One of the worst things here is having to deal with ticks. Those sneaky little buggers get everywhere. I`ve found them all the way to the top of my leg when I`ve been wearing pants. So when one of the staff led us through the forest on a wild goose chase and off a trail I got a little peeved. I was especially peeved when Heather and I got back and found baby ticks all over our clothes. Heather counted over 50 on her. I was too angry to count. We spent a long time picking them off ourselves and smashing them between our finger nails. Luckily, I didn`t find any embedded in my body. The staff member made up for it later by giving us chocolate haha.
The Friday before Halloween we were having a Halloween party because a lot of volunteers were leaving on Saturday. Earlier that day Heather and I made donuts for the party. And of course... lost in translation... I screwed up the recipe a tad haha. One of the cooks, Shelya, handed me a container with white stuff in it and said a sentence in spanish. I heard the word ¨half¨¨ and so poured half the container in. I actually was only supposed to put half a spoonful and the white substance was salt... ooooppppssss haha. We tried to get some of the salt out and put more sugar into the recipe, but then we ran out of sugar. Just my luck. Guess I should study spanish a bit more;) The donuts turned out pretty well though. When they were done we attached them to string for a game. That night, everyone had a partner and as one held the donut attached to the string, the other partner tried to eat the donut without using their hands. Then they would switch. Everyone had fun and enjoyed the game.
Everyone`s costumes were really creative. Heather was an African woman and I was a Native American Indian. There are some bows and arrows laying around the bungalows that some old volunteers made so I strapped some to my back, put my hair in braids (thank you Heather), put some feathers on, and marked myself tribally. I would have to say the best costumes were the ones that people made from the jungle. Most of the volunteers were in the kitchen, when two leaf covered boys with patterns drawn on their chest charged into the room. Another boy and a girl followed a bit later. It was great:) We took videos of them dancing and yelling tribally.
The next morning, I woke up to Yuri asking me for help. Some tourists had come and wanted to go to the canopy but an elderly woman wouldn`t be able to make it and so was inquiring about a tour. I searched for Alejo and asked him if he could do a tour, but his english isn`t that good so he said I should do it. So with my hair still in braids and my face still slightly painted from the night before I gave my first guided tour. It was really fun and a good experience. I was actually surprised how much I knew about Taricaya and the animals (I must admit some of it was b.s.ed a tad haha). I also found a whole new respect for people that give tours... they really have to know their stuff.
Lunch that day was absolutely delicious! It was a very American meal. The staff said they would do the regular tasks if we made lunch so Heather, Laura, Yuri, and I went to work on making lunch. I grilled chicken (I burnt my leg because oil popped on me, but I learned my lesson!) while the others cut vegetables and made a pasta salad to die for. We made chicken sandwiches with cabbage and tomatoe on them. A staff member also made mayonnaise (which Peruvians put on everything... fries, pasta, rice, salad, etc.). Heath even set the table and Alejo bought Sprite and Sublime for us. It was a great meal!
That night Alejo made us PIZZAAAAAAAA!!! I love pizza and miss it a lot. It tastes even better when you haven`t had it in months.
There was another Halloween party on Halloween. Our fellow American, Zack, really got in the Halloween spirit and got a gord (basically a pumpkin) in town and carved it. He also cooked the seeds. It was a real treat. We went to Amazon Planet for the party. That night I was a ninja with a buff covering my face (thank you Hanna for the buff you gave me!) and a machette strapped to my back. Heather was a banana. Both of our costumes were highly creative considering we decided to go to the party 2 minutes before the boat left hehe. At Amazon Planet there were some guests from Puerto Maldonado, too. There were 3 Peruvian girls and they could DANCE! I was so impressed and tried to learn from them. My hips just don`t move like theirs haha. They also have this type of dance where a girl sticks a piece of something (at the time all we had was toilet paper, hey we`re in the jungle) in their jeans and dance while a guy tries to light the something on fire with a lighter. I don`t understand how this can ever end good.
The stars have been amazing lately. I honestly believe I have never seen so many stars in my life. It is strange too because the constalations are different. Even the moon is different. It is sideways down here haha. Here it sometimes shines like a smiley face.
This past week I got to clean Sid`s pool. Sid is our otter. Cleaning a pool in any cage is hard work. You get buckets and fill them up with water and pour the water into the forest. As you can imagine, Sid`s pool was pretty big. When we had finally emptied almost the whole pool, we had a break and I played/ wrestled with Sid in like a centimeter of water. Sid would get out of the pool and sort of run away, but then I`d crouch down to his level like an animal and he`d come charging at me. It was awesome. He`d bite me and I`d ruffle him up. His bite only really hurt when he started going for my stomach. He is just playing though. Sid has very sharp teeth and if he wanted to do some damage he definitely could.
I was also part of a team that cleaned the monkey cages and put branches back up that they had knocked over. I was in the capuchin monkey cage and those devils are sneaky! We all had gone to one side of the cage and they were kind of near the door (that was closed) and we had all turned our backs. But a minute later when I looked around they were quietly sneaking toward the door. I had to barracade the door with branches so they didn`t have a chance.
One night, a cake was made for a volunteer that was leaving the next day. We were all eating the cake when I picked up a bite with my spoon and saw an extra dark brown section. ¨Oh, a burnt piece of chocolate,¨ I thought. I was definitely wrong. As I bit into it I got the most awful taste in my mouth. I spit it out to find a bug. I didn`t want to look at it too much but I think it was a cockroach. I ran to the bathroom to quickly dispose of the taste. It was extremely disgusting at the moment, but now I think it`s hilarious haha.
Hope all is well with everyone!
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