Construction

The past 2 weeks have been busy at the park. We're in the second phase of construction, the locations for the cages have been cleared and the ditches and holes for the posts have been dug. This week volunteers are working on cementing the posts so hopefully it wont rain too much!  We were able to buy all of the supplies needed although some of them took longer than expected to arrive.  We spent an antire morning with the whole camp carrying rocks and sand to Koru´s cage!  Luckilly Sarah and I convinced Karen (an old volunteer who came back the park to work with Leo) to take over construction when we leave.  Working with Leo the past two weeks has been great.  Im really glad that I had the opportunity to swich cats before I left the park. Ill be posting some photos of the construction work soon when I have acess to faster internet!

Fundraising!

For the past week Sarah, Emily, and I have been fundraising at the park. A few of us are probably not coming back here for awhile and we wanted to take on some sort of construction project before we left.  There is so much that the park needs and although we all can donate money when we go home you still need volunteers at the park to make it happen.  After debating what was needed most we chose to build new cages for Koru (a young puma) and Mariano (a small Brazilian jungle cat).  We picked projects that we could realistically raise the funding for and complete within a month before we leave the park.  Things have been going great!  We have been making breakfast and desserts every night for volunteers to purchase and it has been a big hit.  We also held an auction where people could bid on things like a 45 minute massage, a romantic dinner for two, and having your laundry done by another volunteer.  We also convinced two of the guys to wrestle in the compost (gross!) to benefit the auction which raised 1000BS alone.  So, today Sarah and I are in Santa Cruz to buy all of the fencing and tools we will need to build the cage.  We raised over 10,000BS in just over a week which is about 2/3 of what we need altogether!  We are going to continue the fundraising and hopefully we´ll be able to purchase the rest of the materials soon.  Volunteering at the park is awesome, but you don't always know whats going to happen in the future to the animals you work with.  We all hope that the next volunteer to work with your cat will to their best but it will be great to contribute something that will permanently improve their lives.  Koru was brought to the park in an emergency, when he was discovered tied to a dumpster living on a military base and since the park didn't have any room he was temporarily put in a very small cage intended for birds or small animals.  Mariano has been at the park for a year, but since he is not a large cat he has not always had a permanent volunteer when numbers are low.  Unfortunately he has been living in the quarantine area for all this time and he is often switched into a smaller cage to accommodate new animals coming to the park.  Now he will have a decent size permanent enclosure.  Anyone who wants to help can send a donation by mail!  We will be fundraising for about one more week. Since everything here is purchased in Bolivianos a donation of just $5 is equal to 35BS :)

On another note, I'm switching cats.  Im really excited because tomorrow I get to go back to Leo!  Unfortunately, the reason I'm switching is because Engine jumped me pretty violently.  He got my arm when he jumped and by chance he got quite close to an artery so it was bleeding a lot.  I'm fine now but it was a bit scary.  Regardless, they decided his previous volunteer would switch back onto him because he is becoming more difficult to work with.  Marc may have more success anyways because sometimes the male cats respond better to male volunteers.   It will be awesome to get to work with Leo again for my last few weeks :D  Jane Goodall is visiting the park next week too!  There´s a short article on the CIWY website about her visit.  We took a half day to do construction projects for her arrival and I helped paint all of the dorms which was a fun and they look great!

Fire Fighting

The protest was a huge sucess.  A bunch of people stayed an extra night to talk to the press the next morning and Evo (the president of Bolivia) declared his support for stopping the building of the road.  This is a great acomplishment but the campesinos are determined to continue so right now the volunteers at Machia are literally sitting in front of the machines so they cant move forward.  There is a lot going on at Ambue Ari too. The fires have started, which means that everday we are working on  lengthening the fire trail (lots of raking and macheting). The farmers here start fires to burn land for crops and last year a huge section of the park burned because they dont control the fires once they start them.  They arent huge forest fires like we have in the US but they are still dangerous even thought they are slow burning and close to the ground.  Apparently the fire trail should create a break in the land and prevent any more of the park from burning.  I went out to see Ru (one of the jauguars) the other day here is one of the photos I took.  He´s awesome!

Surprise visit to Santa Cruz

Today 12 of us volunteers decided to accompany Noemi (the park coordinator) to Santa Cruz to help out with a demonstration to bring attention to the road being built through Parque Machia. The parade marched through Plaza 24 de Septiembre (named after today´s holiday - the anniversary of the founding of the Department of Santa Cruz) and it was very exciting. We had signs publicizing what Inti Wara Yassi is about and everyone was clapping when we walked by. There was also a short speech given about the situation at the other park. This is great for the organization because there were a lot of important people in attendance in addition to the large crowds of locals. The procession is also going to be on TV in a few days! Tonight we will all head back to the park. Im exhausted from sleeping on the bus last night, Santa Cruz is about 6 hours away from Ambue Ari.

A lot of stuff has been going on at the park in the past week. I worked on cutting Engine a new trail, which wasn't quite as easy as I had expected but it is completed now and he is (hopefully) going to walk it for the first time tomorrow! A past volunteer had cut him some unauthorized trails that went very close to other cats trails and when we had to stop using them he was not a happy camper. He would try to go down the old trails for hours and get himself very agitated. So I decided it would be much better to just make a new trail as a diversion. Its taken all week because we have also been working on the Fire Trail. It is a large band around the park that ideally will prevent the neighboring fires from spreading into our land. Also, a lot of people have been asking about cats they used to work with so here is an update on Ru. He was getting quite playful and Parque Machia made a decision to take his collar off and discontinue walking him, permanently. But Noemi came up with the idea of letting him out on the runner an extending it to the river so he could swim. I went out to see him one day and it is really sad to see such a beautiful and amazing animal imprisoned in his cage. They haven't tried the new routine yet but personally I think its a great compromise that will keep volunteers safe and is good for Ru. I was in such a rush to pack for our day trip that I completely forgot to pack my camera cord :( so I will have to attempt to upload pictures on the slow connection in Guarayos next time I'm there. Until then ... I miss everyone back in the states!

Letter from CIWI

Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY) is the largest conservation NGO in Bolivia and is run entirely by volunteers. This organisation provides a safe haven for 1,000’s of abused animals (including pumas, jaguars, ocelots, spider and capuchin monkeys and even a brown speckled bear) and has saved over a 1,000 hectares of rain forest. However, Inti Wara Yassi is currently in crisis. The mayor of the town in which a large part of the refuge is based is building a road directly through the park where the animals live and are re-released into the wild. Without this park there will come a point where Inti Wara Yassi will find it very difficult to continue saving animals from the cruelty they face at the hands of people. This story is a plea for publicity for this struggling park. It is also a story of hope. The dedicated volunteers at the park are currently trying to raise $10,000 to buy 300 hectares of new land which will be a safe haven for these animals and also conserve precious rainforest. The refuge is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization and relies on donations and volunteer fees to survive.

A letter from Juan Carlos, founder of CIWY

The President of Bolivia - Evo Morales - has been called "Worldwide Hero of the Earth" by locals; yet how then can it be that the forest in Bolivia is being destroyed and millions of animals are being left without a home. Are we to just sit back and watch while Parque Machia (a wild animal refuge and biopark) is being destroyed in order to make way for a new road, and while Parque Isiboro Secure (one of the richest centres of biodiversity) and other national parks in Bolivia are also being destroyed? No, we cannot and for this reason we are calling out to the people of the world to join together in solidarity with the trees and the animals - the life source of the planet. We all know that a country's wealth should be measured by its biodiversity and not by its fragile and fluctuating economy.

Parque Machia is a wild animal sanctuary and part of the Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (a Bolivian grass-roots organisation dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating wild animals held in captivity). The very future of Parque Machia and the animals it houses is currently under threat as local coca-growing farmers fight to push ahead with the construction of a road that will run right through the park's land and the habitat of many of its animals. The newspaper Opinion published a story on the 5th September 2009 about a puma - Quirqui - who recently passed away. It is presumed that one of the factors that brought about his death was the stress from the noise of the machinery that are clearing the park's land to make way for the road. Quirqui was rescued by the Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi from a zoo where he was suffering and was very ill. The volunteers and vets of the Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi managed to stabilize him, make him happy and also greatly improved his quality of life; that its until the bulldozers arrived. His health then started to deteriorate and sadly the puma Quirqui passed away at the beginning of this month. The construction of the road also affects and causes great stress for all the animals that live in this refuge, animals that have been given a second chance in life after being rescued form the torture of chains and small cages.

According to the newspaper Los Tiempos from the 4th September 2009, the front page describes how the
"park is being destroyed to make way for a route to transport coca", "they are cutting down trees that are 100 years old and are destroying the natural habitat of hundreds of animals". The coca-growing farmers of the community Copacabana del Chapare are demanding this route so that they can transport out their principal crop - coca. The road will pass directly through the habitat of many of the rescued animals. The Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi has been saving this park from destruction since 1996 and has been zealously looking after it for all these years. They managed to reach an agreement with the previous mayor, Felipe Caceres, who rejected the farmers' request for a road, understanding the repercussions such construction would mean for the park. However, the new mayor, Feliciano Mamani (a supporter of Evo Morales) says that the road will be built, no matter what.

The national park Isiboro Secure is also under threat, with plans to build a road straight through it, thus linking the towns of Villa Tunari and San Igancio. Parque Isiboro Secure is the third richest park in terms of biodiversity, containing a number of endemic species and it will be destroyed by the Villa Tunari-San Ignacio road. The President of Brazil - Lula de Silva - is financing the construction of this road, which will benefit his country by opening up a route to the Pacific Ocean. This construction will cause many species of animals and plants to disappear, it will pollute the water and bring about the end of this biodiversity and of the Parque Isiboro Secure. The other Bolivian national parks, which were created to be the lungs for Bolivia and for the world, are also affected by mining and agriculture. It is of great importance that agriculture be guided and controlled by policies that are dedicated to the preservation of the environment and biodiversity, otherwise we will be condemning all sources of life to a death sentence.

If you would like to find out more information, help us in our struggle to save these animals and the rainforest by donating (a donation of £40 will buy one hectare of rainforest), or volunteer some of your time, check out the website or join the facebook group CIWY EMERGENCY NOW! The Jacuzzi Donators Group

Into the Wild

I arrived at the park last Sunday, so I have been here for almost 1 week. Im glad to be here, travelling was getting starting to become exhausting. The weather here is quite different than the other parts of Bolivia and Brazil I had been in. Its normally between 80-90 degrees during the day and 70-80 at night so its pretty hot! But there are practically no mosquitoes - a miracle. You dont even need long sleeves when you're out in the jungle and its no longer neccesary to wear three pairs of pants :) I started working with Engine, a male ocelot a few days ago. Working with Engine is definatly a challenge, he is completely different than Vanesso (the ocelot I worked with last time I was here). He is one of the few cats who would have been a great canidate for releasing but the zoo who gave him to the park forced them to sign legal documents promising they would never release him :( so for his first few years at the park no one could get close enough to him to walk him and he never left his cage. Now, after a few long term volunteers worked really hard on getting a collar and carabiner on him he is able to walk his trails. When I got here I found out that Vanesso had escaped for almost 2 weeks and was still missing. So for the first few days we set traps and luckilly he returned to his volunteer when she was sleeping out in the jungle by his cage. I also got to go and visit one of the jaguars one afternoon and it still amazes me how beautiful they are. I took pictures but its impossible to capture what it is like to see one up close in its natural habitat. I didnt bring my camera to town this week because the internet is quite slow but next week I will try to upload a few pictures. Miss you all!

3 days of trekking

After staying at Ginger´s for a week I decided to go on a trek. Practically everyone that comes to South America does one at some point so I figured I shouldnt be missing out! I was planning on going to Machu Picchu during my last trip but it didnt happen. (It´s my excuse to keep coming back :) Chris and Sol know a guide that has been highly recommended by a lot of travellers so I decided on a three day, two night, trip to a great fishing spot. And the best part was we were going to take horses there! Horseback riding is one of my favorite actvites and at home it is prohibitivly expensive and you horse is usually retricted to walking, what fun is that? Well, here in Bolivia of course no one is worried about anything so you can basically do whatever you want on your horse! Good for me, bad for the couple that decided to go on the trek as well. Many people fail to realize that if you are not an experienced rider you will probably not enjoy being on a horse for more than an hour or two. Definately not for 6 hours. So, after about an hour they decided to get off the horses and walk, but it would have taken 10 hours instead of 7 to get there without riding. The rain was a deal breaker and they decided to head back to the farm. It all worked out because there wasnt too much more rain and the tent would have never fit all 3 of us. So I had blast cantering with Galla and Vicente (my guide) couldnt believe I didnt fall off when she took off :D


So the first day we took the horses as far as we could and then hiked for about 2 hours along the river. Unfourtunately my camera case and extra battery are floating downa rive in Bolivia somwhere not because when I was jumping onto a rock in an attempt not to get my feel wet my backpack unzipped and they fell out. I wasnt happy but they´re not the worst things I could have lost. :/ We camped on the beach of the river the first night and at about 3am I opted to abamdon the tent (I was pretty cold) and sleep by the fire. Of course, on the coldest night since Ive been here I didnt have my brand new 20° sleeping bag! I had left it at the farm because I didnt want it to get dirty haha little did I know it was going to be freezing the next 2 nights! Well, I survived anyways. The fish tasted great, we made a soup for dinner and then ate them cooked on the fire for lunch the next day. I also managed to fall into the river and somehow not break my camera. It went something like this ... Vicente mira! Mucho pescado! And then he thought I jumped in to catch them. Not exactly. But shortly after we arrived at our next destination which was the house of a family living in this area. They are the only people for miles but it was pretty cool. They fish and grow everything they need and make the two day trip to town if they need something.
The next day we headed back to Ginger´s with the horses. I was a little sad to leave the farm. Being in transit all the time gets difficult after awhile, and Im starting to get bored of travelling. I bet no one ever thought they would hear me say that! But its differnt when you feel like your missing out on stuff at home. So tomorrow I will go to the park and we´ll see how long I stay there.

Life on the farm

So, Ive been without internet for about 2 weeks and I have a lot to update! I spent a little under two weeks at an organic farm called Ginger´s Paradise. In exchange for 2 hours of work each day you can stay there and eat for about $10 a day. I learned so much in the little time I was there! I can now make peanut butter, jam, cheese, yougurt, dulce de leche, pesto, various kinds of bread, and empanadas from nothing but ingredients I gathered myself at the farm! :) I learned how to harvest tomatoes, beans, carrots, radishs, lettuce, oranges, papayas, and coutless herbs that they are growing there too. I took 2 days off work to go to nearby Samaipata which was about 2 hours from Ginger´s. I stayed at a little pousada there for one night. In the very early morning (about 5am) I was a little annoyed to be woken up by the chickens but when I got up to see what the ruckus was about I was able to get the best view Ive had here of the sun rising over the mountains. I was too tired to get out the camera for this one though :D Samiapata is pretty small but it has attracted a lot of foreingers that are now living there. I noticed this in Iquitos, Peru as well.

The next day I explored an archaeological site, El Fuerte. It is a unique place because it contains remains of three cultures, the Chanes (a pre Inca culture), the Incas and the Spaniards. Here Im hiking up to the site.

Back in Bolivia

I crossed the border of Brazil and Bolivia yesterday. It was a long trip, my flight got into Campo Grande at about 10:30pm and then I took a taxi to the bus station and an overnight bus to Corumbá. I got in at 6am but I had to wait two hours to get an exit stamp from Brazil so I could enter Bolivia. A bus and taxi ride later I was in. The officer at the border made sure I understood I was to stay no longer than 30 days and that I couldn't return until next year. So, I will have to go to the immigration office in Santa Cruz to look into getting an extension on my visa. If you overstay there is usually a fee when you cross the border to enter another country but since Im leaving from the airport it may not even matter.

I realized I am much more comfortable here, in Bolivia. When I was in Brazil I didn't notice immediately how much more difficult it was travelling in a place where I didn't speak the language. I was always able to communicate what I needed somehow, whether it be in Spanish, English, or broken Portuguese, but it is much less stressful (and embarrassing) when you can communicate with locals easily. The hostel here is great, there are only 3 guests so I practically have the whole place to myself.

There is a huge pool and it is right on the edge of the Pantanal. I was relieved to find that it is hot here because some of the places I visited in Brazil were quite cold. The only bad thing is that the mosquitoes come out at sunset but I will just have to get used to it because in a few weeks Ill be back at the park. At least I can hide in my room or in the common areas here. Tomorrow I will be taking the `Death Train` to Santa Cruz (15 hours). It earned its name in the 80´s when locals used it to transport contraband and sat on the roof. When the train derailed, which happened frequently, people often fell of and died. Its much safer now, and I will most definitely not be riding on the roof ;)

Curitiba, Brazil

Im leaving Curitiba today to fly to Campo Grande and Ive had a lot of fun here the past 4 days. Im staying with Mariana´s sister, Flavia. Her apartment is located right in the downtown area so it has been very convenient. Ive done a lot of sightseeing here but Ive also been quite a bit of of shopping and eating. :) Our first night we ate at a really cool pasta place where you select the type of pasta you want, the sauce, and the other ingredients and they cook it for you right there. (Sortof like Fire and Ice except its faster and a lot cheaper!) Ive also had delecious gelato, cheese bread, and other brazilian desserts. We also discovered a lunch place called ´Green Time´ that only serves food grown locally and organically. We´re eating lunch there today for the second time this week. The other day we went on a mission to find a shirt I saw with a jaguar on it in the correct size. After three malls it was a sucess :D

Flavias soccer team was playing on Sunday and I went to the game with her and and friend. It was a close game but Atlético won in the end; The game was similar to the one I went to in Florence - sports fanatics in the US cant even compare. The visiting teams fans never even come in contact with the home teams fans. They have seperate entrances and their section is blocked off an guarded by two rows of security guards!

Curitiba is famous for its pioneering transportation. They have the most effective public tranit in all of Brazil and the city is considered a global model for efficiancy. I took the Tourist Line which was an awesome deal. It takes you all over the city to 24 places of interest to tourist and you can get on and off the bus which they tell you a little bit about what you´re looking at. This is also the coldest city in Brazil and its the winter here so it was a little chilly on the top of the bus. Im glad that Im heading inland and their winder is coming to an end! One of the stops I got off the bus at was the German Woods. They have memorials all over the city to each ethinic group that has immigrated here. In the german woods there is a trail you can follow telling the story of Hansel and Gretel.

Ive just finished a book called The Omniviores Dilemas and it was one of the best books Ive read recently. It was about where our food in America comes from. Very interesting, and a little disturbing. I highly recommend it to anyone who makes a concerted effort to eat healthy! The author, Michal Polin has a new book called In Defense of Food that Im looking forward to reading when I come home.

The Southern Coast

The past few days Ive been on the Southern Coast of Brazil in Balneário Camboriu and Florianapolis. I started out in Pouso Alegre where I met my friend Mariana. The night before we left we had a big Mexican themed dinner party (she just returned from Mexico)and the food was delicious. We had to leave at 3am to get the bus to the airport and we arrived in Navegantes. We took another bus to Balneário Camboriu which is a city on the coast. We ate at a really great restaurant on the beach here. Lunch was $7 each ;) There was an awesome view at night of an island near the coast that they lit up at sunset.

Yesterday we went to a little museum about the Tamar Project which is run by an organization that is working on preventing sea turtle from becoming extinct. Today we hung out by the pool in the morning and went to the beach in the afternoon. The place we´re staying, Backpackers Sunset Hostel is by far the most amazing hostel Ive ever stayed in! Its on a cliff overlooking Lagoa Conceição and the views are amazing. This is us at breakfast.

And me on the rocks at the beach ... I was the only person in the ocean without a wetsuit. (But I think the water at the beachs at home is much colder!) The beach we were at is very popular with surfers so there are tons of them even in the winter (now).

We did come across a depressing sight while we were walking on the beach though. We saw four dead penguins and could not figure out what happened. We asked someone at our hostel if it was common and Unfourtunately is it. The penguins swim north from antarctica during the winter months in search of food. On the way a large percentage of them come in contact with oil pollution from large ships transporting international goods. The oil is not concentrated enough in the water to kill them immediatedly but it eats away at the protective coating of their feathers and most eventually die and wash up along the southern beaches of Brazil :(

Parati é o paraíso

I made a last minute decision to visit Parati for 2 days because Juliana and Camilia have work and school and I saw most of Sao Paulo during the week. I'm so happy I came! Parati is a small town on the coast north of Sao Paulo in the state of Rio. I took an overnight bus and arrived this morning. The BBQ last night was awesome I had a lot of fun and met a lot of cool people. I was a little sad to leave Sao Paulo though.

The weather here is perfect, it was 90 and sunny. I walked around an old fort and then went to the beach. Later on I decided to explore the old town. They had some of the most interesting shops and artist I´ve seen so far in all of South America. One of them had really cool acrylic and resin designs.







I also discovered a self serve ice cream sundae place where you can get as much as you want and they weight it to determine the price. Mine was about $5 but I definitely got my money´s worth ;) Tomorrow I´ll be taking the bus to Pouso Alegre, a town in the state of Minas Gereis. Mariana lives here and we´re going to Florianapolis on Thursday morning. Hopefully I can upload my pictures to Picasa while I'm at her house!

Sightseeing!

I had a full day of tourist activities today. I made breakfast at my hostel and then took the Metro to the "Luz" station. It's a beautiful building and it was actually assembled in England and then disassembled and sent to São Paulo. There was a very interesting museum there - the Museum of Portuguese Language. They had great exhibits but unfortunately I was limited in understanding a lot because nothing was in English or Spanish. After that I went to the Pinacoteca (literally means picture gallery) which was a museum that housed all different types of media by brazilian artists. There was a huge whale made out of denim material. There was also a unique textiles exhibit by the artist Norberto Nicola.
I took a break and walked around the park next to the museum which was really nice because they had all different kinds of sculptures and trees in it. Then I decided to head back in the direction of the hostel and walked through the downtown area. I got a really cute pair of shoes too for about $7 USD!

After a lot of walking around I went back to the hostel to make dinner and decided to stay in for the night because tomorrow will be my last day in Sao Paulo. I'll be posting the rest of my pictures soon, look for a link on the right side of the page :)

I´ve arrived in Brazil!

I had an overnight flight on Monday that arrived Tuesday morning in São Paulo, a city near the coast in the southern part of Brazil. It is the middle of the winter here and I didn´t realize how cold it can get sometimes! Most days are between 70 and 80 but it can drop down to the 50´s at night. I´ve been having a great time with my friends here. Two of them live in the city and I'm going to the country to visit my other friend, Mariana next week. It is Camila´s birthday so we have been celebrating all week. We went to play pool (it´s called a Snooker Bar) the night I got in and last night we went to a Latin club and went salsa dancing. I had a lot of fun and I managed not to injure my dancing partners!! I´ve also been learning a little Portuguese because although many people can understand Spanish they often don't speak it. I haven´t had any trouble communicating with Juliana and Camila´s friends because most of them speak Spanish or English. On Sunday Camila´s parents are having a big barbecue for her birthday so I will get to eat a lot of tasty Brazilian food this weekend :) Next week I will take the bus to Pouso Alegre (a town in the countryside) to visit Mariana. I´ll be doing a little more traveling in Brazil before I head to Bolivia. And, if you´re interested in reading about the park there was an article written by an journalist I met when I was there in this months Outside magazine about it. You can read it online here. There are links to my pictures from the park on the right side of this page.

A little over a week left ...

I'll be leaving in just a little over a week for Brazil :) and Im really excited to visit my friends there! I feel like I still have a million things to do before I go so Im glad that I'm in Maine for a few days with my parents. It's nice to have some time to relax, especially after moving everyday for the past week. Plan ahead is the best advice I can give anyone planning international travel. In retrospect, although people thought I was a little crazy for packing my backpack 3 months in advance of my trip to SA last time; it was nice to know I had already taken care of all those last minute things. But, it always seems like summer is over too soon so I guess everyone else will be feeling this way in another month. (Plus, I can't really complain about the beaches in Brazil) ;D

So ... Im going back!

After returning home from my last trip I decided that I wanted to spend more time traveling and this would be the perfect opportunity considering I haven't found a job yet ... I will be starting out in Brazil to visit some friends and then spending the rest of my time in Bolivia. While in Bolivia I will be returning to Inti Wara Yassi and will also be spending some time at an organic, sustainable farm that I visited with a friend during my last trip. I'm leaving August 10th and will be returning around Thanksgiving. I never finished uploading that last of my pictures from my last trip so hopefully I will get that out of the way before I leave. I'll be updating the blog about the same as my last trip and I hope you all enjoy reading it!

From the jungle to the mountains

Yesterday was my last day in Bolivia :( but we went to a farm called Ginger´s Paradise and had an awesome day there. It´s run by an american/bolivian couple with thier three kids. The view was amazing, their farm was right in the mountains near a river. Sunday is their day off of work so we went down to the river to swim. Colleen grew up in Mississippi and couldn´t believe I hadn´t ever swam in a river, it was a lot of fun. I also ate some of the best food I´ve had in South America! The farm is almost completely sustainable, they produce most of thier food there and are even using solar power to generate their electricity. We tried all sorts of sauces and their home made peanut butter was delicious. You get a discout on the rate for your room and meals if you help out for a few hours so we helped out in the garden the next morning.

I got to Lima last night and I had forgotten how beautiful the city is, especially at night. Many of the historical buildings and plazas here have been very well preserved and are lit up at night. Another thing I forgot was how annoying the men are here! The second you sit down anywhere in a public place someone starts talking to you ... and it always starts out as a friendly question, what´s the time? where are you from? etc. but without fail they´re always looking for a wife! Oh well ...

Tonight Im heading to the airport here and I´ll be in the states tomorrow morning! Im looking forward to seeing everyone and eating a tuna melt. haha :)

Santa Cruz

I left the park on Thursday with a friend, Colleen and it took us 12 hours to get to Santa Cruz instead of 5. We decided to hitchhike (which is a normal mode of transportation here for backpackers and locals) because we thought we had missed the bus. Somehow the truck that stopped for us ended up being the slowest vehical on the road! At least it was free ... We´ve spent the last few days mostly just relaxing at our hostel pool. Luckilly it´s not one of those crazy party hostels, especially because Im still waking up at 6am every morning regardless of when I go to sleep. One of our other friends from the park had to come to Santa Cruz for the day so we all went out to breakfast yesterday. And I ordered a huge sundae :) because I´ve really been missing ice cream!

Tonight we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I thougth it was an interesting story, but it was pretty long. Tomorrow we´re going to Samaipata for one night. It is supposed to be a beautiful village in the Cordillera Oriental. We´re also going to visit an organic farm there that we met some volunteers from. Im really glad I´ve had some time in between leaving the park and coming back to the states because it is a lot to adjust to.

Santa Cruz is also climbing to the top of my favorite cities in SA. It is more expensive than most other parts of Bolivia, but in perspective it´s still really cheap. Today we went to a salon and my pedicure cost about $3 :) Another think I love about this city is that there is an endless supply of street vendors selling various kinds of empanadas and juices. Today my refresco of choice was coco which is a juice made out of the coconut milk mmhhh!

Happy Easter!

This week was Semana Santa which is the biggest festival in Latin America (except for carnival in Brazil) so all the kids get school off and everything (literally) was closed Friday. I only have 3 days left at the park :( Im going to miss being here and I think its going to take some time to readjust to living in the states. I wont miss the mosquitos thought!

The dry season was supposed to come at the beginning of April but it has been raining almost every day. Some years are wetter than others. Leo´s trails are completely flooded so he is swimming for about 80% of the trail which is fun, but exhausting sometimes ... Pumas swim really fast! I want to take a video of it but Im afraid I´ll get my camera wet because Im always falling in the water it´s up to our waists. An old volunteer that worked with Leo last year came back so he is going to take over when I leave. On Wednesday night Im taking an overnight bus to Santa Cruz with Colleen, one of my friends I met here. We´re going to stay in a nice hotel with a pool (for about $8/night!) and relax in Santa Cruz for a few days. Then, Im planning on flying to Lima early next week for my flight home. And in less than a month I´ll be graduating college!!

Paradise :)

So I haven´t been updating the blog as often as I would have liked but I havent been coming into Guarayos (the nearest city) very much. Time has been going by so fast here! Im still working with Leo and Vanesso and things are going great with them. More volunteers have come and I came into town tonight with three American girls I´ve become friends with, which is ironic because I havent met any other Americans while I´ve been travelling. (and one of them is from Ocean Beach!)

Im going to be really sad when I leave here. I know I´ll come back here someday. Im definately excited to come home (and sleep in a bed that´s not made of straw!) but I will also miss the park. I can understand now how some people come for 2 weeks and stay for months. Yesterday a baby Jaguar arrived from a home in Potosi. Im going to get to see it tomorrow!

I´ve also been reading a lot here, which is good because my backpack is getting lighter as I give away the books I´ve read! I just finished reading two really interesting historical books, Sarah´s Key and Trudy´s Promise. One of the French volunteers was telling my that Sarah´s Key is famous at home. It was about one of the thousands of jewish families that France deported to concentration camps during WW2 - something I didnt even hear about in school. Thanks Mom for choosing awesome books!

I dont have much time on the internet tonight cause everyone is waiting for me to go to dinner, but Ill be updating again before I go to Peru in a few weeks.