This morning I woke up in my mosquito net, a few new bites on my legs, got dressed, packed my backpack and walked down the Bolivian road next to speeding semi-trucks, motorbikes and, well, jungle. I ate breakfast at the cafe and then headed into the jungle with an Aussie girl and 4 guys to act as security guards while we passed through monkey mirador. She was taking me to meet Gato, the 14 year old male puma I am going to work with for the next 3+ weeks.
Yes, you read correctly, I am working with a puma. Today, we cleaned its cage and then took it for a walk. Sometimes he runs, sometimes he walks, and sometimes he just sits there and chills out. Today we spent over 3 hours sitting in the shade with Gatito (I'm pretty sure it won't always be this easy). Often he needs a little encouragement to keep moving, but usually it's okay to let him just lay. It was absolutely AMAZING. As I learned more about him and his habits I realized it is going to be a tough 3 weeks, but I believe it will all be worth it to help this puma have a better life...and besides, I walked a freakin puma thru the jungle today.
And to top it off, on the walk back to the refuge after we had fed the puma chicken and meat, I had to pick up a tortoise and carry him 200m down the road to put him away in a shed so no locals will steal him. Then a monkey jumped on my friends back and proceeded to empty the contents of her backpack onto the jungle floor. When he was thru with her he jumped on my back, but somewhere along the line picked up some peanuts. So I just walked down the road with him on my back, eating a handful of peanuts.
So yeah, I walked a puma today. If someone had said to me, at any point in the last 26 years, that I would walk a puma through the jungle, I would have called them a crazy faced person. And now, guess what...this is my life.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Top 9 Things I've Done In the Last Month-ish
Ok, so its been a little over a month since I last sat down and took the time to post. And now I have to play a little catch up. So here it is (my best attempt at typing on an English keyboard set up to type Spanish...i.e. cant find the question mark and other things), a quick review of the last monthy-ish...hope I don't forget too much.
1. Salkatay Trek to Machu Picchu. While the first night was freezing cold, it was still absolutely gorgeous and the entire hike was worth all the work. Machu Picchu was wonderful, even if it rained. And the hike up to Wayna Picchu was probably one of the hardest things Ive ever done, coming off a 4 day hike. But again, beautiful and totally worth it.
2. Volcan Misti. Yes, I am as surprised as you that I made it to the top of a 5825m mountain. I think it might have been the hardest thing Ive ever done...then again, 8x400m is far in the past and that might have actually been the hardest thing Ive ever done...not entirely sure.
3. Colca Cañon. While I didnt get to hike into the canyon, it was probably a blessing as I was still recovering from the Salkantay trek. So thank you mom for keeping me from descending 1000m to the oasis, and instead viewing from the miradores near Cabanaconde. Also, the cruz del condor stop was fantastic with Andean Condors flying within meters of us...massive and (again) beautiful!!
4. Parque Nacional Manu. Wildlife besides birds were scarce, but the company made up for it. The birds we did see included the Cock of the Rock - the National bird of Peru. It was quite an amazing (and funny looking) bird. Also saw a few GIANT spiders, fotunately NOT in the lodge.
5. Scaling the hostal wall in Nazca. If nothing else goes to show how much I disliked Nazca, the fact that I scaled the wall of my hostal because I was locked out and risked missing my bus if I didnt find a way in should probably presnt my case nicely. Several things went wrong in Nazca including a crappy hostal and the flu. So when it came time to leaving, nothing was stopping me. I circled the building, let myself into a concrete football field. Upon entering the 20 or so Peruvian boys aging 6-15 stopped mid game and watch the gringa walk across the field, climb the bleachers and examine the fence and brick wall which stood in her way. I was offered help but in the end I didnt need any. I climbed up the fence and used the unfinished mortar of the brick wall to get up on top of the second story wall. I then shimmied my way around the courtyard area to where there was an uncovered second floor I could let myself down onto. I let my friend in, we grabbed our bags, I left money on the table and we took off for the bus station.
6. Sandboarding and dune buggy in Huacachina. In a giant dune buggy we were driven around the sand dunes of Huacachina, occasionally stopping to sandboard. We used what appeared to be old snowboards to hurl ourselves on our stomaches down massive sand dunes. It was AWESOME. At the end we went to watch the sunset over endless dunes and returned to Huacachina to party the night away for Wills birthday.
7. Pampas tour. I headed to Rurre, signed up for a tour, and had the fortune of being put in a group with 4 people I met in Quito and have seen a few times throughout my trip South. This time, there was tons of wild life...Alligators (everywhere you looked), Capybara (also everywhere you looked), Caimen (scary as shit), several different kinds of birds, a few dead anacondas and a live one, a green mamba (deadly and we walked within a couple feet of it hanging from a tree), and MONKEYS!
8. Worlds Most Dangerous Road. It is no longer the worlds most dangerous road since the constructed a new one for all the cars to go on. And yet, it was still really scary. Pretty much all down hill on a gravel road with massive 100+ meter cliffs on the left. The best part...traffic switches sides so that the drivers can see how close to the edge the are and dont drive off. That also meant that us bikers had to bike on the left side as well, right next to the cliff. And while I hung out towards the back of the pack, I let myself gain some confidence and really didnt go much slower than anyone else. But I lived to tell about!
9. Uros, the floating islands. I was amazed at how these people live...on islands...the made out of reeds. They also make their homes, boats, etc, out of reeds. And they eat them! It was very cool.
1. Salkatay Trek to Machu Picchu. While the first night was freezing cold, it was still absolutely gorgeous and the entire hike was worth all the work. Machu Picchu was wonderful, even if it rained. And the hike up to Wayna Picchu was probably one of the hardest things Ive ever done, coming off a 4 day hike. But again, beautiful and totally worth it.
2. Volcan Misti. Yes, I am as surprised as you that I made it to the top of a 5825m mountain. I think it might have been the hardest thing Ive ever done...then again, 8x400m is far in the past and that might have actually been the hardest thing Ive ever done...not entirely sure.
3. Colca Cañon. While I didnt get to hike into the canyon, it was probably a blessing as I was still recovering from the Salkantay trek. So thank you mom for keeping me from descending 1000m to the oasis, and instead viewing from the miradores near Cabanaconde. Also, the cruz del condor stop was fantastic with Andean Condors flying within meters of us...massive and (again) beautiful!!
4. Parque Nacional Manu. Wildlife besides birds were scarce, but the company made up for it. The birds we did see included the Cock of the Rock - the National bird of Peru. It was quite an amazing (and funny looking) bird. Also saw a few GIANT spiders, fotunately NOT in the lodge.
5. Scaling the hostal wall in Nazca. If nothing else goes to show how much I disliked Nazca, the fact that I scaled the wall of my hostal because I was locked out and risked missing my bus if I didnt find a way in should probably presnt my case nicely. Several things went wrong in Nazca including a crappy hostal and the flu. So when it came time to leaving, nothing was stopping me. I circled the building, let myself into a concrete football field. Upon entering the 20 or so Peruvian boys aging 6-15 stopped mid game and watch the gringa walk across the field, climb the bleachers and examine the fence and brick wall which stood in her way. I was offered help but in the end I didnt need any. I climbed up the fence and used the unfinished mortar of the brick wall to get up on top of the second story wall. I then shimmied my way around the courtyard area to where there was an uncovered second floor I could let myself down onto. I let my friend in, we grabbed our bags, I left money on the table and we took off for the bus station.
6. Sandboarding and dune buggy in Huacachina. In a giant dune buggy we were driven around the sand dunes of Huacachina, occasionally stopping to sandboard. We used what appeared to be old snowboards to hurl ourselves on our stomaches down massive sand dunes. It was AWESOME. At the end we went to watch the sunset over endless dunes and returned to Huacachina to party the night away for Wills birthday.
7. Pampas tour. I headed to Rurre, signed up for a tour, and had the fortune of being put in a group with 4 people I met in Quito and have seen a few times throughout my trip South. This time, there was tons of wild life...Alligators (everywhere you looked), Capybara (also everywhere you looked), Caimen (scary as shit), several different kinds of birds, a few dead anacondas and a live one, a green mamba (deadly and we walked within a couple feet of it hanging from a tree), and MONKEYS!
8. Worlds Most Dangerous Road. It is no longer the worlds most dangerous road since the constructed a new one for all the cars to go on. And yet, it was still really scary. Pretty much all down hill on a gravel road with massive 100+ meter cliffs on the left. The best part...traffic switches sides so that the drivers can see how close to the edge the are and dont drive off. That also meant that us bikers had to bike on the left side as well, right next to the cliff. And while I hung out towards the back of the pack, I let myself gain some confidence and really didnt go much slower than anyone else. But I lived to tell about!
9. Uros, the floating islands. I was amazed at how these people live...on islands...the made out of reeds. They also make their homes, boats, etc, out of reeds. And they eat them! It was very cool.
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