First I would like to say thanks to all the people who is reading my blog, I really appreciate it. Some people, from close friends to people I haven't talked to in years, have sent me messages saying that they have been reading my blog and enjoyed it. Some are waiting for more while some are wishing me good luck with the rest of my journey. This makes me so happy :)
And now to what you were expecting to read about.
Working in Pilpintuwasi is great! I wanted to find a place to volunteer, where they didn't ask me for money just to touch and work with a monkey, but a place where they actually wanted and needed my help for the animals.
Daily tasks:
We are breeding mealworms for some of our monkeys and every morning we try to find the biggest ones to feed the monkeys. We also make monkey cookies for most of our animals, monkey toys for our english monkeys and our capuchin monkeys and try to catch grasshoppers for several of our monkey species.
Twice a day we need to go to the butterfly cage and look for butterfly eggs and move them to the hatchery. We do three observations each day of our Uakari monkeys that lives free on the property in order to learn more about them. In the end of the day we go fishing for our ocelot and our coatis. During the day we also get tourists and we give them tours.
When we have extra time, we go visit some of the animals to give them some company. Sometimes we also help the other workers with their tasks if needed. I helped Josè a few times. This guy is maybe 1,5m tall and his strength is incredible. We had to carry sandbags from one place to another. I could carry one and even though I used my back to support, it was really heavy! This little peruvian carried two! It doesn't sound very impressing, but it was.
I really feel that we are doing something for these animals. We work more for the animals than with them. I love doing the tours and teach people about the different animals and tell them about how some people eat them, hunt them, sell them, keep them as pets etc. I was very suprised by several things that I heard and so is the tourists. I also get to talk to a lot of travellers and we exchange stories and advices. Now I have many ideas about where to go.
I am suprised of how many tourists are in this area to go to a lodge and drink ayahuasca. It should be a drink for the soul. To me it sounds weird. It was originally used in indigenous tribes for religious rituals. Now many tourists come to try it. Most people I have met claims that after trying ayahuasca, they found themselves. They connected with themselves, their body, their mind and even the stars. Some says that they were reborn.
I don't know much about this plant and I haven't tried it. Therefore I can't really say much about it. I just think it is weird that so many people want this "drug" to help them with different problems. It seems to help though, if it is just placebo or if it actually has something to do with the plant, I can't tell.
A few stories from Pilpintuwasi
I was sitting outside on a bench while suddenly one of our uakari monkeys came running towards me. It was really fast and I was a bit scared it would attack me (it was one of my first days at Pilpintuwasi). When she reached me, she jumped onto my lap and started playing - pretty cute. It is not uncommon that our uakari kids will come to play on me when I sit down. Two times, one of them have crawled under my t-shirt which we both had fun with.
The uakaris also come to groom me. They jump onto my shoulder and start searching my hair for bugs or lick my arm and fingers as if they were removing bugs.
When I go to visit our saki monkeys I usually take a seat on the chair in their cage. As soon as I sit down, Manuel (one of the two saki monkeys) crawl up my leg and lays down in my lap, folded like a baby. He wont move until I leave.
I am happy that I decided to come here and volunteer and I feel that when I leave this area, I am ready to go to explore and travel a lot :)
And now to what you were expecting to read about.
Working in Pilpintuwasi is great! I wanted to find a place to volunteer, where they didn't ask me for money just to touch and work with a monkey, but a place where they actually wanted and needed my help for the animals.
Daily tasks:
We are breeding mealworms for some of our monkeys and every morning we try to find the biggest ones to feed the monkeys. We also make monkey cookies for most of our animals, monkey toys for our english monkeys and our capuchin monkeys and try to catch grasshoppers for several of our monkey species.
Twice a day we need to go to the butterfly cage and look for butterfly eggs and move them to the hatchery. We do three observations each day of our Uakari monkeys that lives free on the property in order to learn more about them. In the end of the day we go fishing for our ocelot and our coatis. During the day we also get tourists and we give them tours.
When we have extra time, we go visit some of the animals to give them some company. Sometimes we also help the other workers with their tasks if needed. I helped Josè a few times. This guy is maybe 1,5m tall and his strength is incredible. We had to carry sandbags from one place to another. I could carry one and even though I used my back to support, it was really heavy! This little peruvian carried two! It doesn't sound very impressing, but it was.
I really feel that we are doing something for these animals. We work more for the animals than with them. I love doing the tours and teach people about the different animals and tell them about how some people eat them, hunt them, sell them, keep them as pets etc. I was very suprised by several things that I heard and so is the tourists. I also get to talk to a lot of travellers and we exchange stories and advices. Now I have many ideas about where to go.
I am suprised of how many tourists are in this area to go to a lodge and drink ayahuasca. It should be a drink for the soul. To me it sounds weird. It was originally used in indigenous tribes for religious rituals. Now many tourists come to try it. Most people I have met claims that after trying ayahuasca, they found themselves. They connected with themselves, their body, their mind and even the stars. Some says that they were reborn.
I don't know much about this plant and I haven't tried it. Therefore I can't really say much about it. I just think it is weird that so many people want this "drug" to help them with different problems. It seems to help though, if it is just placebo or if it actually has something to do with the plant, I can't tell.
A few stories from Pilpintuwasi
I was sitting outside on a bench while suddenly one of our uakari monkeys came running towards me. It was really fast and I was a bit scared it would attack me (it was one of my first days at Pilpintuwasi). When she reached me, she jumped onto my lap and started playing - pretty cute. It is not uncommon that our uakari kids will come to play on me when I sit down. Two times, one of them have crawled under my t-shirt which we both had fun with.
The uakaris also come to groom me. They jump onto my shoulder and start searching my hair for bugs or lick my arm and fingers as if they were removing bugs.
When I go to visit our saki monkeys I usually take a seat on the chair in their cage. As soon as I sit down, Manuel (one of the two saki monkeys) crawl up my leg and lays down in my lap, folded like a baby. He wont move until I leave.
I am happy that I decided to come here and volunteer and I feel that when I leave this area, I am ready to go to explore and travel a lot :)
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