My last blog entry was wipped three days ago when the power in the town went down after a biblical thunderstorm. But I´m back with a head full of adventure so read on!
Walking the puma consists of one of us with a five meter rope round our waists and attached to the collar of the puma. So where he goes you have to go, although he has a route (7 kilmometres) through the jungle to take and he (usually sticks to it) However there are some Bolivian workmen building him a new cage and they walk past his cage on the way up which stresses him no end (which explains his behavour in the next few paragraphs)
February 16th
Walking the puma today was Helen and Sebastien, today is his last day (I am his replacement) I follow for the day and try to find my ´jungle feet´, it´s a lot more hilly then I thought it would be. Sonko is so beautiful!!
February 17th
Now that Sebastien has gone it´s just Helen and I and I got my first opportunity to take the lead with Sonko. He was fine at first but once we were on the homeward stretch he became a little nervouse (simply didn´t want to go home) and I got jumped. He first swipped for me with one (massive) paw (and missed) then with the other and caught me round the neck (luckily his claws weren´t out) Helen pulled him down but he jumped her too getting both paws up by her head. This was one pissed off unhappy cat! We got him down and he calmed after that. My heart was in my mouth beating like a freight train! We got him home soon after. I hope tomorrow he will be easier to take out.
February 18th
Today everyone helped in bringing up new matterials for Sonko´s new cage, however this stressed him out as too many people walked by his cage so we were unable to take him out for a walk. Instead we did some trail clearing with machetes.
February 19th
Seeing as Sonko hadn´t been out yesterday at all we knew today would be a difficult day, we just didn´t imagine quite how difficult it could get....We finally got Sonko walking at 11am (Helen was on cord) but didn´t get very far before he had his first sleep, four hours later he moved around two meters and slept some more, this continued for the whole day, at 6pm we realised that it seemed we would still be in the jungle after dark (not the greatest place to be at night I assure you) and with only one headtorch between Helen and I things were about to get tricky.
Plan A:
Tie him to a tree so we could go and get help and more torches but he was on to us like a shot the minute I removed our emergency cord from my waits (nothing gets past this cat) Sonko rolled onto his back and grabbed Helens legs digging in with his claws and hissed! I came round the side and pulled his collar round to get him off, he jumped me and clawed me too, nothing too serious but he was certainly not playing.
Plan B
We have got to get him home, but that was the last place he wanted to go. We pleaded with him till we were blue in the face. Just as it became dark the heavens opened like only Bolivian rain can do and we were under what felt like a waterfall (Our puma hates the rain as it creates white noise so he can´t hear anything coming up to him, and he hates getting his feet wet!) Now we are in the dark with one headtorch, making our emergency cooing sound hoping someone can hear us so they can send help as Sonko was being stubborn and going nowhere. After around an hour (and an entire rendition on ´99 Bottles of Beer on The Wall´ we heard a return emergency call from our cooing into the pitch black. Help was on the way! What a relief! It took Keith around 40 minutes to get to us and once Sonko saw him he wanted to chase, this made getting home much easier....Not for me though, I gave my headtorch to Helen (she was attached to the puma so needed it more then I did) so I had to wait there for them to come back, in the pitch black, by myself with crazy noises all around me for 30 minutes, I will never forget those thirty minutes. I could hear monkeys getting closer and strange rumblings and fumblings all around...But! I wasn´t eaten (well only by the mosquitos) And we arrived home by 10pm! A late night around here that´s for sure and a crazy evening in the jungle.
February 20th
Sonko was a much happier cat today. We took him out of his cage at 10am (I was on cord) and we walked through the jungle for around two hours. Sonko then had a little snooze....Around six hours. Helen and I chatted of our love for food and what we missed from back home and everything else inbetween. Sonko was still a little grumpy about having to go home but we made it back to his cage by 7pm just as it got dark and 2.5 hours earlier then yesterday, and as we walked back we bumped into the search party coming up to make sure we were OK. That was a nice feeling, they really look out for everyone here :D Today was my first full day on cord (being attached to Sonko with a five meter rope) and I loved every minute of it. He came to me for affection and whre he puts his head down for some stroking. Such a different cat to yesterday, what a beautiful experience.
Things I´m missing:
My family and friends
Real cheese
Hot showers (my bathroom got cold water yesterday for the first time!)
My bed
Scariest things in the rainforest:
Bullet ants http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraponera I´ve seen a nest of over a hundred!
Muddy drops over 2 metres deep
Wasps nests
The darkness after 7pm!!!
A puma jumping you, that´s not for the faint hearted!
For now I bid you all goodnight and wish you a fantastic week! I will be spending it walking my puma xx
Sunday 20 February 2011
Sunday 13 February 2011
Thunderstorms over my head and the very real fact that I gots me a puma!
My first night at Parque Machia was certainly a memorable one. I was finally shown to a room after dark once all the volunteer coordinators had finished work and after our induction. It has a double bed, smells a bit of damp and for now has no running water (none of the rooms do as a water pipe has broken somewhere in the jungle) But, apart from that I have a place to call home for the next 9 weeks and I am happy for that.
What I am even happier for is the fact that I found out that I will indeed be looking after and walking a puma! His name is Sonko, it means ´Heart´ in Quechua. Sonko´s volunteer is called Helen, a really nice and chatty Scottish girl who has spent a lot of time with Sonko, and now it seems she´s stuck with me too! lol! My first day was spent following Helen & Sebastien (who is leaving in 4 days) and trying to keep up. Sonko walks one of three trails daily and today we did the shortest one.....Which utterly killed me, I feel as f I´ve been running around the jungle all day in the rain.......which I have! Up steep hills and down muddy banks. We started at 8am and got back around 4pm. Around three hours of that was spent standing around chatting as Sonko wanted to rest. However when we carried on I admit that I found it tough. But tough in a way that a good workout at the gym is tough. Now I´m feeling on top of the world and cannot wait for tomorrow!
Oh and I just found oats and honey in the local shop so that´s breakfast sorted! Although pretty much the best food in all of Bolivia is genuinely found at Machia (they have a vegetarian restaurant, sooo yummy!!)
Within the next few days I will take the lead for Sonko with Helen behind me, that will be a big test in balls and stamina. I hope my body can cope with this intense workout (very happy I took arnica with me)
Oh yeah I almost forgot to tell you about my first night sleep. It was all going so well untill 3am when the heavens opens (I think litterally!) and the mother of all thunderstorms broke out right over my bedroom. I´ve never heard cracking so loudly, never! The flash and bang at the same time, it hit a roof top on the building next to mine, I was actually scared.
Ok so enough ramblings from me, tomorrow I will be back in the rainforest in the rain with a puma trying to keep up! I wish you all a happy valentines day (tomorrow all the girls are cooking for the guys and we have to buy them booze) Fun times ahead!
Paul xx
What I am even happier for is the fact that I found out that I will indeed be looking after and walking a puma! His name is Sonko, it means ´Heart´ in Quechua. Sonko´s volunteer is called Helen, a really nice and chatty Scottish girl who has spent a lot of time with Sonko, and now it seems she´s stuck with me too! lol! My first day was spent following Helen & Sebastien (who is leaving in 4 days) and trying to keep up. Sonko walks one of three trails daily and today we did the shortest one.....Which utterly killed me, I feel as f I´ve been running around the jungle all day in the rain.......which I have! Up steep hills and down muddy banks. We started at 8am and got back around 4pm. Around three hours of that was spent standing around chatting as Sonko wanted to rest. However when we carried on I admit that I found it tough. But tough in a way that a good workout at the gym is tough. Now I´m feeling on top of the world and cannot wait for tomorrow!
Oh and I just found oats and honey in the local shop so that´s breakfast sorted! Although pretty much the best food in all of Bolivia is genuinely found at Machia (they have a vegetarian restaurant, sooo yummy!!)
Within the next few days I will take the lead for Sonko with Helen behind me, that will be a big test in balls and stamina. I hope my body can cope with this intense workout (very happy I took arnica with me)
Oh yeah I almost forgot to tell you about my first night sleep. It was all going so well untill 3am when the heavens opens (I think litterally!) and the mother of all thunderstorms broke out right over my bedroom. I´ve never heard cracking so loudly, never! The flash and bang at the same time, it hit a roof top on the building next to mine, I was actually scared.
Ok so enough ramblings from me, tomorrow I will be back in the rainforest in the rain with a puma trying to keep up! I wish you all a happy valentines day (tomorrow all the girls are cooking for the guys and we have to buy them booze) Fun times ahead!
Paul xx
Thursday 10 February 2011
Skinny dipping with the Finish & the lose of wisdom
Today was yet another great day in Samaipata. Saana & Solja decided that we should go for a swim to the river the comes down from El Feurte, and I thought that sounded perfect! So this morning we trekked up to find a deserted river. It was as beautiful as my company. How could I resist the oppotunity to feel such freedom as to be naked. And it was wonderful. I feel cleansed from the inside out, happy, happy, happy!
After we came back to town as I´d made an appointment to see a dentist. That idea started when I was in Switzerland with the lovely Nina (I wonder if you are reading??) Nina was one of the reasons I had such an amazing time in St Gallen, she is also a very pursuesive lady. So much so that she convinced me to sit in her dentists chair and allow her to examine my teeth, something I hadn´t done in 17 years! (yes I know!!!) Well it looks like the tooth fairy had been kind to me, appart from one wisdom tooth that needed to be removed my teeth are generally fine (am I the lucky one or what?)
So I have just returned form the dentist, he took some x-rays (holding the film plates in my mouth with his hands might I add!!) I think he won´t last another ten years with all his teeth! But he very carefully and utterly painlessly removed one of my wisdom teeth which had a rather large hole in it (I did have anesthetic) It didn´t take long and the whole process from start to finish has cost me the grand total of.....wait for it....
15 pounds sterling! That´s it! Nothing more. My dentist at home won´t even talk to me for 6 times that amount. Needeless to say I am a very happy bunny indeed!
So tomorrow I am off back to Santa Cruz with Rachel, staying the night and at 7am I have my bus to Villa Tunari where I will be staying at Parque Machia the animal park. I am looking forward to it more then you could know!
So for now I bid you all farewell and stay safe my dears, I love you all!
Paul xx
After we came back to town as I´d made an appointment to see a dentist. That idea started when I was in Switzerland with the lovely Nina (I wonder if you are reading??) Nina was one of the reasons I had such an amazing time in St Gallen, she is also a very pursuesive lady. So much so that she convinced me to sit in her dentists chair and allow her to examine my teeth, something I hadn´t done in 17 years! (yes I know!!!) Well it looks like the tooth fairy had been kind to me, appart from one wisdom tooth that needed to be removed my teeth are generally fine (am I the lucky one or what?)
So I have just returned form the dentist, he took some x-rays (holding the film plates in my mouth with his hands might I add!!) I think he won´t last another ten years with all his teeth! But he very carefully and utterly painlessly removed one of my wisdom teeth which had a rather large hole in it (I did have anesthetic) It didn´t take long and the whole process from start to finish has cost me the grand total of.....wait for it....
15 pounds sterling! That´s it! Nothing more. My dentist at home won´t even talk to me for 6 times that amount. Needeless to say I am a very happy bunny indeed!
So tomorrow I am off back to Santa Cruz with Rachel, staying the night and at 7am I have my bus to Villa Tunari where I will be staying at Parque Machia the animal park. I am looking forward to it more then you could know!
So for now I bid you all farewell and stay safe my dears, I love you all!
Paul xx
Wednesday 9 February 2011
New Friends, getting arrested, breaking out of prison and death.
Oh boy, how do I even start....
Well first off everything is wonderful, really it is. An adventure I wanted and an adventure I got!
It all started when I went out for a quite drink with Danny (that´s how it always begins no?) Having a wonderful time iun Toucanderos with some great new friends, Gregor & Moritz the Germans, Bernase and & Gabriella the Argentinians and Robert the Norwegean. We drank until late but they all had to be up early for work (they were volunteering at a local zoo) So Danny & I went off to search for another party, we found one, it was a little boring and after another beer we left and ended up in the Plaza, a village square. Well it was know 4am and the cafe we wanted breakfast in didn´t open for another 3 hours, it was a wonderful warm night so we decided to kip down for a few hours on a few benches in the park.....
At around 7am we were woken by the local constabulary, I was upo like a shot, bag on shoulder & hat on, Danny was up soon after....They wanted us to wait around till they could wake the third guy (he must have appeared during the night) he didn´t wake up to easily. But when he did he turned quite violent, the police didn´t like this and restraned him, they made us all follow them to the police station where they walked us though and put us in a cell with no light and closed the door.
The third fellow ´Yesim´ was still rather angry, I was still a little drunk and Danny fell asleep almost imediatelly on the floor of our dark cell. After aboput 20 minutes of Yesim banging at the door the police returned, he shouted at them, they shouted at him, then they threatened him, he was quite after that.
I woke about an hour later, hungover, thirsty and bored. I started communication with Yesim who still seemed quite agitated. He spoke no English and me no ablo Espaniol. We weren´t getting very far in the getting to kmow you stakes, however he had calmed down and we even laughed at our situation. Things were now much better so I decided to make some graffiti to pass the time - Mr Bizarre 2-6-2011 and Yesim did the same, we used my titanium watch strap (thanks Dad!) Yesim´s graffiti was much bigger then mine and right in the middle of the wall ( I placed mine to the side)
A few hours later after Danny woke up we banged on the door as we all needed to go to the toilet and beg for water. The door was hatched in two and the top half opened (fucking thing wasn´t even locked!) but now we had light for the first time, I was much happier. Then the policeman turned up and let us out to the toilet, he even gave us some water (he was actually quite nice) but then he noticed Yesims massive tag on the wall...
He looked at me and asked me if I did it, I said I didn´t and that it wasn´t my name, I told him my name was Paul, he didn´t understand so as he had a name badge on (his name, believe it or not was ´S Moron´) I repeated, my name is Paul....And you are a Moron! This he understood, I bit my tongue to stop myself laughing (I drew a little blood) Danny burst out laughing then stopped just as quickly. Yesim just stood there with a stupid look on his face, he too was a moron and I think he know it.
The poloceman was annoyed and said we would have to pay for the wall...Before he left he tryed to close the hatch, I begged him not too and told him how nice he had been to us and that we promised to be quiet if he let us have some light, he wasn´t sure and I noticed he had a tattoo, some common ground! I should him mine and told him the story behind it in my best Spandglish, he liked the story and called his friend over to see also, after that they left us with the hatch open.
Oh I forgot to say, at some point in all of that we were allowed a phone call so Danny called Rachel to come and get us out (she knows the mayors son and neice)
A few hours later Rachel turned up and walked into where we were, she said the policemen had gone for lunch, I pulled the bottom half of the door open and unscrewed what was left of the latch and put that in my pocket. The police had indeed gone, we found our stuff in their appartment (along with many bags of cocaine and weapons) we took our stuff (leaving all other contraband, no need to chance our luck too much) and went accross the road where everyone was waiting for us. We had amazing chicken with mango, Danny & Rachel headed home and I wnet to the zoo to meet some friends working there. (I do even have pictures of our police cell with graffiti!)
The rest of the day was wonderful, spent hurding llamas, hugging monkeys & feeding wild cats. I arrived home the next day after crashing out at a friends hostel.
And jumping to this morning as I am now eunning out of time here....
We woke this morning to a site of carnage :´(
9 of our 10 chickens had been killed in the night. The cock was stood over the bodies and was morning. Something, a small ferral cat or ferret had killed all but 1. And we had spent the last wee constructing a supper fence to rehouse them, only one day more was needed to dave them, one day to many. No more chickens and no more eggs. I will never forget that scene :´(
Today I am off to the zoo with Saana & Soliya the Finnish girls. It is warm and my spirits are slowly being lifted. Life does indeed go on.
Much love to you all, stay safe
Paul xx
Well first off everything is wonderful, really it is. An adventure I wanted and an adventure I got!
It all started when I went out for a quite drink with Danny (that´s how it always begins no?) Having a wonderful time iun Toucanderos with some great new friends, Gregor & Moritz the Germans, Bernase and & Gabriella the Argentinians and Robert the Norwegean. We drank until late but they all had to be up early for work (they were volunteering at a local zoo) So Danny & I went off to search for another party, we found one, it was a little boring and after another beer we left and ended up in the Plaza, a village square. Well it was know 4am and the cafe we wanted breakfast in didn´t open for another 3 hours, it was a wonderful warm night so we decided to kip down for a few hours on a few benches in the park.....
At around 7am we were woken by the local constabulary, I was upo like a shot, bag on shoulder & hat on, Danny was up soon after....They wanted us to wait around till they could wake the third guy (he must have appeared during the night) he didn´t wake up to easily. But when he did he turned quite violent, the police didn´t like this and restraned him, they made us all follow them to the police station where they walked us though and put us in a cell with no light and closed the door.
The third fellow ´Yesim´ was still rather angry, I was still a little drunk and Danny fell asleep almost imediatelly on the floor of our dark cell. After aboput 20 minutes of Yesim banging at the door the police returned, he shouted at them, they shouted at him, then they threatened him, he was quite after that.
I woke about an hour later, hungover, thirsty and bored. I started communication with Yesim who still seemed quite agitated. He spoke no English and me no ablo Espaniol. We weren´t getting very far in the getting to kmow you stakes, however he had calmed down and we even laughed at our situation. Things were now much better so I decided to make some graffiti to pass the time - Mr Bizarre 2-6-2011 and Yesim did the same, we used my titanium watch strap (thanks Dad!) Yesim´s graffiti was much bigger then mine and right in the middle of the wall ( I placed mine to the side)
A few hours later after Danny woke up we banged on the door as we all needed to go to the toilet and beg for water. The door was hatched in two and the top half opened (fucking thing wasn´t even locked!) but now we had light for the first time, I was much happier. Then the policeman turned up and let us out to the toilet, he even gave us some water (he was actually quite nice) but then he noticed Yesims massive tag on the wall...
He looked at me and asked me if I did it, I said I didn´t and that it wasn´t my name, I told him my name was Paul, he didn´t understand so as he had a name badge on (his name, believe it or not was ´S Moron´) I repeated, my name is Paul....And you are a Moron! This he understood, I bit my tongue to stop myself laughing (I drew a little blood) Danny burst out laughing then stopped just as quickly. Yesim just stood there with a stupid look on his face, he too was a moron and I think he know it.
The poloceman was annoyed and said we would have to pay for the wall...Before he left he tryed to close the hatch, I begged him not too and told him how nice he had been to us and that we promised to be quiet if he let us have some light, he wasn´t sure and I noticed he had a tattoo, some common ground! I should him mine and told him the story behind it in my best Spandglish, he liked the story and called his friend over to see also, after that they left us with the hatch open.
Oh I forgot to say, at some point in all of that we were allowed a phone call so Danny called Rachel to come and get us out (she knows the mayors son and neice)
A few hours later Rachel turned up and walked into where we were, she said the policemen had gone for lunch, I pulled the bottom half of the door open and unscrewed what was left of the latch and put that in my pocket. The police had indeed gone, we found our stuff in their appartment (along with many bags of cocaine and weapons) we took our stuff (leaving all other contraband, no need to chance our luck too much) and went accross the road where everyone was waiting for us. We had amazing chicken with mango, Danny & Rachel headed home and I wnet to the zoo to meet some friends working there. (I do even have pictures of our police cell with graffiti!)
The rest of the day was wonderful, spent hurding llamas, hugging monkeys & feeding wild cats. I arrived home the next day after crashing out at a friends hostel.
And jumping to this morning as I am now eunning out of time here....
We woke this morning to a site of carnage :´(
9 of our 10 chickens had been killed in the night. The cock was stood over the bodies and was morning. Something, a small ferral cat or ferret had killed all but 1. And we had spent the last wee constructing a supper fence to rehouse them, only one day more was needed to dave them, one day to many. No more chickens and no more eggs. I will never forget that scene :´(
Today I am off to the zoo with Saana & Soliya the Finnish girls. It is warm and my spirits are slowly being lifted. Life does indeed go on.
Much love to you all, stay safe
Paul xx
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