Viaje grande de Lesa y Gianni: May 2010

Nina

Oh where to start?

My third volunteering stint was at an amazing animal refuge called La Senda Verde ('the green path') in Las Yungas - the subtropical valleys a couple of hours north east of La Paz. I spent just over two weeks here and fulfilled a long time dream - to meet the monkeys! The work involved food preparation, cleaning and socialising with all the birds and animals! Plus giving speeches to, and supervising tourists – this task was usually made more interesting by monkeys jumping on you, tourists or their beers part way through.

The refuge housed over 200 birds and animals, from an Andean Spectacled bear to an Amazonian black Cayman!

Aruma the Andean Spectacled Bear

To feed Aruma, and clear out his eating area, one volunteer had to distract him with peanuts whilst the other ran around like a mad thing. On the one occasion something spooked him and he came back down to the feeding area early we all panicked but he ignored Vicky and just went on sniffing his food and organising it. He licked to sort it in to favourite food last!

The Bolivian owners, Marcelo and Vicky, had originally wanted to set up an Eco-hotel and the refuge side of it only started when locals told Marcelo of a monkey that a truck driver had and was taking in to La Paz to sell. Marcelo is such an animal lover he intercepted and rescued the monkey from the driver, since then his reputation as an animal lover grew and more local people came forward to get his help. Now a large organisation (animal SOS), based in La Paz rescue animals and send them out to Marcelo. The government do the same – hence 85 baby turtles arrived on his doorstep, but with no funding – so until their new enclosure is built they are in his bathroom!

Marcelo and his children..

2 of the 85 new arrivals

There were two Koatis (animals from the racoon family)

Gio and Kantuka.

Koatis are generally not a'friendly' species but Kantuka seemed to think she was a cat.

On the subject of cats, there was also the beautiful Sasha - a tree Ocelot.

Dinner time for Sasha

There are a lot of very beautiful birds, some missing a lot of feathers due to stress, but all with great characters.

Pygmy owls

A once stressed bird

..and 5 species of monkey. All of whom had been rescued from the black market, abusive homes, or were unwanted pets.

The 5 species of monkey were as follows:

1. Two squirrel monkeys - Jimmy and Elvis.

Elvis was the pesky one who loved to nibble, especially on fingers or chins! A bit of a surprise if you didn't know him:

Aaron and Elvis

Jimmy seemed to think he was a golden retriever, luckily the two retrievers he hung out with were very patient!

2. Canelo ('cinnamon') the only howler monkey - always with such a sad face! He had been unwell for a few weeks and so was being spoiled both by Marcelo and Vicky (the owners of the refuge) and by Nina (the adorable spider monkey).

3. Two Owl monkeys. Despite appearances these were not the friendliest of monkeys. Owl monkeys are very territorial and I now have a small scar on my neck to prove it!

Actually come to think of it he isn't looking too friendly in this photo!

4. About 15 Capuchin monkeys.

These are smartest of all monkeys and you very quickly saw that in action.

Kimbo, the big baby of the family. He liked to such his thumb, especially if he was cosy down your top! Not as enjoyable when he was wet!

Nikita who seemed to genuinely try to have a conversation with you - despite the fact you clearly had no idea what she was saying. Although Gio did have a good go at answering back.

Nikita, ready to tell you all about it...

Both Kimbo and Nikita liked to share their food, mostly when they were snacking on leaves - they would chew a little bit and then offer them to you. Like you might do when a child does this, I would smile and pretend to chew a bit. Not impressed they simply separated my lips with their hands and stuffed the leaf in my mouth and held my lips shut!! Once satisfied I had chewed then the leaf would be rescued from my mouth to be finished off properly....yummmmm!

Go on! It's delicious....

Kimbo had a knack for getting so buried in your clothing you couldn't ever put him down.

Whilst I was at La Senda Verde Lenteja ('Lentil') arrived - the youngest of the capuchins at 4 months old. Very cute, liked to jump from head to head just when you least expected it.

5. And then there were the spider monkeys.....

Sambo - the alpha male, very much the boss, despite being relatively young and

occasionally throwing tantrums!

Cacao - very much the teenage boy! Lots of noise and fuss, especially around males. Except for with Gio, who he went to to be held. Always making Gio a bit nervous as it was often just after he'd poo'd on someone with all the excitement!

Maruka - at 16 years old, the matriarch of the family. But she had been very badly abused before arriving at the centre. With a broken jaw and a lot of internal damage Maruka was understandably very weary of humans and stayed clear.

Maruka enjoying her porridge

Except for one early morning when Wara woke me trying to get in my room, I sat outside and held Wara, Sambo decided to join us (a bit tricky when 10kg of monkey sit's on your knees) and then Maruka appeared and wrapped herself around my feet. A very unique and heart-swelling start to my day.

Me in my pyjamas overloaded with monkeys

Wara (Aymara for 'Star'). Not sure how to describe Wara. She has to be one of my favourites. Full of character.

Loved to pose by the river or pool - not one for the traditional curled up monkey pose:

Wara by the river

Wara by the pool

She loves to get in to anywhere she shouldn't, and once in had to have a souvenir or a drink. She was would watch in the mornings for people going to the toilet (outside buildings) and know their door would be unlocked and in she'd go! Or the bar, much time was spent chasing Wara around the bar whilst she jumped from table to table - or the rather tricky time when she landed herself on a tray of beers! She was in heaven drinking as much as possible whilst we tried not to drop the tray! But best of all was early morning, when she would bang on the door and the moment it was open, jump on you for a cuddle. My pyjamas would be covered in muddy monkey prints but it was always a blissful start to the day.

Let me in please!

Go on!!

Nina (Aymara for 'fire'). Another real favourite of mine. Oh the cuddles from Nina! Plus spider monkeys have a very unique smell, they have a gland on their chest that releases a type of oil they rub on themselves. I loved this smell. Gio thought I had lost my marbles completely when I first told him about it. But then we talked to Marcelo and discovered this unique gland. I spent many hours sitting holding Nina and marveling at my luck.

Nina showing off her amazing tail

Nina and I hanging out by the river

Pimienta and Trufa were the babies of the spider troop. Generally not interested in us humans, but occasionally joining the others for a cuddle.

Trufa

As you can imagine choosing photos for this blog was hard to do – so be warned there are quite a few here...

One of our jobs was to clean up after the monkeys had eaten, but a few of them - like Naranja above, felt they could do a better job and would steal the brush and keep it for hours!