
So as we were on our way to town our boat broke down haha. We were on this Sandy beach about a mile wide. WE went swimming through and were goofy. We were stranded for about 2 hours. A man that owns the hostel w estay at saw us though and picked us up. Everyone is tired now because we had mud fights, played baseball with a stick and a round piece of Wood I found, and just messed around.
Forgive me for the random capitalizations and weird spellings. The computer I am using does not know English and so every Word is almost underlined haha it also capitilizes random things. I love you all and miss everyone. My dear family and friends I hope you are having a wonderful time where ever you are. And live a french saying i just learned yesterday… Live your dream, don`t dream your life.
It is breathtakingly beautiful here. The trees are unique and the forest is so dense. I took a 4 km hike the other day to feed grown spider monkeys. They are secluded so far away because we are trying to make them independent and introduce them back into the wild. They are not too friendly to humans anymore so to feed them two people must go in the cage. One has a net to catch monkeys trying to bite us. We do have a 10 months year old spider monkey named Nicole... she is a sweetheart. Nicole stays in a cage with a young howler monkey named Muneca (toy in English). Muneca is a little rascal. She`ll climb all over you and then try and bite you. It doesn´t hurt though.
There are so many animals here it is amazing. We get to feed most of them, but only the staff gets to feed the jaguars and other dangerous ones. There are macaws, a toucan, spider monkeys, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, chapichin monkeys, tapirs, jaguars, an otter (his name is Sid and he is very friendly, I might get to swim with him in the river), wild dogs, a few wild cats I am not sure the name of, butterflys, turtles, and much more. Of course there are the unwanted visitors, too. Our room happens to have cockroaches. Other rooms have had termites, tarantulas, geckos, and of course other spiders and various insects. Perhaps our worst enemy while we work are sand flies. They don´t get repelled by mosquitoe repellent much and leave a nasty red circle. They do not itch though.
The people here are very friendly. There are about 20 volunteers here and they are from all over the world. Me and Heather have been teaching them lots of American games and most of them like them. Some think they are too ridiculous. Anyways we have people from New York, Boston, United Kingdom, Austria, France, Germany, Denmark, Quebec, and we just me a volunteer from Poland. It is fun to try and understnad each others languages. Most everyone speaks English but some we have to talk slow to, understandably of course.
There are so many things that have happened it`s hard to include in just one blog. Yesterday in the evening we played futbol (soccer). It was immense fun! We have just a small clearing big enough to play. First the goals were wheelbarros but then we got more people se we made them bigger. The Peruvian staff were extremely good.
We do not have many modern things here. We have electricity only from 6pm-9pm each night. The wáter is not completely clear, that is it is slightly murky and has flakes of something Brown in it. It is still good to drink though. We only hav cold wáter for showers bu that feels awesome because we are always hot and sweaty. The river is completely murky and includes paranhas, leeches, camans, and sand flies. Our romos are covered in spider webs and dirt. Oh ya and sometimes we run out of wáter and have to Yell AGUA! When we are showering to get it turned on again. It sounds like I am complaining, but I am not. I absolutely love everything about this place. It is a break from the technology obsessed, fast paced, and Money obsessed world. We are all here to help the environment and help with the ongoing research of animals. Not everything is easy though. Yesterday morning I helped build parts for the new encolsure for Sid the otter. It took us 3 hours in the humid and hot weather to build 4 walls. The Wood is extremely hard. It has to be because the termites like soft Wood. It took all my effort and might to hammer in just one nail. The boys had trouble, too. My hand is sore today and I have two tender blisters.
So as we were on our way to town our boat broke down haha. We were on this Sandy beach about a mile wide. WE went swimming through and were goofy. We were stranded for about 2 hours. A man that owns the hostel w estay at saw us though and picked us up. Everyone is tired now because we had mud fights, played baseball with a stick and a round piece of Wood I found, and just messed around.
Forgive me for the random capitalizations and weird spellings. The computer I am using does not know English and so every Word is almost underlined haha it also capitilizes random things. I love you all and miss everyone. My dear family and friends I hope you are having a wonderful time where ever you are. And live a french saying i just learned yesterday… Live your dream, don`t dream your life.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
4 days left!!!... but who is counting?
These past couple days have been filled with emotional ups and downs on an intense emotional rollercoaster! I'm excited to go to Peru, but saying goodbye to people... well... quick frankly sucks haha. I'm finally feeling prepared with all my supplies but the big task is CLEANING MY ROOM... which i dread at any time. I'm excited for going to go see my kids (the kids I coached) at Foothills tomorrow because they said they have a surprise for me and wanted to show me at show and tell haha. That will be a sweet goodbye. I'm glad I will get to see them before I leave. And now the dryer buzzer has called my name so although this is a small post it will have to do for now. Lufffffffff (aka Love;)
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