The inca trail with diabetes - Machu Picchu

I had booked the 4 day classic inca trail months in advance to make sure that I would be able to do it when I got to Cusco. I have heard so many amazing things about Machu Picchu and the inca trail and I just hoped it would be as good as everyone said. When people hype a movie, song, event etc. too much, I find that it sometimes ruins the experience a bit. This is not the case for the inca trail and Machu Picchu! This journey just can´t be described in words or pictures - it has to be done.

Day 1

We had to meet up at a plaza in Cusco at 4:30am to take a bus to Ollantaytambo where we would have our breakfast. We were a group of 15 travelers, 2 guides, 20 porters and a chef. The breakfast costed 15 soles for a buffet with coffee, tea, fruit salads, juices, bread, meat, cheese, cereal and pancakes. A great breakfast + some time to wake up and get to know people - perfect. Afterwards we were driven to the starting point where we had our first group picture and some time to arrange our bags with the sleeping bags and mattresses that we got. - Don´t rent this from your company! - First of all it is more expensive than just going to a shop and renting it - which I fortunately did with hiking shoes, walking stick etc. - and secondly the sleeping bag and mattress that we got was huge and heavy! We just had to figure a way to carry it and I managed to stuff the Mattress into my bag while I attached the sleeping bag onto the bag.
We started walking uphill. It didn´t take much to make me breathless since it was a bit steep and the altitude was high. I had taken just two units of NovoRapid to the breakfast which had plenty of sugar, but all the hiking made me drop low. Just before the hike begun we got a small bag with a banana and some soda crackers as a snack until lunch - this was enough.

The first day was filled with sun. It was very hot but the view was amazing! Walking first along the huge river and then getting deeper into the mountains. After an amazing lunch it was just uphill until we reached the campsite. We walked 14km that first day. At the campsite we were provided with a bit of hot water, soap and a small towel each and I took a french shower (without the perfume/deodorant). There were a lady selling beer who had walked up from her small house along the path. We were a few people from the group enjoying an expensive beer on our first campsite on the inca trail - surreal feeling. By my request, ten of us played a namegame and since that game I remembered all of their names :) We then had our first happy hour before dinner! Tea, coffee and hot chocolate (for most of us this meant mixing coffee and hot chocolate since we couldn´t make up our mind), plenty of popcorn and crackers. We then had our first amazing dinner with a lot of variety and I ended the night playing cards in Zen and Sara´s tent with them and a few guys from the group.

Day 2

Today we had to walk 16km. It is said to be the longest and hardest day. Most km, only up and down hill and reaching the highest altitude of the trip - 4200m.
For breakfast we had plenty of carbs to help us with some energy. Pancakes, fruitsalad, pourage, cake and some coffee/tea. I took one unit of NovoRapid which turned out to be too much. Usually when I work out (dancing) I push myself hard and get up the pulse. The result is that my blood sugar is flying up and I need more insulin. Doing the hike is not like dancing. This is exercise all day! I believe this is the reason why the one unit was too much and I only needed to take the Levemir for the rest of the trip. I had expected to take more insulin because of the altitude and cold evenings, but no.

Today we learned how to chew coca leaves for altitude sickness and other benefits. First time it was a bit weird and after keeping it in your mouth for 20-30 minutes you need to chew it - not a pleasure first time. I got used to it though and now I´ve started to like it. Today I walked together with half of the group most of the time. We talked a lot and supported each other when it got hard. Just before reaching the campsite, we saw a big inca ruin. It was so impressive! Unfortunately it was foggy and we had a bad view. Russ, Nat and I decided to stay while the others went to the campsite to relax. After 20 minutes of walking around and exploring the ruins, it suddenly cleared up and we had an amazing view of the jungle and the mountains!

Day 3

Today we had a lot of rain! We walked in the rain trying not to slip and fall and hoped it would soon clear up. It was worst in the morning though. Most of the time the rain actually wasn´t that strong and it was not too bad in my opinion. We are in Machu Picchu and the weather is a part of the experience - as long as it is not foggy all the way :) When we reached the huge inca terraces, the sun came out and we had a great view and a history from our guide. The day was short and the place where we ate lunch was also our campsite. I went for a long walk back to the ruins with Russ after lunch and visited some other ruins with the group later on. In the evening we had our last happy hour with a huge delicious cake! The porters and the chef are so impressive! He manages to make pizza and cake in a pot and have a big variety of great food every day! A bunch of vegetables and proteins every day - it was the healthiest I had been eating for a while. The porters are in all ages and they all carry huge bags a lot bigger than themselves. They don´t seem to complain, they run ahead of you to make your tent and food ready and their bag does not even have support like ours does.
The rest of the night was again cardgames and going to bed early.

Day 4

We woke up at 3:00am, had a quick coffee, some bread and went directly for the check point. We wanted to be the first ones to enter when they opened at 5:30am. There was one group in front of us, but it was just 4 seniors who we got ahead of as soon as we were through the chekcpoint :)
We played cardgames for 2 hours before they opened the checkpoint and then we started walking towards Machu Picchu. There was one guy from the group ahead of me, who reached the sungate before me. When I arrived to the sungate he was already gone and it was only me and a guy who worked there. Almost alone on the sungate, the second person to get there and with the best view of Machu Picchu! This felt amazing. After 5 minutes a few more people from my group came and I started hiking shortly after. I then realized that I didn´t just want to hurry there if I was gonna do it alone. I started running back to meet my friends and then we hurried together :) We got to Machu Picchu quite early and had a great clear view of it. WOW! I have seen so many different pictures of Machu Picchu, but nothing can be compared to how it looks when you are there! I believe I enjoyed it even more after walking for 4 days to get there.

When all of the group arrived, we went down to place our bags, use a propper toilet (not a hole in the ground as for the rest of the trip) and then we entered the actual inca ruins. We walked around and got a great guidetour with plenty of information - very interesting! It is really impressive to hear about how they built it, what thoughts they had, why it looks like it looks and how they managed to transport such big rocks! After the guidetour, I stayed in Machu Picchu for another 3-4 hours with Russ and Nat. Walking around a bit and also just sitting, enjoying the view and enjoying being in Machu Picchu.

On the train back to Cusco we had a bunch of beers and rum. We celebrated the success of the trip and also that Cedric, who is around 30 years old, had his first train ride ever!
We played cards and got drunk and then went back to party all night in Cusco. The inca trail is an amazing experience which have given me a great memory for life and some amazing new friends. It is an expensive trip - but definetely worth every dollar!

Ps: On the trip I did a few dancing videos on different nice locations that I might edit to one short trailer from my trip to Machu Picchu. Hopefully I will find the time to edit the video and if I like the result, you will get to see the video. Anyway, how cool is it to say you have breakdanced on an inca ruin? ;)

Cusco & Insulin

On the way to Cusco my bus was two hours delayed. Fortunately I met Alex from France who I first met in Lima and then on Ballistas Islands - his bus was also delayed and we hung out for two hours talking and drinking beer.
It is amazing how you keep meeting the same people over and over again in different cities. In almost every city I´ve met someone that I´ve met before. I even met a danish couple and a week later I met the girl´s dad who was traveling with his wife.

Coming to Cusco was amazing and cold! After staying in Iquitos for 4 weeks and then going through the dessert, you are not used to the cold evenings they have in Cusco! Besides the cold and the changing weather, Cusco is a great city! It is really beautiful and has plenty of nice places to go. One of my first days I went on a free walking tour. The two guides took us around town for 3 hours showing us monuments, viewpoints, different cafe´s and restaurants where we f.ex. got to taste a piece of sushi, some chicha morada, choclos and chocolate tea for free. We were also shown to different museums and we got to see how they works with silver and alpaca wool. This is a must if you go to Cusco! 

My time in Cusco have been amazing so far! I get to relax a lot and hang out with different people on the hostel. I made new friends and went out for beers, dinners etc. This summer when I was hitchhiking in Europe, I met a girl from Spain. She is now working in Cusco for 4 months and we also met up for lunch which was great. I am taking my time here and trying to figure out what to do and where to go next.

Tuesday it was ladies night at the hostel. This meant that all ladies or anyone dressed as one, would get a free shot every hour from 9pm-01am. Tobias (a danish guy I met on the hostel) and I decided to dress up as girls and save some money on alcohol. We borrowed some clothes from Josse and Pernille (two other danish girls we met on the hostel) and got some attention and free shots in the bar ;) Later on we went with a bunch of people from the hostel to a club and danced all night, though in our normal clothes :)

I found out that January is a great month to travel in South America. I met a lot of peruvian, chilenian, brazilian and colombian travelers. Even more argentinians though! All of them have vacation now and are traveling. This is both great for me to practice my spanish and also a great opportunity to get some advice from locals and maybe even have a friend or two in one of my destinations :)



My diabetes have been acting a bit weird since end of december. Around christmas I suddenly went from taking no NovoRapid to taking 5-8 units for every meal! This lasted for a week and then went down to just 1-3 units pr. meal. Going from Iquitos to Lima, Lunahuana, Huacachina and Nazca have not really shown any pattern in the change of insulin. Some days I just need more than others, without having much to do with the food I eat. F.ex. I was on the flight from Iquitos to Lima and chocolate bars, vanilla crackers and soda crackers which was the food we got - I didn´t have to take any insulin! In Cusco which is a lot higher altitude, my use of insulin have been very low and is now down to none again, only the Levemir. It can´t seem to figure out why it changes all the time, but since I don´t see a pattern in the temperature change or altitude change, it might just be how relaxed I am. At the moment I am just really relaxing. I don´t worry about anything and take my time here in Cusco which is great for me and probably also my diabetes!

One more thing. I placed my hand luggage in the luggage room of the bus. Apparently this was a bad idea. Several heavy bags was thrown on top of mine, which resulted in most of my teststripboxes opened. I didn´t notice this until around 1,5 day later. I thought they would all be ruined. I tried measuring my bloodsugar with strips from 3 of the packs that were opened and one that was still closed - they all showed the same! I hope it will continue like this. I don´t know how it was possible since they are not allowed to get much air, but I am just very lucky and glad that they seem to still work fine.

New years eve in Lima, Lunahuana, Huacachina, Nazca

In Pilpintuwasi I met a group of friends from Oregon who I gave a tour in Pilpintuwasi and we talked for a bit. The same group of friends I met on the hostel I went to in Lima and I spent new years eve with them. There was a great party in the hostel. I helped with the grocery shopping to make it cheap and it ended up with food and a lot of alcohol for everyone for 20 soles each. I started early drinking red wine, whisky, rum and pisco and the food didn´t get ready until much later. Just before midnight I was smashed and as soon as I saw the fireworks, I went to bed. It was a great evening though and I met a lot of nice people. The following morning I was up before everyone else and went for along walk along the beach - amazingly quiet and beautifull in the morning sun!

I agreed with two girls from the hostel - Erin and Shea - that we should go to Lunahuana and Ica together and so we did.

Lunahuana is a very small village sorrounded by dessert mountains and with a big river next to it. When we got there, we went for a walk along the river and found a small treehouse just next to the river where we spent some time just relaxing. Extremely beautiful. The noize from the strong and wide river, the grapeplants around us and the big empty mountains. The following day we went for river rafting which was great fun and cheap!

In the afternoon we took a bus to Huacachina where we found a cheap hostel. As soon as we enter I spot the group from Oregon. Spencer, Ben, Jordan and Whitney. They had been out sandboarding and where going to Cusco later that evening.
In the evening I spent some time talking to Ben about couchsurfing, woofing etc. untill Spencer invited me to the bar and made me a great and strong rum and coke. We partied until he had to catch the bus to Cusco.

In Huacachina, Shea, Erin and I went sandboarding, dune buggy and went on a trip to the Ballistas Islands. I can only recommend people to do all of it! Great fun and incredible nature! Watching sea lions climbing from the water up on the rocks and some of them were fighting. Watching penguins and a bunch of birds outside a zoo. It was great!

Erin and I continued to Nazca. The owner of our hostel tried to sell us a flight going over the nazca lines for 430 soles each. I thought it was way to much and wanted to go ask tour agencies the following day. He kept offering me a lower price and I ended up paying 220 soles for a night in the hostel including open bar in the evening and breakfast in the morning + the flight over the nazca lines!

A few people that I met:

Lucas from Argentina. He hates the police and authorities. He had a visa to Peru for 60 days, but stayed 75. When he crossed the border they asked him to pay a fine which he refused. He thought it was stupid and he didn´t really have the money. He ended up going to jail for two days trying to convince they police that he did nothing wrong and shouldn´t be in jail. They told him that he could pay the fine and reenter Peru when he wanted to or he could spend more time in jail and never be allowed into enter Peru again. After the two days he asked for 5 hours to go sell some of his stuff to earn money in order to pay the fine, and so he did. Now he was with less than 50 soles trying to get from Lima to Bogota where he could get a job.

Carlos from Argentina and his two sons of 20 and 17 years. They are travelling around South America, trying to find the cheapest ways around and earning money for their journey by playing music on the streets. They are very talented musicians and gave a small concert on new years eve in the hostel. It resulted in a bunch of people, including myself, screaming out the lyrics of Yesterday by the Beatles :)

Spencer from Oregon. One of the guys from the group. He lives from fighting in UFC. Now he is on vacation and parties all the time. He has a lot of crazy stories to tell and he showed me pictures from UFC and of the bus that he bought - just to have a bus. What is most incredible is that he makes so many friends without knowing more than 5 words of spanish which is words like naked and drunk. In Huacachina we partied. he had just been there on night and already everyone in Huacachina knew him.

Christmas eve and more

I started the 24th of by buying a paneton to share for breakfast with the staff and the two other people at the hostel. Everybody was really happy when waking up to paneton :) I went to call my brother and wish him a happy birthday and we talked for 10-15 minutes which was nice. Liz and I went for a walk until she needed to take her flight back to Lima and Toni came and picked me up. First we went to his house - a very interesting and nice house. He showed me the great view from his terrasse and we talked while he played guitar. After a few hours we went to his sisters house. At first the family seemed very quiet. The sister has three kids - two boys around 13 and 19 and one girl around 16. They all spoke well english since their dad was from the states, but they didn´t say much. After around half an hour, the conversation really got going, they all became talkative and we had great conversations for hours. The two brothers showed me a computergame that one of them were programming, quiet impressive.
For dinner we had pizza with coca cola and champagne. Then I had brought a cake as a gift to the family for inviting me. When they pulled out the cake from the fridge, they all began to sing a birthday song for me - I was so overwhelmed with joy! Toni said that they couldn´t just skip a birthday in the family, they needed to sing for me :)
The evening was not a christmas with christmas songs or a tree, but it was with a family filled with love which was even better.

Around midnight, Toni and I walked to my hostel. We talked about "the alchymist" and about dreams. People having dreams but who don´t do anything to pursue their dreams. We also talked about beginners luck as described in the alcymist. During this conversation, I tried to figure out what I wanted in life, what was my dream. At first I couldn´t find an answer and I thought it was bad. I didn´t have a dream and therefore nothing to pursue or fight for. Then I realized I was fooling myself. I don´t know what I want to do for the rest of my live yet and what I want to be or where in the world, but I know what I want right now. My dream for many years was to go to South America, finally I was able to pursue it! This is the first step towards my future - one day at a time. I enjoy where I am instead of worrying to much about the future, and even though I try not to think to much about it, I know that I am getting closer to the answer every day :)
New years resolutions is somehow a sad thing. Why wait until new year to pursue our dreams or try to improve ourselves. If you know what you want, go get it now!


I had my last day in Pilpintuwasi last friday and went to town in the evening. On the boat it was quiet and there was a fullmoon, the most beautiful fullmoon over the river! I went to a new hostel where I met many other travellers in all ages. Some of them I knew from when they visited Pilpintuwasi. I stayed in a room with a man from Spain and two travellers from Argentina. I got to practice my spanish a lot and I heard some crazy stories and got a lot of traveling advice.
I have met so many amazing and interesting people the past week and it would take forever to write about it.
I liked being the only volunteer, I met more people on the tours and I talked more to the other workers and practiced my spanish. When I went to Iquitos, by coincidence I met people I showed around in Pilpintuwasi and it resulted in a beer with them, a walk or a change of contact information.

I decided to go change my flight ticket to Lima and go earlier (from the 5th of January to the 30th of December). I am ready to travel and I have to be in Cusco on the 8th of January. I figured that if I went to Lima earlier, maybe I would have time to visit Ica on the way to Cusco.

So far I have stayed 3,5 week in Quito and around 4 weeks in Padre Cocha. I really enjoyed it and feel that I have learned more about the cities and the culture. It is a very different experience to stay in a place for longer than just 4-5 days and get to know people. I have lived with locals both places which have also been an advantage. I hope to find another city later on where I can spend a few weeks trying to meet locals, find some dancers and also practice my spanish - but now I am ready to be on the run for a bit :)

December 23rd - My birthday

When I came to Padre Cocha, I found out that the two other volunteers at Pilpintuwasi would both leave around December 20. Before I came, I was hoping to meet other volunteers to spend my birthday and christmas with, but no.
I talked to Kathrin and she would be going to a lodge from the 23rd-25th where one of her friends worked. She asked if I wanted to join, but I thought that I would like to spend my birthday in town. I thought this meant that I had to spent my birthday alone.

The thought was actually ok. I didn´t really mind. I thought I would treat myself nice and just enjoy a quiet and relaxed day - have a good cup of coffee, a good meal and read my book. This actually sounded like a perfect birthday for me.

I was checked in to a hostel since the 22nd of December. I started the day by taking my first shower with running water since 3 weeks and trimming my beard for the first time on the trip. Then I checked my facebook around 10am after eating breakfast at the hostel and talking to Liz - a peruvian girl from Lima who had a short vacation in Iquitos. To my surprise, Antonio had sent me a message. Antonio is a mototaxi driver, who sometimes does guidetours. He had been in Pilpintuwasi with touristgroups twice and I talked with him both times. We got along very well and he liked to practice english. We exchanged contact information and agreed to meet up one day in Iquitos.
He wrote me, asking if I was in Iquitos. He wanted to celebrate me if I was. We went to meet at "Karma cafe" where we had a beer and garlic bread with guacamole - delicious. We talked about many different things. We both find it interesting to talk about beliefs and how the mind works. We talked about ayahuasca, religion, placebo effects and much more. I also taught him how to play backgammon, which he immediately loved. I felt so good! It was my birthday and I celebrated with a new great friend of mine, beer, guacamole,  backgammon and good music like Jack Johnson. I felt very comfortable and almost at home. Suddenly Antonio pulled out a book from his bag and handed it to me saying "happy birthday my friend". I was so suprised and overwhelmed with joy! The book was "The manual to the warrior of light" by Paulo Coelho. I red the Alchymist and thought it was a great book and I wanted to read more from Paulo Coelho. Toni told me what the book was about and it was perfect for some of the topics we had just discussed. I don´t know how he did it, but this book seemed perfect for me!

After a few hours we said goodbye and I went for some food. I found a restaurant where I ordered a pizza with green and black olives, red peppers, chorizo, parmesan, chili and oregano. This was the best pizza I have had in many years! Then I had half a jar of Cocona juice to drink with it. I couldn´t finish it and asked for a doggybag. I went outside, found a homeless woman and wished her a merry christmas with a piece of pizza, some juice and a few soles. Following I went for a walk and ended at the lobby in the hostel.

Liz came home after a daytrip to the jungle. We talked for a while, I got a birthday hug when she found out it was my birthday and a bit later she asked me if I wanted to join her for dinner. A guy from the hostelstaff suggested a good local place to go. It was a great evening and we had a lot to talk about. When we came home, we sat in the lobby with some of the staff and had a beer. At around 11pm Carlos (hostel staff), Liz, Agustin (a guy from Argentina who stayed in the hostel) and I went to a outdoor party that Carlos knew about. It was going on several evenings every week and was pretty much a local thing. It was great!
There was a big open tent where hundreds of people where standing looking to the stage or dancing. There was live music and girls dancing on stage. The music was great and the athmosphere even better! I couldn´t stand still for a second. We had a few beers, danced and after a few hours we returned to the hostel.

A birthday above all expectations and one I will never forget.

Christmas service in a church in Iquitos and more.

Sofia left Pilpintuwasi last sunday and Joscha had his last day tuesday. I am now the only volunteer left, which is sad, but also nice. I have a lot to do, so time flies. Gudrun (the owner) have been in town most days last week and therefore I had to do all the english guidetours.

This means that I get to talk to a lot of other travellers which is great - I love it! Many tourists come with a guide. I usually also talk to the guides which is very nice for practicing my spanish. Some of them speaks english which is also nice, since Gudrun is the only other person speaking english and she haven´t been around much last week.

All volunteers who stay with Humberto and his family get´s a little present from the family. The daughter, Lesi, made a bracelet and a necklace for me which was really nice :)

Wednesday evening I went to town to meet Joscha and Kathrin. We had agreed to meet up and say goodbye to Joscha who would leave thursday. First we went to Kathrins appartment to leave my bag and have a beer and then we went for dinner.
The restaurant was more or less cheap and I didn´t expect it to be anything memorable - just a cheap and simple dinner. We shared a can of camucamu juice and I ordered some cooked vegetables (carrots, green beans and broccoli) and a steak with potatoes. It was amazing! The juice was great, the vegetables was more than great and the steak was huge and extremely delicious! Maybe it had something to do with me eating spaghetti for dinner 4 days in a row, but it was also a good restaurant. We then went for another beer and afterwards to a bar that was known for it´s afrodisiac drinks with different kinds of plants in them. It was interesting. The night was with great food and great company. We slept at Kathrin appartment since her roomates wasn´t in town. We had a room with a doublebed each. I slept like a baby!

Coming back to Padre Cocha after spending a night in Iquitos, makes me appreciate how quiet it is in Padre Cocha. It is amazing to be in the hammock and enjoy the silence. Even when the tv and music goes on, the rest is more or less quiet.

I asked Gudrun to be off work the 23rd and 25th of December and then I went to town after work on the 22nd. I met up with Kathrin and we went to a church where her colleague´s band would play.

We arrived to the church, everybody was standing up in front of their plastic chair and the band was playing religious music but in rock edition - it sounded great. After the concert, everybody sat down. Then the pastor came and asked everybody to stand up and hug the person in front of them, next to them etc. and wish them a merry christmas. I had Kathrin to my right, a young boy (around 15 years old) to my left and in front of me was a young woman in her mid-twenties and a man in his forties. We all did as the pastor had asked us to. It felt great and made me smile a lot. Then the pastor asked us to do it again. This time he asked us not to hug the person as a stranger, but as a friend who deserved our love - even a better feeling. After some preaching from a few different people, which I didn´t understand a lot of unfortunately - more music came on. The lyrics was projected on the wall for everyone to sing along. We sang "Silent Night" in spanish - "Noche de paz" followed by a rock edition of both a spanish and english song with these lyrics:

Feliz navidad x2 

Feliz navidad, próspero año y felicidad.
I wanna wish you a merry christmas x2
I wanna wish you a merry christmas from the bottom of my heart.

We sang this over and over again and the atmosphere was great - filled with joy. Then everybody got a small number on a piece of paper and a danceshow went on. Around 10 young and smiling girls went to the front an perfomed for 5 minutes - smiling and laughing all the way through. Not an impressive show, but I liked their energy.
Next two people appeared in the front and started drawing numbers out of a plastic bag - apparently we were in a lottery. People won different things such as a big paneton or a basket filled with sweets. Then everyone in the church got a semi-hot chocolate and a small sandwich while we were watching a theatre performance by some guys around my age. A religious play about something with a bad guy beating up people and Jesus coming to save them. The rest of the service was just the lottery with another danceshow and another theatre play in between. At last the pastor came to talk and wish everybody a merry christmas. When it was over, the pastor came to Kathrin and I - even though there were many people and we were in the back, he had noticed us. He came to thank us for being there and we talked for a bit.

This experience was amazing. I have only been to a danish church once as far as I remember. I didn´t find it very interesting. This evening was all about love and sharing. I know one of the preachers (or what you prefer to call them) talked about jealousy - Kathrin told me. then there was all the hugging, sharing food and drinks, the lottery, the music, the danceshows and theatre performances. It was a very interesting and lovely service. The atmosphere was great and filled with joy - I smiled my way through the evening. A night I won´t forget.

Working in Pilpintuwasi

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 :)