Leaving Parque Machia

My last few days at the park were spent training two new Israeli guys, Tomer & Idor to walk safely with Sonko. It now seems an age away that Helen & I were here in the rainy season before Sonko moved cage, and when he was having issues in going home at the end of his day (sometimes leaving us out in the jungle till 9pm in the darkness and the rain) For a quick second I wish I was walking Sonko when he was only a happy cat, but then I realise that you've got to take the rough with the smooth in order to fully appreciate life. Those days were amongst the hardest I have ever had to conquer, but I stuck with it and that made my relationship with Sonko even more special.

Leaving the park was much more painful then I envisaged, quite literally! On my last work day I woke with a pain in my sternum which by the time I had eaten breakfast was getting to a stage where it was difficult to breath deeply. All the same I climbed up the mountain path to Sonko's cage tensing my muscles on the way up as it seemed to help with the pain. As I arrived Tomer & Idor were standing by Sonko's cage and he wouldn't come out (he has never done this to me before, he always wants to come out of his cage) But when he saw me he came out. Looks like he was waiting for me to arrive! Aw so sweet! Once I was there I realised that I wouldn't be able to walk Sonko for the first walk because of the pain so sent Tomer & Idor by themselves (it had been four days of training and about time they did this alone) They lasted about 20 seconds when Idor fell and wacked his knee and Sonko jumped Tomer, they called for me and I jumped out of the hammock and was there in moments. I ran to help Tomer who was behind a tree. Sonko took one look at me and meowed! He was a little excited seeing Tomer all by himself and jumped him, but now with someone else (me) there too he quickly calmed down. Idor turned up behind us a few moments later in a bit of pain (welcome to the jungle boy!) So I walked with them both up to Candy Cane junction and down to the first creak where Sonko is usually much more relaxed. They carried on and I took a shortcut back to the cage (the rest of loop 1) where sat in the hammock waiting for the guys to return.

They returned at around 2pm but the pain by this point had gotten worse so I had to lay the last walk out as well. I am truely sad for this :( By the time they returned I was having trouble breathing and was in a lot of pain. The Ocelot walker Alize always passes nearby on her way out of the jungle at the same time as we finish up for the day so I called for her to wait for me as I genuinely needed help (I actually didn't know how I would get out) Every step hurt like hell! Alize took my rucksack and followed close by on what is usually a 10 minute run across a hill and down what we call 'The Mountain' then down 'Frenchmans Hill' till we reach the bird enclosure. This took around 30 minutes and took every ounce of strength in my body & soul. By the time I got to the vets I was ready to pass out. Nelly was the first person I encountered (she works with the vets) she took one look at me and went to get help. The vets took one look at me and went to get a car to take me to the hospital. Frank (the volunteer coordinator) and Luis (one of the vets) came with me.

At the hospital we had to pay them before they would look at me, and then they took some blood to check for any infections. After they gave me a lovely sedative and asked me for a stool sample to check for parasites. After around 4 hours in the hospital they returned with an answer that I had parasites and gave me a prescription for some tablets. Luis through it away and gave me some proper tablets form his surgery. I was still in a lot of pain but had calmed down a lot. the following day the pain had not really let up so I decided to leave early to Santa Cruz where they have proper hospitals. I left that morning and arrived at a hospital in Santa Cruz around six hours later where after I paid them some money they gave me a similar prescription but intravenously and I started to feel better.

I spent two days in a wonderful Santa Cruz hostel surrounded by great people, hammocks, toucans and better food. Then I was to embark on two six hour flights to get to San Francisco. It wasn't terrible but I wasn't able to eat anything on either flight, however the flight attendants were very nice and caring. I arrived in San Francisco just before midnight, quite excited, a little thinner with no appetite.

Please stay tuned, the next part of this story will be typed up tomorrow :D

A long overdue update!

Wow almost a month since I last posted! Time here flys like you wouldn´t believe, so I now sit here with 11 days left at Parque Machia. Seriously, where did the time go!

Well since my last update I finally managed to book myself a day off! yes folks after 43 days of walking Sonko I was about to have a day to myself! Only sometimes things don´t always go to plan......I woke at around 9am (luxury around here!) Went into town and did some shopping. Got back to the volunteer cafe and had my first ever hot lunch (cat walkers spend their lunch times in the jungle with their cats) Then I went to my room to get some washing done.....And as I got there I saw Helen walking up the path with a very serious look on her face! Aure (my Walking partner with Sonko) The wonderful crazy French guy had run down a particularly steep and muddy hill with Sonko, but Sonko had darted into some bushes half way down leaving Aure spinning at speed, he twisted his knee and was unable to walk! So it was on with my jungle gear ASAP and into the jungle with another guy to help Aure walk out and myself and Helen would bring Sonko out as it wouldn´t be safe to do it with just one person (Sonko needs two people always in case he jumps) and with this situation (it was pounding with rain) Sonko was a little scared. Aure was helped out of the jungle and Helen and I followed soon after with Sonko once we´ed calmed him down a bit.

So now with Aure out of the picture for at leats three weeks it was time to find a new walking partner for me to work with...I feel so bad for Are as he loves Sonko so much! This now means that once a new guy is trained up and walking with me that I will be the more experienced of the two walkers, and actually my confidence has grown so much snce working with Aure that I´m ready to be training up someone new. So in walks Tomer, and Israeli guy touring South America and randomly arriving here. We have been working together now for 9 days and the good news is Sonko likes Tomer very much (which is nice!) hehe

Have you ever had an audience whilst having a haircut? Well I have! I had my undercut redone whilst a class of school kids walked by, they all stopped and formed a semicircle round me...I´m not sure Bolivia is quite ready for the undercut yet hahaahaa!!

OK so I had a birthday!!! I am now 33! And I have learnt a valuable lesson. Sometimes things don´t always go to plan, but with the insertion of some wonderful people life can truely make you feel so special! I caught some tummy bug the day before my birthday meaning I spent most of the day in bed :( Aure who is in the next room and also in considerable pain due to his knee kept me company for most of the day, we watched some Amercian TV on his laptop and chatted. in the evening i went out for dinner with some friends. the swings restaurant put on a special menu of Buritos just for us! And we also had a MASSIVE cake! Over 30 people turned up and made the night wonderful! I couldn´t eat anything :( But I took the leftover cake and gave it to the beautiful bolivian family that looks after our appartments where we stay. They were so happy (And may have never have eaten such a wonderful cake before) That made me ver happy :)

A lovely girl called Becky made me a bracelet with some amazing red and black tree seeds from the jungle, that made me happier then she could realise as it was the only present I got. I´m not sad though, I´m just happy I got a present :D

What else has happened! Too much to write here that´s for sure! Oh yesterday (on my birthday) I saw a beautiful white owl, it was HUGE! Everday here brings new adventure, but with only 11 days left the time has come to move on! Soon I will be in San francisco with Becca. I have rented a Harley Davidson Electra-Glide, the biggest bike Harley make for my four day tour to Seattle! Oh life, I love you so very much!

I will try to post again from Bolivia, but if not the I will catch you all back here once I have a flower in my hair!

Much love to you all xxxx

A new beginning!

Today Aure arrived at Parque Machia. He is a crazy French guy who walked Sonko last year. Sonko absolutely loves him! With Aure we now have a totally new cat! It´s almost like he saw Sonko and changed the sim card on the cat. With Aure on cord we went for a proper run! We did the mega long trail today followed by the long trail and got back to the cage by 16:25, earlier then ever before but with walked/ran over twice as long!! I did my very best to keep up with him and Sonko but he is in a different league! I was never too far behind though and I hope I will find it easier to keep up in the coming weeks.

Running down a massive muddy hill in the jungle was almost the scariest thing I´ve ever done! But after Aure practically disappeared before my eyes I had to go for it! Drops that I would normally hang my legs over and let myself down were dealt with in a single leap down followed by another and then another. I walked out of the jungle today covered in sand and dirt with the biggest grin on my face so pumped full of energy! I´m just glad I´d already spent 4 weeks with Sonko and Helen walking through and finding my jungle feet. Looks like it´s time to find them all ogver again!

An intensive parkor lesson has just begun! For the next 5 weeks I really am running with a puma! I was offered my first day off in 4 weeks...I´ve turned it down. I´m not missing one day of this! Way too much fun! We have a new puma people and his name is Sonko! He is one happy cat and I´m about to learn how to really handle him properly! I´m just so happy I could scream!

In other news I cooked my first meal today (very bad as I´ve been here over a month, but eating out is so cheap) I´ve been craving vegetables so much! Not much else to report but there will be in the next few days as I go flying through the Bolivian jungle like a wild cat!

Be safe, sound and happy. And if you ever get the chance, go walk a puma, it will just take your fucking breath away! xx

A slight case of under drinking

I have spent the past 2 days in my room recovering for dehydration. really socked it to me. I am feeling much more human now and even have my appetite back! Although because of it Sonko hasnt been walked whilst I have been unwell as there is no one currently trained up to deal with him (also he takes a while to get used to new people so it is not a quick process) However today I am feeling much better so I went up to his cage and let him out on his runner for around 4 hours and sat with him. He was so happy to see me and meowed all day craving affection! I think he might have missed me! I certainly missed him a lot!

So I was sitting under a palm tree reading a book with Sonko always close by looking at me and meowing for attention and affection. Can life get better then this!! I must be dreaming! I have a Puma that misses me when Im away and wants to be near me always. Im so happy I could bounce! What a gift I have been bestowed!

Tomorrow Helen I I will walk Sonko again (He always needs two people to walk him as he is so big) and hopefully life will be back to normal. That was my first day off for a month, working 7 days a week. Its just a shame I had to spend it in bed feeling so unwell.

And I still have five weeks left here! I couldnt ask for more in life! Except to come back for longer.....

Sometimes I think of all my lovely London friends, I miss you all so much, but I will be home in june and promise to see all of you and fill you with my many exciting and wonderful travelling tales!

Till then I wish you all the sweetest of dreams and the liveliest of days

Paul xx

Dianry Of A Puma Walker, in the dark, in the rain forest, attached to an unhappy pissed off puma...

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

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

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