So today Craig and I start our 15 day tour of Peru which includes the Inca Trail. We've had a rough couple of days with two overnight buses in a row. One that was so cold we almost froze overnight and another that was about 26.5 hours of sitting only made slightly better by a bollywood film that went for about 3.5 hours. We arrived in Lima, Peru yesterday morning to discover we had both picked up a little food poisoning so yesterday was basically all about sleeping, the toilet and watching tv. Both of us are feeling better today than yesterday so hopefully by tomorrow we'll be back on top of things.
Our last day at the animal park was a good one. We didnt work so just walked around. Saw three of the pumas that are kept at the park, saw some birds, got peed on one last time by a baby spider monkey called Alfito... it was a fun day.
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Friday, 25 May 2007
Last Day at Inti Wara Yassi
Today was our last day at Inti Wara Yassi. Sad to be leaving but exciting to be moving onto something else and getting away from being used as a toilet all day by monkeys and used as a smorgasbord for the sand flies and mozzies.
Tomorrow Craig and I will walk around and take photos of one of the pumas who our roommate walks on a daily basis so we should be able to get somewhat close to it. Then in the arvo we take a bus and then another bus to get to La Paz in Bolivia and from there we somehow have to get to Lima, Peru for our Peru tour. Again, the plans are a bit unclear at the moment but it'll work out.
I took heaps of photos today of the monkeys. I have posted three of the best on the website that I linked to last time. The rest I can bore you all with when i get back from holidays.
Tomorrow Craig and I will walk around and take photos of one of the pumas who our roommate walks on a daily basis so we should be able to get somewhat close to it. Then in the arvo we take a bus and then another bus to get to La Paz in Bolivia and from there we somehow have to get to Lima, Peru for our Peru tour. Again, the plans are a bit unclear at the moment but it'll work out.
I took heaps of photos today of the monkeys. I have posted three of the best on the website that I linked to last time. The rest I can bore you all with when i get back from holidays.
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Couple of photos
Its getting late and i have no monkey photos but here are two photos i took from earlier on in the holiday. Mainly just for me to see if it works ok or not. I could paste them here i guess but the photos are 1 mb each and might eventually make this web page slow to load.
I hope to take monkey photos tomorrow if the weather will come good.
Go here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/damien.evans/Holiday2007
Only 3 days left with the spider monkeys. The one that bit me died today of internal injuries from his fall after being attacked by the monkeys the other day. So that was sad.
Last night I slept the night in the jungle, under a hammock in the area that Craig is currently working in during the day. The idea behind this is that a little while back, some capuchin monkeys went missing overnight. Possibly poachers took them. So now every second night two people have to sleep in hammocks in the area where they live in the jungle. The idea is you should go to sleep but if you hear monkeys making a racket, then look into it. There was no action. I slept very little last night though because the hammocks werent comfortable at all. It was also cold even though i had the polar fleece on, a Magpies beanie, a sleeping bag draped over me and a capuchin monkey sleeping on my chest. I slept for the first half of today back at the hostal before working after lunch. A few beers after work and i am ready for bed.
I hope to take monkey photos tomorrow if the weather will come good.
Go here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/damien.evans/Holiday2007
Only 3 days left with the spider monkeys. The one that bit me died today of internal injuries from his fall after being attacked by the monkeys the other day. So that was sad.
Last night I slept the night in the jungle, under a hammock in the area that Craig is currently working in during the day. The idea behind this is that a little while back, some capuchin monkeys went missing overnight. Possibly poachers took them. So now every second night two people have to sleep in hammocks in the area where they live in the jungle. The idea is you should go to sleep but if you hear monkeys making a racket, then look into it. There was no action. I slept very little last night though because the hammocks werent comfortable at all. It was also cold even though i had the polar fleece on, a Magpies beanie, a sleeping bag draped over me and a capuchin monkey sleeping on my chest. I slept for the first half of today back at the hostal before working after lunch. A few beers after work and i am ready for bed.
Friday, 18 May 2007
Got Bit
Ok, its pouring down outside today but luckily both Craig and i had already planned to take a day off to organise further travel and just take it easy. A much better option than sitting under a small shelter with about 20 wet and cold monkeys all slowly getting on each others nerves because they are bored which is what took place yesterday afternoon.
The day after I wrote my last blog update about how i hadn't been bitten yet, I went and got bitten. I was holding the lead on a male spider monkey called Frodo who is fairly new to the park and still getting used to things. He can be fairly jumpy but had given me no trouble. His lead was a bit tied up around a branch so I deftly let go of his lead with one hand and grabbed at the lead closer to his neck with the other. Well my lightning quick movement scared the living carp out of Frodo and before I've known it he's gone the bite on my hand before jumping back and making scared and excited noises. I then had to calm him down before handing him to someone else and heading off to the clinic. Luckily it didn't need stitches or anything, just some betadine stuff to keep the germs out. Fortunately it was just a bite done out of fear rather than an attack which i really can't see him doing.
Later that day Frodo got attacked by 5 other monkeys. Being new I guess they were testing him out. I promise i didn't organise the attack as payback! :) Anyway, he was even more freaked out than usual so i took him for a walk and we sat in the middle of what is a kind of stable landslide in the jungle and soaked up some sun. Very relaxing actually.
I still don't have any photos to post of the monkeys but i might take the camera along tomorrow if the weather is nice. The danger is having a capuchin monkey steal it so its tricky.
The day after I wrote my last blog update about how i hadn't been bitten yet, I went and got bitten. I was holding the lead on a male spider monkey called Frodo who is fairly new to the park and still getting used to things. He can be fairly jumpy but had given me no trouble. His lead was a bit tied up around a branch so I deftly let go of his lead with one hand and grabbed at the lead closer to his neck with the other. Well my lightning quick movement scared the living carp out of Frodo and before I've known it he's gone the bite on my hand before jumping back and making scared and excited noises. I then had to calm him down before handing him to someone else and heading off to the clinic. Luckily it didn't need stitches or anything, just some betadine stuff to keep the germs out. Fortunately it was just a bite done out of fear rather than an attack which i really can't see him doing.
Later that day Frodo got attacked by 5 other monkeys. Being new I guess they were testing him out. I promise i didn't organise the attack as payback! :) Anyway, he was even more freaked out than usual so i took him for a walk and we sat in the middle of what is a kind of stable landslide in the jungle and soaked up some sun. Very relaxing actually.
I still don't have any photos to post of the monkeys but i might take the camera along tomorrow if the weather is nice. The danger is having a capuchin monkey steal it so its tricky.
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Itchy, tired but enjoying da monkeys
Well we've done about a week worth of animal park work now. It's going well. In fact i will keep this quick cos i am tired and its now 10.20pm and i want to go to bed. I get up at 7am every day, eat brekky at 7.30am and am working by 8am. Work finishes at 6.30pm and then usually its a shower to wash the monkey off the body, down to a local restaurant where we drink a couple of beers, eat a large meal and sometimes the three of us sharing a room at the hostel are all in our beds by 10pm. We are so tired by the end of the day. We have decided to pay to rent at a hostel nearby rather than living in either of the two hostels that the park provides as part of the 'cover charge'. Apparently the standard of the two places is pretty bad. A guy today was telling me how his feet are itchy due to bug bites while at work but its ok because the bed he's sleeping in probably hasnt had the sheets changed for two or three of its last occupants so he can just rub his feet on the sand on the sheets and that makes them feel better. Gross. So many people get sick too. Yet for the equivalent of about $3 australian a night we are in a hostel that mostly has hot water and is mostly clean and the sheets do get changed. Yet some people are still so tight about it! Its worth the extra money to stay healthy i reckon.
We are basically healthy apart from my hands. The sandflies and mozzies seem to hang around the spider monkeys and since using bug repellant isnt good for the monkeys, we cant wear any so i wear long sleeves even on the warmest days and just get bitten on my hands. My hands look like i've got smallpox or something. A dude told me that today actually. I have got to get to the tourist centre where apparently they have something that is 'natural' and that i can wear around the monkeys. Otherwise i will just have to put up with it. Its not a big deal, just a bit annoying. And itchy. At least no monkeys have bitten me yet. Two girls in the group of 5 people who look after the spider monkeys today copped a bite. One from a capuchin monkey when a girl tried to scare it away from the spider monkeys food (three stitches to the back of the head for her trouble) and one from a slightly nervous new male spider monkey who just got a fright from another monkey and decided to turn on the poor girl sitting next to him. It was just a couple of quick bites before he calmed down. He almost seemed to realise he had done wrong too cos he was going up to the girl afterwards and making cooing noises like he felt bad or something. She just needed a bandage to the arm. It reinforced for me that even though most of the time they are really gentle animals, they can go a bit nuts at a moments notice. But generally they are fine and fun to be around. :)
Ok, dead tired so gotta go.
Cannot believe the Pies are still winning! I should definitely go away more often...
And yeah, tasmanian tiger, tasmanian devil, whatever!
We are basically healthy apart from my hands. The sandflies and mozzies seem to hang around the spider monkeys and since using bug repellant isnt good for the monkeys, we cant wear any so i wear long sleeves even on the warmest days and just get bitten on my hands. My hands look like i've got smallpox or something. A dude told me that today actually. I have got to get to the tourist centre where apparently they have something that is 'natural' and that i can wear around the monkeys. Otherwise i will just have to put up with it. Its not a big deal, just a bit annoying. And itchy. At least no monkeys have bitten me yet. Two girls in the group of 5 people who look after the spider monkeys today copped a bite. One from a capuchin monkey when a girl tried to scare it away from the spider monkeys food (three stitches to the back of the head for her trouble) and one from a slightly nervous new male spider monkey who just got a fright from another monkey and decided to turn on the poor girl sitting next to him. It was just a couple of quick bites before he calmed down. He almost seemed to realise he had done wrong too cos he was going up to the girl afterwards and making cooing noises like he felt bad or something. She just needed a bandage to the arm. It reinforced for me that even though most of the time they are really gentle animals, they can go a bit nuts at a moments notice. But generally they are fine and fun to be around. :)
Ok, dead tired so gotta go.
Cannot believe the Pies are still winning! I should definitely go away more often...
And yeah, tasmanian tiger, tasmanian devil, whatever!
Wednesday, 9 May 2007
Monkey Business
Hi there. Well we've now spent two full days of working at the animal park and it's so cool! I've been assigned to being in the group of 5 people who look after the spider monkeys. Yesterday being my first day i was hanging out and helping with the capuchin monkeys just to get used to the whole thing. Capuchin monkeys are small and smart. Today I was standing next to where a capuchin monkey was feeding and it put two pieces of mandarin in my hand and was trying to close my hand over the mandarin to let me know that my job was to squeeze it really hard so it could drink the juice. Clever stuff! Then it was picking up my hand and trying to make me bash it on the mandarin to soften it up. Their brains are always ticking over. I can't carry a wallet or anything in my pockets either. They are expert pick-pockets and I gather that some were trained in the art before being rescued and sent to the park. Today i had every single pocket on my parka thoroughly searched. I had a 10 bolivian dollar note in one pocket and had to be really quick to get it out and stash it in my shoe before it was seen.
While yesterday was like a hot day in Queensland with the muggy heat, today was cold and rained a lot. After we had fed them lunch none of them had much energy so i was sitting down with two spider monkeys on each leg trying to keep warm and a capuchin monkey curled up around my shoulders. It easily makes up for having to clean out the cages where some of them have to sleep at night. It also makes up for coming home filthy due to muddy ground and a complete lack of interest in toilet training (so yeah, covered in urine and worse!) and then finding the shower is freezing cold. Mostly the monkeys we have most to do with are those that are new to the park so are on a leash until they can be trusted not to run away and to make sure they will be accepted by the group. There are a few of those. The older monkeys tend to be much more independent and don't seem to have much interest in us which is a good thing. I gather there is a plan to release some back into the wild at some point which is good because there are about 30 spider monkeys now and that's a little too large a group.
Other animals in the park are coatis ( weird raccoon-like creatures which are really only dangerous to your sense of smell cos they pong bad), howler monkeys, a couple of large local tortoises I saw ambling along a walking track, a few pumas, three ocelots (I haven't seen any of the cats yet as they are generally kept out of the way of the general public for obvious reasons), birds like toucans, parrots etc and various small animals like some sort of really vile weasel like creature that gets walked on a leash that has a stiff pipe in the middle so it can't attack the person walking it because they would happily rip your hand to shreds if they could. I saw two being walked today and they were angry little beasts. Tasmanian Tiger angry!
Ok, I've gushed about the animals for long enough. Time for sleep. I hope all is well back in Melbourne!
While yesterday was like a hot day in Queensland with the muggy heat, today was cold and rained a lot. After we had fed them lunch none of them had much energy so i was sitting down with two spider monkeys on each leg trying to keep warm and a capuchin monkey curled up around my shoulders. It easily makes up for having to clean out the cages where some of them have to sleep at night. It also makes up for coming home filthy due to muddy ground and a complete lack of interest in toilet training (so yeah, covered in urine and worse!) and then finding the shower is freezing cold. Mostly the monkeys we have most to do with are those that are new to the park so are on a leash until they can be trusted not to run away and to make sure they will be accepted by the group. There are a few of those. The older monkeys tend to be much more independent and don't seem to have much interest in us which is a good thing. I gather there is a plan to release some back into the wild at some point which is good because there are about 30 spider monkeys now and that's a little too large a group.
Other animals in the park are coatis ( weird raccoon-like creatures which are really only dangerous to your sense of smell cos they pong bad), howler monkeys, a couple of large local tortoises I saw ambling along a walking track, a few pumas, three ocelots (I haven't seen any of the cats yet as they are generally kept out of the way of the general public for obvious reasons), birds like toucans, parrots etc and various small animals like some sort of really vile weasel like creature that gets walked on a leash that has a stiff pipe in the middle so it can't attack the person walking it because they would happily rip your hand to shreds if they could. I saw two being walked today and they were angry little beasts. Tasmanian Tiger angry!
Ok, I've gushed about the animals for long enough. Time for sleep. I hope all is well back in Melbourne!
Friday, 4 May 2007
A couple of Pedro's in San Pedro
With both Craig and i having a middle name of Peter, it´s kind of apt that we've enjoyed the best part of our travel so far in a small town named after Saint Peter - San Pedro De Atacama. It's still in Chile near the Bolivian border and is about 2400 metres above sea level so we were taking the odd deep breath when we arrived due to the thinner than usual air.
We arrived after another gruelling bus ride, this one of 22 hours plus a connecting bus of about an hour and a half. So it was back to walking around like zombies for a while after that.
In fact, we were lucky we didn't do enough research really because we'd been hoping that we could travel straight from San Pedro through to Bolivia but it turns out that's not the case. Fortunately we ended up at the best town so far. It's got dusty roads, small white buildings, is extremely small and has a very relaxed atmosphere. There is not a cash register to be seen (it´s all paper receipts) and the food is good. Like a beachside resort in the middle of the Atacama Desert. We experienced the desert up close yesterday when we got stranded in it...
We had taken a tour that had us swiming/floating in some salt lakes, we then had a dip in another lake that was great for washing off all the salt and nearly froze us to the bone and then we were driven to a great expanse of salt that was a very dry lake in order to get photos of the sunset. It wasn't the best organised tour and there were only four of us on it but it was worth the money until on the way back our driver got bogged. Everywhere surrounding the area is just dry mud. Very dry and kind of pocked a bit like the top of a pavlova when you try to make those curls on it. Well that´s how it looked to me! Anyway, there are flatter bits that the 4 wheel drive uses as roads but our driver seemed a little too distracted by the very easy on the eye young lass in the passenger seat and suddenly our road had run out. He decided to keep going but we then got bogged in dry mud. It was dark at this point and cold, we were in bathers and thongs and he told us to walk back to the road! Not wise but the four of us stumbled and tripped along by the light of a full moon until we got tired of doing that and stopped. Eventually help came and we had to walk back to the 4 wheel drive where we tried a few tricks to get it out but it was stuck good and proper! At that point the 4 wheel drive was written off as a No Wheel Drive and we piled into a larger 4 wheel drive that got us back home safely. So yeah, the Atacama Desert is very nice but freakin' cold at night. I guess that's deserts for ya. (Not so with desserts however which come in both hot and cold varieties.)
So much else has happened but this has blog entry rambled on long enough. To summarise somewhat... we spent some time in Valparaiso which is a town on the west coast of Chile above Santiago. The main standout there was the poverty. So many people running street stalls where they seemed to be just selling bits of pieces of junk from their homes in order to get by. Very sad.
Today we got up at 3.30am to catch a bus that drove us to see some geysers that were up at 4400 metres. Because we were gained so much altitude so quickly we were told not to exert ourselves too much and were even given some coca leaf to chew which is quite legal in Chile as long as you don´t go around turning it into cocaine. They frown on that. :) The leaf is supposed to help with altitude sickness. Not sure it did as i didn´t feel much at all from it. Anyway, the geyser was pretty cool and i love they way they pronounce it as 'geezer' as it sounds straight out of The Bill. We then saw some alpacas, ate an empanada, saw some sort of ostrich variant and came back to San Pedro where we both had a well earned afternoon nap.
It´s now time for a couple of beers before dinner. Not sure when i will write next. We are trying to get to a place in Bolivia called Inti Wara Yassi which is an animal shelter where we plan to volunteer for about three weeks. The thought of getting to hang out with monkeys, pumas and other animals that have been rescued from dodgy owners sounds fantastic and I can't wait! The only tricky bit is getting there. We want a train but a bus is again looking like the best option! We'll figure it out as we go i guess. Seems to be working for us so far!
Cheers, D
We arrived after another gruelling bus ride, this one of 22 hours plus a connecting bus of about an hour and a half. So it was back to walking around like zombies for a while after that.
In fact, we were lucky we didn't do enough research really because we'd been hoping that we could travel straight from San Pedro through to Bolivia but it turns out that's not the case. Fortunately we ended up at the best town so far. It's got dusty roads, small white buildings, is extremely small and has a very relaxed atmosphere. There is not a cash register to be seen (it´s all paper receipts) and the food is good. Like a beachside resort in the middle of the Atacama Desert. We experienced the desert up close yesterday when we got stranded in it...
We had taken a tour that had us swiming/floating in some salt lakes, we then had a dip in another lake that was great for washing off all the salt and nearly froze us to the bone and then we were driven to a great expanse of salt that was a very dry lake in order to get photos of the sunset. It wasn't the best organised tour and there were only four of us on it but it was worth the money until on the way back our driver got bogged. Everywhere surrounding the area is just dry mud. Very dry and kind of pocked a bit like the top of a pavlova when you try to make those curls on it. Well that´s how it looked to me! Anyway, there are flatter bits that the 4 wheel drive uses as roads but our driver seemed a little too distracted by the very easy on the eye young lass in the passenger seat and suddenly our road had run out. He decided to keep going but we then got bogged in dry mud. It was dark at this point and cold, we were in bathers and thongs and he told us to walk back to the road! Not wise but the four of us stumbled and tripped along by the light of a full moon until we got tired of doing that and stopped. Eventually help came and we had to walk back to the 4 wheel drive where we tried a few tricks to get it out but it was stuck good and proper! At that point the 4 wheel drive was written off as a No Wheel Drive and we piled into a larger 4 wheel drive that got us back home safely. So yeah, the Atacama Desert is very nice but freakin' cold at night. I guess that's deserts for ya. (Not so with desserts however which come in both hot and cold varieties.)
So much else has happened but this has blog entry rambled on long enough. To summarise somewhat... we spent some time in Valparaiso which is a town on the west coast of Chile above Santiago. The main standout there was the poverty. So many people running street stalls where they seemed to be just selling bits of pieces of junk from their homes in order to get by. Very sad.
Today we got up at 3.30am to catch a bus that drove us to see some geysers that were up at 4400 metres. Because we were gained so much altitude so quickly we were told not to exert ourselves too much and were even given some coca leaf to chew which is quite legal in Chile as long as you don´t go around turning it into cocaine. They frown on that. :) The leaf is supposed to help with altitude sickness. Not sure it did as i didn´t feel much at all from it. Anyway, the geyser was pretty cool and i love they way they pronounce it as 'geezer' as it sounds straight out of The Bill. We then saw some alpacas, ate an empanada, saw some sort of ostrich variant and came back to San Pedro where we both had a well earned afternoon nap.
It´s now time for a couple of beers before dinner. Not sure when i will write next. We are trying to get to a place in Bolivia called Inti Wara Yassi which is an animal shelter where we plan to volunteer for about three weeks. The thought of getting to hang out with monkeys, pumas and other animals that have been rescued from dodgy owners sounds fantastic and I can't wait! The only tricky bit is getting there. We want a train but a bus is again looking like the best option! We'll figure it out as we go i guess. Seems to be working for us so far!
Cheers, D
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