Last week at the Zooanctuary

I bonded with a couple of the animals this week, first and foremost being Cheeky- the baby capibara.

The capibara is actually the world's biggest rodent, but this little guy is a lover. He is only 7 months old and was brought to the sanctuary after spending his first 6 months sleeping in a child's bed. Thus, he loves people and loves to be petted. I know I probably shouldn't be petting him, but he basically climbs into your lap and snuggles up. And who wouldn't love this face?

Leo the spider monkey loves climbing on people, he is so sweet.

Was not a huge fan of him hanging by his tail from my neck though. Man their tails are strong!

He is quite the fan of bananas and papaya. (:












I fell in love with Peanut, the squirrel that will eat out of your hand, he climbs all over you upon cage entry, and has a penchant for sunflower seeds.

Work that week varied, typically the mornings were spent feeding the animals and afternoons were all about manual labor.

I was able to shovel dirt/mud with other volunteers to level out the ground for a new enclosure.

We made the most of our time by sharing jokes. Lesson learned: my jokes do not translate well!


Two of the days I had to go to the local sawmill down the road to fill bags of sawdust for the pathways in the sanctuary and ground inside of animal enclosures. To be fair I was warned by a long term volunteer that it is a shock to the senses, but even though one is warned, reality presented itself as an assault to my senses and mind.

The images, smells, and sounds pounded on me from all directions, as I looked around and realized I am only spending hours here, that for some people, they will spend their whole lives there. From children ages 11 and up working the saws, with no protective gear, wood chips flying everywhere, my ears crying because it was so loud, to plumes of smoke billowing through from the burning discards pile. The second time I went I brought earplugs and those helped, but it didn't do anything to assuage my feelings of sadness for the employees who are probably making next to nothing, to the trees that are illegally harvested from the forests of the Amazon. The earplugs put me in my own bubble, one in which I could focus on the work at hand and try to ignore the reality of the situation. Life is like that, we often walk around with our own earplugs, or our own bubble of reality, yet when a wood chip flies into your face, your realize you really aren't so insulated after all.

The long term volunteer pointed out that the wood was harvested from the same place that a lot of the animals are from. Ironically now they walk on it in their enclosures. The tree that the macaw could have perched atop with the forest very distant below is now a part of the cage that will keep them flying only in circles.

I know that I could have refused to go, but I signed up for this gig, and I was not going to back out because I felt uncomfortable. Would me refusing to go have made any difference to the founders that received my money? No. It would have just made more work for the other volunteers. I seek to see as much as I can in life, and life is not pretty nor pleasant for a lot of people; this trip has shown me many sides of that. Does this mean that I want to see everything that is horrible and depressing? No, but if an opportunity presents itself I will see it, document it, and carry it with me, never to forget.

How often do we think about where the wood for our floors, tables, and furniture comes from? Whose hands cut it down from the forest? What was the age of the person who pushed it through the saws at the sawmill? Who owns the company that shipped it to the US and who is the CEO who is benefiting? What politicians family does this company feed? All questions worth pondering in order for us to be fully conscious consumers.

After the sawmill one of the days I helped to build a shelter for one of the animals, was able to practice my machete skills once again! Wonder if a machete could be brought back with me???

Thursday evening the group of us went to a place called the Casa de Arbols- well it was interesting. They have a gigantic tree on site that they built platforms around, you can climb up 13 floors and receive beautiful views all around.

While trying not to think about the fact that there are no building regulations here and that you can feel the floor shaking. The view was gorgeous.

On site there are walking trees, apparently they move 3 cm a year towards sunlight.

Try as I might, I didn't see them move.













In addition to the tree house there was a pool, with strange statues all around. I am guessing that in their summer season this place must be really popular, but to me it was just creepy.

Witness: where does one procure a statues such as this?

Upon leaving I saw that they had a pet monkey. Garh. The owner gave us a ride back to town (which he charged us for of course) whilst on the ride he ranted about the place we are volunteering. he stated that because they are a foundation they are allowed to keep animals in cages, yet they do not rehabilitate any of them. Why shouldn't he be allowed to keep monkeys out in the open then? At least they aren't in cages. I could see his point, and I did agree with the non-rehabilitation part, but keeping an animal with others of it's kind has to be better than keeping it at your house. It is the lesser of two evils I think, and evils of both of which I am not a fan. Yet here I am supporting them each in different ways.


Friday all of the volunteers but me left in the morning after breakfast, thus I thought I was in for a quiet day. Until I realized that my roommate left the door open and a monkey got in my room, stole my blush, and tore up 20+ tea bags all over my stuff. That evening as I was feeding the animals she (bad monkey)tried to steal food, I gently nudged her in the swamp/lagoon, and went in right after her. Not on purpose of course, but for the next 2 hours I had one really slushy boot.

As I was feeding the coaties, aka baby owl killers, one of them took a swipe at my hand, now I look like I have been in a fight with a wolverine.

After that I was stung by a wasp and had a biting ant attached to my scalp that I had to have a friend removed. Literally its pincers were in my scalp.


Next on the agenda was feeding the donkey, wherein which I was followed by the resident sheepdog. En route to feeding the donkey which is down the road a bit there are vicious dogs that live at the neighbors. Typically the neighbors are home and call them off. Of course not that night! As I was returning from the donkey one of the dogs charged me and I fought him off with the buckets in my hand, what did the sheepdog do? Tried to hump me right after. Was it a full moon?

After all of those adventures we fed coconuts to the monkeys, they loved them! It was a great way to end my time there.

Said goodbye to the zoostuarty on Friday evening, will miss Benji the most. He was a bright sunlight upon my days.

Next stop; the beach for the weekend. Picked up some water en route, because a baby drinking out of a plastic water bottle is totally natural right??? Right.

Banos-The bathroom of Ecuador

Saturday morning we said goodbye to four of the volunteers and the remaining 5 and I headed off to Banos for the weekend. It is known as a spa town, very popular for spa treatments, outdoor activities, and mineral baths.

It is very pretty, situated in a small valley with huge mountains on every side.

There is an active volcano, but no rumblings were felt other than our hunger. I admired the local fruit market, a lot of oranges to be sold. Makes me wonder why they ship them in from California?

I almost paid this man on the street to draw my picture, then thought better of it.

What did I do with my money in Banos? Had 80 minutes of heaven. That would be a massage. It was amazing. Although it was a strange feeling laying on this table naked while hearing the sounds of the street below. From people with loudspeakers shouting political messages in trucks, to bands, to sellers of every type of food. I tried to relax and enjoy it as best I could.


While perusing the streets of Ecuador I have noticed the large amount of trash in them. There is no shortage of trash cans though, but people seem a bit hesitant to use them. Maybe because they look like this?

The local candy in Banos is a taffy like substance that people pull and stretch in doorways. As unhygienic as it was, you know I had to buy some!

My review? It is okay. A good jaw workout whilst on the bus.










The local cathedral in Banos is gorgeous and has been re-built many times due to volcanic damage.

The walls of the interior are lined with huge depictions of their Santa Maria (which is a unique looking doll on the altar) saving the townspeople from multiple disasters over time. It was beautiful, although the doll was not my style.

Outside of the cathedral shops lined the square selling tchotchkes of every religious type.

Further down the street I saw my first (and hopefully last) cuy. Or guinea pig. So sad.

So I took a picture.









This town had a huge amount of people in it and navigating the streets was a bit frustrating. From cars everywhere, to tourists, to street vendors, it was a cacophony of Ecuadorean proportions.

That evening I checked into my hostel, basic but fine.

Boy did I appreciate the hot shower! And bathroom without sewage on the floor! It is the little things in life.

The group tried to go to the mineral baths that evening, but holey schamoley they were packed. Literally people in the pool standing shoulder to shoulder. We passed on that $2 excursion.

Dinner was at a restaurant that my guidebook recommended. It was advertised to tourists, had an extensive vegetarian menu, and it came in English. During dinner we had local musicians come play for us, they were excellent!

Dinner was not excellent. Received my meal with chicken, sent it back and received the same plate 2x with them just taking the chicken out of the noodles. I know some of you readers out there are thinking "This is Ecuador, get over it." But this restaurant was owned by an ex-pat, advertised to tourists, and knew better. I would expect this from eating at a locals only place, but not a place like this. Oh well. The french fries were good!

During our walk back to the hostel we contemplated taking a ride in the dinosaur mobile, but passed on it.

Sunday morning I took my life into my hands, or put it into the hands of some locals with really stretchy rope. The group of us went canyoning. This basically consists of rappelling down waterfalls.

Prior to this excursion, I thought I was the type of person to try anything. One waterfall in and I was so scared I almost cried.

I think adventure sports may not be for me. The whole time I kept envisioning being home safe with my dogs to give me something to focus on. I know pathetic. But hey, at least I tried it. Now I know I am not a canyoning gal. Hiking is so much more enjoyable to me, and will be my go-to activity in the future.







Post being scared out of my mind (but hey the views were gorgeous!) I did some grocery shopping and spotted a dog like Tuki!

Alas, it was time to return to the santuary/zoo. Let's call it zootuary for now.

At the bus station there are vendors selling the same thing at every stand. Sugar cane, candy, drinks, juice, and oranges. When you approach them they all yell and bang on their stands to get you to come over. I tend to purchase from the quieter ones. Who likes to be yelled at?

On the bus I had the joyous opportunity to watch a Jean Claude Van Damme movie.

Plot synopsis as follows:

Jean & family go to nightclub owned by a mobster. Mobsters son does a lot of cocaine and tried to rape Jeans wife. Jean intervenes, son pulls out knife, Jean deflects, son kills himself by falling on knife. Mobster finds out, vows vengeance. Rest of the evening is spent running and fighting with various criminals. In between he pulls out the bullets with his bare hands and puts on a lot of leather. Mobster kidnaps Jean's daughter. Jean goes to strip club to enlist old friend with large muscles. Retrieves daughter, hides her in a dumpster, fights a lot. Ends up killing mobster.

It was deep. All in Spanish dubbing, not sure why but so far every movie on the buses here has violence?

After the movie they turned on the lights. Blue lights with flashing rainbow colors.

I felt like I was in a bad dream.

Speaking of dreams last night I dreamt I was home. Then I woke up to monkeys crashing on the roof.

Today I was bitten by a monkey when I was feeding them.

So far this week is looking to be stupendous. (:

Sugar Cane & Sugary Drinks

Friday afternoon I hacked away at some sugar cane with a machete. I managed to do it without cutting my finger off too!

Post hacking we fed it to the monkeys, they enjoy it as much as I do. With sugar cane you simply chew on it to release the juices, then throw the fibery leftovers away.




During this I saw the LARGEST stick bug ever! Right after this picture the dalmation ate it.

in the evening a bunch of us went back to the local bar "Volcano" where I had a bit of a laugh at the drink titles and descriptions.

Whiskey sour is a whiskey shawer here.

Also apparently they boil the ingredients for a mojito. Tasted good to me!

Later that evening I admired their ingenuity and lack of safety requirements with electricity.

Note: the other end of this cord is outside in the pouring rain.

Money

Money makes the world go round doesn't it?

This vacation has taught me numerous lessons, the one occupying my mind at the moment is money. One tends to have deep thoughts about it when you are paying to haul gravel up hills.

Friday I found out the cost breakdown of what my money goes to here.

The cost to volunteer here is $150 per week.

$100 of this goes to the owners of the place, $50 to the volunteer coordinator. Out of this money she has to buy the volunteers breakfast and dinners. She also has to pay the owners $1 per volunteer per day for lunch (which is cooked by the owners wife.) So no wonder we do not have a plethora of amazing food, the volunteer coordinator has to pay for it out of her pocket! That doesn't make sense to me. To note: all of the other volunteers but me are here with organizations. They have paid their organizations $500 per week, still only $150 of it goes to the sanctuary/zoo. (Whew at least I didn't go that route!)

This especially didn't make sense to me Friday morning when I spent the morning hauling gravel up a hill. I found that with each bag I got grumpier and grumpier.
I do understand that manual labor is required to build animal enclosures and such, I just envisioned spending a bit more time learning about and working with the animals. I do know that there are a few organizations here that portray themselves the same way as this one, yet do not take tourists, I wonder if that makes a difference?

I guess part of it its my own fault, but once again it is managing expectations. My expectation of this experience was that I would be learning a ton about and helping out with animals. I guess I am helping in a sense, just not the way I thought.

If I were doing this work in exchange for room and board, akin to WWoofing last year, I would be a bit more ameniable to it. But the kicker for me is that I am paying.

This vacation is the first time that I have done paid volunteer work, and my expectation was that the bar would be set a bit higher, but once again here comes life teaching me lessons.

The book I am reading right now "The Road Less Traveled" postulates that we should re-frame our thinking about the uncomfortable and tough moments in life, for it is through those that we really learn what we are made of. It is when we relish them and the lessons they teach us, as difficult as they may be, that we really move forward in life. I always want to move forward, learning, thinking, growing, and hope that I can become bit more Buddhist about things, not have expectations, and be open to what life has in store for me.

The controlling part of me still sits on my shoulder though and says things like "You paid to haul gravel? What an idiot, if you are paying, you should be getting more out of it."

But this is the thing with vacations, traveling, and life. You can plan or try to plan as much as possible, but there will always be unknowns and bumps in the road. I am just trying the be the person who stops, listens and learns from them.

Lesson here? I think I paid too much.

3 Days of Monkey Poo

It has been an exciting 3 days here in Ecuador. Mornings are punctuated by animal feedings, which could be my favorite part of the day. To begin we cut up various fruits and vegetables for all of the animals. Most of them seem to love papaya, banana, and grapes. I still cannot keep all of them straight.

Post food prep we split up into groups and head out. With most of the animals you enter the cage, scrape the old food/poop off the feeding tables, then place the new food. I am getting to know all of the animals and their very different personalities.


There are titi monkeys as big as your palm that are so flipping cute one can understand why people would want them as a pet. I mean look at that cutie pie? Oh wait, they are wild.

There are also scary as hell capuchins that freak me out! They are straight out of a creepy movie. When you feed them you cannot go in their cage and have to place the food on troughs alongside the fence. There is one named Mario that slams himself at the fence and screams at you, it is completely unnerving. It also knocks all the food off the fence.

He does this repeatedly in addition to throwing pieces of wood at the fence. Today I tried to feed him worms to get on his good side. Didn't do a bit of good. Also you can't get too close to the fence with the bucket or they will grab it and scream.



Not everyone feeds all the animals everyday, it is by the schedule which could have you feeding large or small animals, or doing the dreaded "extra work" (usually means manual labor.)

I have fed almost all of the animals that we are allowed to feed (caimans & ocelots are not on that list) and I definitely have some favorites. Some of the animals will eat out of your hands, wheres others are wanting nothing to do with you.

Feeding the large parrots is definitely one of my least favorites, the parrots land on you and you have to duck quickly to get them off while feeling their claws digging into your skin through your shirt. It is as close as I will ever be to being in the movie "The Birds."

It is interesting to watch the other volunteers with the animals, we have a wide range of ages here, and most have little to no experience. The animals can really pick up on if you are anxious, and can get quite agitated. But how can we as humans not get agitated when these scary monkeys are flinging themselves at the fence at you?

This morning we were feeding the spider monkeys and one of the volunteers was playing with it and got bit. It drew blood! Yowza.

There are these rodent/guinea pig creatures and one of them is blind, he is adorable. He is waiting by the door for food and loves bananas. He eats it like corn on the cob, it is hilarious.

Side note on food, we feed these animals a plethora of fruit and vegetables, what do we eat? Rice. Bread. Pasta.


In one of the cages is a pygmy monkey, it is as small as your palm and it's companion within the cage is a squirrel. This is the cutest squirrel ever! It climbs all over you when you are feeding and cleaning the cage, it also likes to lick volunteers, maybe for the salt on their skin?


I am gradually learning all of the animals stories here as well. The other day I had the chance to chat with the volunteer veterinarian who is here. She is Spanish and has been here around 8 months. Through hearing her side of how she feels about this place, I am getting a more balanced view of it. It is amazing how hearing someones point of view can really tilt your opinion, as unbiased as I try to be. Through having the negative volunteer, to the slightly positive vet, I am trying to see it through different angles. My ever present optimistic heart is trying!


A lot of the animals here have spent a significant amount of time in peoples homes until people realize that they are wild animals and not meant to be pets. The vet explained how frustrating it is here in Ecuador, that so many people sell these animals on the sides of streets for people to have in their homes.

In Spain there is more money to rehabilitate animals thus it is frustrating to be here and feel powerless. Through talking with her I began to see this place from a bit of a different perspective, granted I still think of it as a zoo, but they really are doing a lot of good. Could they be doing more? Of course.


What are they doing that is good? They take in animals on a daily basis, either brought in by the police or by owners who can no longer handle them. In the few days that I have been here I have seen two boas, one guinea pig like creature, and a baby owl brought in.

The first morning I was here we all got excited to go watch the boa being released into the jungle, only to realize it escaped in the night. We were also excited about the guinea pig creature who is nocturnal, until they thought it escaped. Apparently it was just in its box, lol. No escapee there.

We were able to watch the other boa being released into the wild though.

It was a great feeling. It was offered to other volunteers to hold it before being released. I passed on that.



So I have these moments of knowing they are doing good, but other moments of knowing that so many of these monkeys and cats will live their lives forever in a cage.


What can they improve upon? Enrichments. Granted I am no animal researcher but I do know that when you put animals in a cage they need things to stimulate their minds or they will go crazy, Wouldn't you? Enrichments rarely ever happen here.
What else can they improve upon? The volunteers showers hot water has been broken for months, and there is a clogged drain in one of the bathrooms. Clogged drain=2 inches of raw sewage on the floor of the bathroom. I have a feeling that if this occurred in the owners house it would have been fixed immediately.

I know some people out there are reading this and thinking "Hello you are in a very poor country." Well, when it is as simple as a clogged drain that they just don't care about, yet I am paying $150 a week and spent an hour today trying to unclog it, it is annoying. I was on "Toilet cleaning" duty today, ummm not so fun.

After toilets what sort of adventure awaited me? Hauling gravel! Yes, this is a vacation.

Yesterday we were building an enclosure for one of the animals and we received word that one of the monkeys had escaped. When an animal escapes (which happens regularly) we all have to stay where we are until the animal is found and returned. In this case it was a very aggressive monkey, they had to tranquilize it!

The weather here has been VERY warm, apparently unseasonably warm when you talk to the locals. Sweat is pouring by 9 a.m. and you have to wear rubber boots due to all of the mud/poop.

Last night a bunch of us went into town for dinner, I had fantastic vegetarian pizza.

Pizza and rice punctuate my meals here. It was a great little restaurant, owned by an Italian man, Ecuadorian woman, and their kids. Wood fired oven and all.


Prior to dinner we did a bit of grocery shopping, how suprised was I to find oranges from California??????

Following dinner we headed out to the local bar aptly named "Volcano." I had fantastic margaritas and watched the locals shakin' their groove thang. One local woman who enjoys a lot of libations tried to get a group of us up and dancing, but we were glued to our seats. (:

I am really enjoying the dogs here, of which there are 5. Personal favorite is of course the golden, Benji.

He is a lover! I tried to get him to sleep in my room last night but one of my roommates let him out. Tonight he is all mine!





This evening when I was using the wifi the volunteer coordinator (that owns the english sheepdog) was petting the dalmatian (aptly named Dalma) and came across a critter. Right before our eyes she squeezed larvae out of its skin. It was completely disgusting and fascinating. Let's call is disgascinating. There is a fly here that when it bites you, it leaves its larvae under your skin. Gross.
Apparently it isn't canine biased either. Note to self, no friend of fly am I. I thought about taking a picture, but it made me want to vomit.


Our resident monkey of our cabin, Simona is a troublemaker.

But damn the girl is cute. Except when she poops and pees everywhere. We are supposed to be ignoring her, but look at that face! She does have a penchant for causing trouble in el bano, apparently she dragged one of the volunteers clothes into the shower.


We have to try real hard to keep her out of our rooms, but she is ever present on the porch, sometimes joined by her buddy, Thing.