A Quick Update (Quupdate)

So as many of you may have heard, Nate and I got robbed. Someone broke in to our house while we were sleeping and stole our computer and our debit/credit cards. It's a hard-knock life. We're both okay, and they only put us back one crappy, broken computer. It could have been a lot worse.

In other news, life with the monkeys is great. I would like to post some pictures, but our camera is broken. I can now recognize all of the monkeys and they have gotten  to know me pretty well. Hanging out with them is a lot of fun. I have 2 weeks left at the Jaguar Rescue Center, then I must kiss my furry friends goodbye.

I'm about to run out of prepaid internet time, so I must bid you adieu. I hope everyone had a super Thanksgiving.

Kia

Hey Friends,
Sorry it's been so long. I've been quite busy wrangling monkeys. Nate and I have now been in Puerto Viejo for two weeks. We've moved in to our apartment and it's great. Living in hostels is pretty tiring, so it's nice to have a home base for a while. This place is bigger and nicer than our last apartment, and it is much cheaper. Its right up against the jungle so we get some pretty fun and some pretty gross visitors. Lots of cool birds and lots of bugs. Here's my favorite gross bug I've found in our home.

 

I know this appears to be a turd, but it is actually a slug. Turd-slug. We also had a plague of toads travel through our front porch. 

I started working at the Jaguar Rescue Center a few days after we arrived in Puerto Viejo. The Center is run by a couple, Sandro and Encar, who both have backgrounds in biology. It's not a sanctuary or a zoo. What's special about it is that almost all of their animals are released in to the wild. The only permanent residents are animals who could not survive on their own. Currently they have snakes, howler monkeys, two-toed sloths, caimans, dozens of birds, a porcupine, possums, a margay (wildcat), frogs, horses, tarantulas, a coati and a white-tailed deer.

Life at the Center is pretty relaxed. I spend most of my time either cleaning cages, monkeysitting, or watching after baby sloths while they get their exercise. Everyday the monkeys and the coati go to monkey school. Monkey school involves two volunteers hiking in to the forest with arms laden with baby monkeys. In the forest we lay out a blanket and release the the little guys in to the trees. A group of wild monkeys knows we show up at the same time everyday and meets us to play with the babies. Some of them are too young or scared to go in the tree so they sit on the blanket with us and take a nap. Once it's time to go back the monkeys see us packing up the blanket, scamper down the tree and jump on our shoulders for the walk home. Monkey school is designed to get the monkeys used to being in the jungle and dealing with their own species in the wild. Once a monkey is ready to be wild again it just wont come back down from the tree at the end of the day. It's entirely up to the monkeys to decide when they are ready; we don't make them stay or go.

I get to spend a lot of time napping in the jungle with lots of little primates, but there have been some exciting moments. Sometimes one of their previously released monkeys, Conga, comes down to the kitchen and begs for bananas. Yesterday Conga's neck and stomach was covered in horrible pustules. What she had was botfly larvae living in and feeding off her flesh. Me and the other volunteers stood and watched as Sandro and Encar sedated her and began removing the larvae. It was easily one of the grossest things I've ever seen. Too gross to describe in detail here but if you're interested, you can watch botfly larvae being extracted in this video. (WARNING: Do not watch if you're easily grossed out. Seriously.) After a few minutes of intense emergency medical attention, Conga was released. We've seen her since and she's looking healthy and happy. Monkey injuries seem pretty common. A few days ago one of our monkeys fought with one of the wild males and now has bandaged feet and a big nasty bite wound on his leg. Luckily his wounds aren't that serious and he should heal just fine.

I really like working at the Center. Hanging out with the animals is really great, and all of the people I've met there are really nice. Now please enjoy these pictures of me playing with cute non-human babies.

This is a baby opossum. Kind of cute in an ugly way.

Punxiulina, the baby porcupine. Friendly and pokey isn't a super great combination.

This is India, an adult two toed sloth. When I clean the sloth cage India follows me around and tries to give me kisses.

Me with a monkey (Chepito) on my head. They like to be carried around like this all the time.

Brad Pitt and Chepito hanging out on my belly.

This is Xai, a white-tailed deer. Yes, that's a monkey on my head.

Hanging out at monkey school.

This is what I do three hours a day.

Now please enjoy this video of cute baby monkeys.

xoxo

Kia

Our time in Bastimentos is has to an end.

On Tuesday we paddled around the bay in a kayak with some friends we met at the hostel.

We spent most of Wednesday exploring Nivida Cave. The cave is thought to be Panama’s longest, but no one has reached the end yet. We took a boat through some beautiful mangrove swamps and hiked for several minutes through dense jungle and chocolate trees before we reached the entrance.

Mangroves

Cave entrance.

Once inside we were instantly swarmed by thousands of bats. The cave is covered in beautiful limestone formations, and a small stream flows through the bottom. We waded through water anywhere from ankle to neck height before we reached a small but deep pool. On one side a small waterfall filled the pool with cold cave water, and on the other there was a large rock formation off of which you could jump into the muddy water. Nate took the plunge, but I wasn’t as brave.

 All those little black dots on the ceiling are bats.

 

Yesterday Panama celebrated  its independence from Colombia. Part of the tradition here is for people to start playing drums at four in the morning and drum until the sun comes up. After the drumming the whole community met at the school for reenactments of history, music and dancing. The celebrations ended by the whole town marching in a parade down the main street, or rather, main sidewalk. All the adults wore their Sunday best and all kids dressed in brightly colored costumes. The boys drummed and girls, even little ones, shook their hips as they marched through the whole town. It was really fun to watch and much more lively than our Independence Day parade.

 

We’ve both really enjoyed our time in Bastimentos. The island is beautiful and we’ve met some really beautiful people. In the last post I mentioned Luis Antonio, the Puerto Rican artist who carves portraits in to driftwood. Luis has been working on a piece since we’ve been here and it’s nearly done. It’s a large piece of driftwood with a nude woman carved so expertly it almost looks like nature put her there. Until yesterday there were some traveling artists staying at our hostel. Steph and Duende specialize in making beautiful South American jewelry out of stones, wire and thread. They’ve managed to stay on the road for nearly six years now, floating from place to place selling jewelry. They’ve just recently set up a website so they can share their art on a larger scale. It's definitely worth taking a look. Meeting all these artists has inspired me to be creative on this trip. Another girl at our hostel, Liela, was traveling and selling jewelry as well. She was nice enough to show me how she weaves her bracelets and necklaces. I’ve been practicing and I’ve gotten pretty good. So who knows? Maybe one day I’ll spend years at a time drifting and selling handicrafts. It doesn’t seem like such a bad gig. Those guys are truly living the life.

Here's some pictures of Luis and his nearly finished sculpture. 

We left Bastimentos this morning. I'm happy to be back in Puerto Viejo, but I'm going to miss Bastimentos, especially the lack of cars. Nate and I spent all afternoon hunting for an apartment with great success. We move in to our own fully furnished, all inclusive apartment on Tuesday. Anyone who is cool enough to come visit us while we're here can crash on our couch for free :)

I start working at the Jaguar Rescue Center on Monday. I'm excited but also getting some new-job anxiety. I think it will turn out really well, though. I've heard lots of good things about the center. Stay tuned for pictures of me and my new monkey friends!

xo

Kia