Hello All,
Obviously we did arrive, and started work the morning after. Darryl agreed to look after 3 beautiful puma sisters, aptly named Inti, Wara & Yassi, on a daily basis.
Inti (Darryl´s favorite)
Hitchhiking was the easiest way to get to the closest village 10 minutes away.
La Paz is the other capital of Bolivia. It has a more official feel than Sucre and a lot more people living in its valley surrounded by high mountains. Much like Rio de Janeiro, the rich people live down at the bottom and the poor people carve their houses into the hills. So the rich sit in more smog and the poor get the good views, seems like some kind of sweet justice.
One excursion from La Paz is Death Road, which runs from La Cumbre to Coroico. It´s a 3.6 km vertical descent from snow-covered mountains down to hot steamy jungle on a road the Inter-American Development Bank declared "The Worlds Most Dangerous". A name like that sticks and for some reason gringos flock to it; you don´t see any Bolivians on the road, other than the ones that have to use it. The first hours are on pavement, so the guides can watch new riders and subsequently weed out the weak.
Edging ever closer to the border with Peru, Copacabana was a mere 3 hours away from La Paz. It sits on the edge of Lake Titicaca, which is not a bad view from the Horca del Inca.
On to Peru.
After an unexpected week in Santa Cruz, experiencing all the joys food poisoning has to offer, we made our way to Parque Ambue Ari, part of the Inti Wara Yassi volunteer organisation. We had no idea if we were on the way to the right place as directions and our chosen bus company were vague at best.
Ambue Ari is a rescue and rehabilitation center for Bolivian animals that have run into trouble due to human ignorance. At the park volunteers and Bolivian full time workers, which included two vets, look after more than 20 cats(including jaguars, pumas, ocelots & one lion), several monkeys, a tapir, two deer, two collared peccaries, two coatis and heaps of beautiful birds.
Peepshow Pete, waiting for breakfast
The living is basic. No electricty, dorm or tent style habitation, zero privacy, laundry done by hand(not often), 3 meals per day(including potatoes, rice & pasta in various combinations), a poop hole, and the occassional break-in of your backpack by either the monkey Faustino or Mimi & Tess the crafty coati theives.
Home
Communal laundry area, where wild squirrel monkeys came to visit on occassion
Communal laundry area, where wild squirrel monkeys came to visit on occassion
Obviously we did arrive, and started work the morning after. Darryl agreed to look after 3 beautiful puma sisters, aptly named Inti, Wara & Yassi, on a daily basis.
Inti (Darryl´s favorite)
The sisters down at the river
Wara & Yassi in their enclosure
I was asked to care for Katie the 3 year old jaguar, taking her on 2 daily walks, cleaning the platforms in her enclosure-which was massive, and feeding her a kilo and a half of meat per day. This is Katie (on her favorite log) with Daniel and Lisa, who trained me to work with her
And this is Katie intently watching the capuchin monkeys taunting her from the trees
Napping on her trail on a hot day
We stayed for a month, working seven days a week, also doing construction on two new enclosures for Nico and Leoncio, two pumas coming from their other park. The work also included looking after the 'house animals' each morning which included the parabas(macaws), toucans(blue ninjas!), amazonas(parrots), pios(rheas), Faustino, chancos(wild pigs), Herbie the tapir, and Bambi & Rudolfo the deer. Darryl fell in love with two monkeys he looked after as well, Rumi a small red howler and Talia, a black howler.
Bambi, Rudolpho, Herbie & Gachi
Bambi, Rudolpho, Herbie & Gachi
Faustino, Red Howler & generally grouchy old man who nevertheless likes a lot of attention
Blue ninja living up to his name, biding his time for the attack
The ever-curious pios
Chancho getting a scratch
The animals are treated with great care and all their needs are promptly looked after by the volunteers and permanent workers. We met some amazing people there as well, which we will be coming to visit someday. Look out!
The animals are treated with great care and all their needs are promptly looked after by the volunteers and permanent workers. We met some amazing people there as well, which we will be coming to visit someday. Look out!
Fiona & Ian de Leeds, at the Santa Maria porn bar
Darryl & the lovely Lupe, one of the vets(who fixed volunteers as well)
Loitering around camp, waiting for dinner, Tess looks for food in Rob´s guitar
Hitchhiking was the easiest way to get to the closest village 10 minutes away.
Portia and I getting windblown on the back of a Bolivian lorry
Another night at the porn bar with the lovely Ian, Georgie, Dave, Fiona, Lois & Kate
Samiapata was a quick stop before leaving Santa Cruz for La Paz. It´s near the jungles where Che Guevarra met his end.
Samiapata was a quick stop before leaving Santa Cruz for La Paz. It´s near the jungles where Che Guevarra met his end.
La Paz is the other capital of Bolivia. It has a more official feel than Sucre and a lot more people living in its valley surrounded by high mountains. Much like Rio de Janeiro, the rich people live down at the bottom and the poor people carve their houses into the hills. So the rich sit in more smog and the poor get the good views, seems like some kind of sweet justice.
La Paz was full of markets, murals and angry demonstrations/protests/blockades, a microcosm of the rest of Bolilvia-which forced us to calculate a new ratio, 10% safety 40% general political unrest, 50% altitude.
One excursion from La Paz is Death Road, which runs from La Cumbre to Coroico. It´s a 3.6 km vertical descent from snow-covered mountains down to hot steamy jungle on a road the Inter-American Development Bank declared "The Worlds Most Dangerous". A name like that sticks and for some reason gringos flock to it; you don´t see any Bolivians on the road, other than the ones that have to use it. The first hours are on pavement, so the guides can watch new riders and subsequently weed out the weak.
Eventually you come to the narrow dirt road with sheer drop offs and still visible car wrecks at the bottom. You can´t look over the side when you´re riding because the bike follows your line of vision, so everything goes by in a blur until you can get to a rest stop and actually see how close you were to falling off a ridiculously high cliff.
Set in the jungle and pampas, Rurrenabaque is either a 45 minute flight or 18 hour bus ride from La Paz. Dodgy plane versus dodgy bus, always a difficult decision. Plane won a victory in a heated rock paper sciccors game. From there it was a 3 day tour with Darryl´s long lost friend Nick, into the pampas to catch & eat a couple pirhannas and pester a few anacondas with guide, Negro.
Set in the jungle and pampas, Rurrenabaque is either a 45 minute flight or 18 hour bus ride from La Paz. Dodgy plane versus dodgy bus, always a difficult decision. Plane won a victory in a heated rock paper sciccors game. From there it was a 3 day tour with Darryl´s long lost friend Nick, into the pampas to catch & eat a couple pirhannas and pester a few anacondas with guide, Negro.
Edging ever closer to the border with Peru, Copacabana was a mere 3 hours away from La Paz. It sits on the edge of Lake Titicaca, which is not a bad view from the Horca del Inca.
Every morning at the Copa basillica, decorated cars line the street in front of it to be blessed by the priest. Followed by a celebration with exploding beer.
Titicaca sunset, out of breath from climbing up yet another hill
Isla Del Sol is where the Incas believed the sun god was created. After a tortuously slow boat ride to get there we explored some of the ruins like Chicana, a building that would be easy to get lost in except it doesn´t have a roof anymore and thankfully the Incas were pretty short.
Isla Del Sol is where the Incas believed the sun god was created. After a tortuously slow boat ride to get there we explored some of the ruins like Chicana, a building that would be easy to get lost in except it doesn´t have a roof anymore and thankfully the Incas were pretty short.
We walked for a few hours to get from the north of the island to the south, getting taxed at every step by random yet friendly Bolvians saying they needed money for trail "upkeep".
On the day of the Bolivian recall referendum(which President Evo won), borders were shut, so there was an extra day to row out to the reed islands.
On the day of the Bolivian recall referendum(which President Evo won), borders were shut, so there was an extra day to row out to the reed islands.
On to Peru.
Love d&j
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