Be The Change

​June 14: I’ve been here at Senda Verde for two weeks now, and what an eventful, amazing two weeks it’s been! I could write a book about everything that’s happened since I last updated my blog a week ago, but to keep this post from being super long, I’ll just focus mostly on today. Today was one of the best days I’ve had since coming to Bolivia, mainly due to my amazing session with Ajayu the bear at lunchtime today! I’ve been working with Ajayu every day since June sixth, when I was first given the job of helping out with him. I feel like so much progress has already been made in this first week or so- there’s a level of trust between us that definitely wasn’t there when we first met! 

​To start at the beginning of the day, today was my second day on the birds’ rotation, the same rotation I was on when I first arrived here. By now I feel like I definitely have the rhythm down here, and the shifts have been going very smoothly. I’m happy that this sanctuary has given me the opportunity to work with macaws and similar bird species, which was a type of animal that I was previous not at all comfortable with. I know, it’s weird. The girl who’s completely comfortable handling snakes, spiders, frogs, and rats, who loves crocodiles, who’s been SWIMMING WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS… is afraid of birds. The huge beaks and talons on macaws have just always freaked me out a little bit, but it’s been so nice to get the chance to work up close with these gorgeous birds over the past couple of weeks and get more comfortable with them. 

​After the morning shift was over, it was time to go over to spend a bit of time with the puma that lives here at Senda Verde. A few days ago, Vicky, the owner of this place, gave me yet another super cool extra job that most volunteers don’t get to do- she asked me if I’d be willing to help feed and train the young puma that’s here. I’m the only female volunteer that gets to work with her, and the only volunteer that’s working with both her and Ajayu. My wildlife experience has been serving me very well here in Bolivia! I’ve been trying to keep the fact that I’m working with her on the down low here- I could tell that some of the volunteers were already jealous that I get to work with Ajayu. No need to make them even more jealous. 

​Like with Ajayu, I first have to develop a certain level of trust with “Pumita”, as she’s called, before I can start to train her. So, I’ve been going up to her enclosure every day with Rob and Charles, the other volunteers that work with her, so she gets used to me being around. She’s still quite young- less than a year old for sure. She’s definitely not full grown, and still has some cub markings around her face. She’s an absolutely gorgeous animal! The first time I came around her enclosure a few evenings ago, she only stayed in her little house, mostly out of view. When I went up this morning, though, she came out for a while to climb around the logs that are in her enclosure- progress! 

​After my session with the puma and a bit of down time, I headed back to the main area of the sanctuary at noon to feed Ajayu lunch. Candy, the vet, was busy with some monkeys in the clinic, so I grabbed the food and keys, and headed up the riverbank solo. My time with Ajayu is usually the highlight of my days here- I already love that bear so much! 

​I walked into his enclosure, calling out his name so as not to surprise the blind bear, as usual. The first time I fed Ajayu, I could tell he was very nervous. He seems so much more relaxed around me now that he’s used to me, and as such, I’m more comfortable around him. I sat down an arm’s reach away from him, and began to feed him watermelon right out of my hand. After a few minutes, he flopped over onto his back, paws up in the air, as I continued to feed him. He’d never been in that position with me around before. That’s a very vulnerable position for an animal, and it made me really happy that he felt comfortable enough tolay like that next to me- it showed a strong level of trust. He almost reminded me of a dog as he ate grapes and watermelon slices out of my hand. That being said, every time he lifted his paws and revealed those impressive claws, I was reminded that Ajayu isn’t a dog, or a cat, or any other house pet. He’s a bear, and he could do a lot of damage if he wanted to. I never let myself forget that when working with him. 

​I sat in Ajayu’s enclosure feeding him for nearly an hour, just me and that bear, before I left to head off to my own lunch. After lunch, and a bit more down time, I fed the birds of Senda Verde their afternoon meal, cuddling with a couple of capuchin monkeys along the way, then headed up the river again with Rob and Charles to feed the puma. With both of these extra jobs, my time here in Bolivia is getting very busy, but I absolutely love the work I’m doing, so I don’t mind that a bit! Like with the projects I worked with in Africa last summer, I feel like what I’m doing here at Senda Verde is really meaningful for the animals I’m working with. When I look at Ajayu’s face, injured by the cruelty of my species, I see the trust he’s put in me, and I like to think that I’m making the smallest difference in the world. 

​I guess this post is long enough. I love life so much right now! This post’s food for thought: “The reason I dedicate myself to helping animals so much is because there are already so many people dedicated to hurting them.”- Unknown

Monkeys, Tortoises, and Bears (oh my?)

​June seventh: Today was my first day on the bears and tortoises rotation, which is a really easy section. To make a long story short, yesterday two volunteers were chosen out of the twenty or so here to work with Ajayu (pronounced Ahayu), the blind spectacled bear that lives here. I’ll be here for a good chunk of time, so I was one of the two volunteers that were picked. Basically that means that I’ll be going over to his enclosure multiple times a day to feed and spend some time with him.  Since today was also my first full day working with Ajuya, it was a day full of bear action. Candy, the vet here at Senda Verde, decided that it would be best if Robyn (the other volunteer working with Ajayu) and I took turns feeding him, since two new people there at the same time might scare him too much. Robyn and I decided that today I would feed him breakfast and dinner, then tomorrow we’d switch. So after eating my own breakfast, I met Candy at the prep room at 8:30 and we headed to Ajayu’s enclosure. “Today I’m going to have you give him the food.” She told me as we walked. “Talk to him as you come up to him, and while you’re feeding him, so you don’t scare him and so that he starts to recognize your voice. Right now, you’re still very new to him. As he hears your voice more and more while you feed him, he’ll begin to trust you. The first few times, he’ll probably still be nervous, so it may take him longer to eat.”

​When we got to his enclosure, Candy peaked in to see that he wasn’t in the same place where he’d been the previous evening. “That little nest where he was yesterday is his favorite spot.” She said. After we called out his name a few times, Ajayu poked his head out from behind a little structure up on the hill of his enclosure. Once we knew where he was, Candy unlocked the gate and we stepped inside. “Bread first, because it has the antibiotics.” She said as she handed me two small pieces of bread, with some sappy looking substance between them. “Make sure you talk as you approach him, so you don’t scare him.” With a nod and a deep breath, I began to climb up the hill toward this blind, traumatized bear that could rip me to shreds. Did I mention I was holding his food in my hands? 

​“Ajayu…” I called hesitantly as I came closer. “You hungry, boy?” He lifted his head in my direction and stuck his nose right at me. I continued to talk as I brought the bread- and therefore, my hand- closer to his face. I watched in amazement as he took the bread right out of my hand with a level of tenderness I never would’ve expected from a bear. “What a beautiful boy you are.”

​After eating about half of one piece of bread, he stopped, rested his head on his paws, and began to make a moaning sound. “He’s nervous.” Called Candy from down the hill. He wasn’t the only one. “He’s just not used to you yet. Just keep gently talking to him. He has to eat all of the bread before we move on.”

​Listening to that moaning sound, I remembered what Vicky (the owner of this sanctuary) had told me about him being the first spectacled bear she’d heard vocalize. This definitely wasn’t the kind of sound I’d expect a bear to make, and it was sad to see how my new presence made him so nervous because of how people had treated him in the past. After a few minutes of me speaking gently to him as he moaned, he picked his head back up and finished the bread. Candy climbed up the hill to me and handed me a metal bowl with four pieces of some kind of white cheese. “Give them to him one at a time.” 

​With another deep breath, I grabbed a piece of the cheese and reached down toward Ajayu’s head. Every evolutionary instinct in my brain was shouting at me to run away, telling me what an idiot I was for putting my hand so close to a bear’s mouth. But I made those instincts shut up and, yet again, Ajayu took the food out of my hand very gently. 

​I spent about half an hour inside Ajayu’s enclosure, feeding him his breakfast right out of my hand, and last time I checked, I still have all my fingers. “He was really nervous when we first came in, but he got more relaxed as time passed.” Candy told me as we were walking back. “He’s just barely beginning to trust you. You have to work slowly with him. But that was progress.”

​When we got back to the main area, I met up with the other volunteers in my rotation, who were just heading to the tortoise area. “How was it?” asked Robyn, who’d be working with him at lunchtime. Robyn didn’t have a lot of experience with animals, and I knew she was really nervous about working with Ajayu. 

​“It was really nice.” I said. “I was the one to feed him this time. You’ll probably get to do that at lunch.” Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “Don’t worry about it.” I said with a smile. “Just be slow, and remember to talk to him.”

​After we’d spread the tortoises’ food on their tray, I sat down on the stone wall of their pin, to relax and watch the many tortoises enjoy their colorful salad. Almost as soon as I did, one of the spider monkeys climbed out of the tree above me and came to sit right on my lap and wrap her arms around my chest. I was instantly reminded of South Africa, feeling the little baboons in the nursery do the exact same thing. Just like in South Africa, I began to groom and gently talk to this friendly spider monkey. After about ten minutes on my lap, she decided that there were more interesting things around, and walked off. 

​The next adventure came at noon, when it was time to give the bears their snack. The food for the animals is often carried in baskets from the prep room to the enclosures. The baskets have a lid that can be latched shut, but the monkeys in the area have learned that they have food in them. There were several spider monkeys around when we left, including Tinto, the most aggressive monkey here at Senda Verde. He’s bitten several people enough to draw blood in just the week since I’ve been here- two of the volunteers currently have bandages on their faces, courtesy of Tinto. Sabastian, a new volunteer from London, was given the job of carrying the basket, since the monkeys are less likely to bother guys (damn sexist primates). As we were walking, two spider monkeys began to follow us and jumped on top of the basket of food. Another one jumped on top of me and began to climb around. “That’s Tinto.” Said Cat, the most experienced volunteer in the group. Great, I thought. But, even as Tinto began to climb around and grab my face, I was surprised at how calm I felt. I really don’t think he’s a mean monkey. He’s just really excitable. Don’t laugh, don’t show teeth, don’t move too fast, I told myself. I stood there, allowing my body to serve as Tinto’s tree, until Cat got one of the staff members to come and get the monkeys to leave. 

​After lunch, I came back to my room to begin writing this post and hang out until the next bear shift, which wasn’t until five. Since I knew that I had another session with Ajayu at six, I figured I’d go ahead and bring my flashlight with me when I went to the next shift. Senda Verde is located in a valley, so the sun sets pretty early here, and walking back to my room after dark without a light isn’t a good idea, especially with the uneven terrain and the possibility of walking past Beethoven, the psychopathic dog that lives here (he charged me the other day, but that’s another story). 

​After a really easy half hour of feeding Aruma, the other male spectacled bear that lives here, and cleaning his exhibit, I headed back to the prep room to meet Candy for the evening session with Ajayu. Once again, it was my job to give him the food. I already felt much more confident and comfortable than the previous evening, but I constantly reminded myself that he’s a wild, very powerful animal. I called his name a few times as I climbed up the hill with the bowl of porridge, and he also seemed more relaxed as he began to lap from the bowl like a dog. It was funny to watch him use his paws to hold the bowl in front of him, and when it was almost empty he buried his entire snout in it to get the last bits. When it was empty, I placed a new bowl with some fruit in front of him while carefully pulling the empty bowl away. I had to reach right between his huge paws to get the bowl, and as I was pulling it away my hand lightly brushed his fur, but he didn’t seem to notice. I let out the breath that I didn’t even notice I’d been holding, and Candy and I left Ajayu to his fruit and headed back to the prep room. 

​There’s plenty more news from the previous few days here at the sanctuary, but I figured this blog post is already super long, so I’ll leave it at that for now! This post’s food for thought: “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”- Muhammad Ali​

Greetings from Senda Verde!

​Written on June second- Today has been my first full day living and working here in SendaVerde, the official title for the Bolivia Wildlife Sanctuary. The volunteers are placed in groups of which animals to work with, that rotates every three days. Today was the second day on the bird rotation for my group. After meeting up for breakfast at 7:30, we took off at about eight to the aviaries. The volunteers are definitely busiest around meal times for the animals- my first couple of hours this morning were spent sweeping out the aviaries, cleaning out and refilling food and water bowls, and meeting the many birds that live at Senda Verde. There are several species of South American parrots, some very beautiful macaws, and two very friendly toucans living here. There were five volunteers scheduled with birds, so we got done cleaning and feeding everything before ten. After some down time, we met up again at noon to give the toucans their snack, which was a lot of fun. We tossed some sliced up pieces of banana and papaya and watched them expertly catch it in their huge beaks. 

​After I finished giving the snack to the toucans, which took about half an hour, I met up with Nadine by the food prep room, another volunteer here from the Netherlands. She was about to go give the spectacled bears their snack and, since they were pretty much the only animal I haven’t seen yet and I had some free time before lunch, I tagged along. They have pretty big enclosures that give them some space to climb up into the mountainous area of the sanctuary, as well as a creek running through them. Nadine told me that the female often hung out up on the side of the mountain, so we didn’t see her. The male was very visible, though, and as we were tossing his snack into his enclosure, he came right up to the fence to explore this new person. I put my hand just slightly into the enclosure, which he sniffed and licked in a greeting. The spectacled bears were a species that I’ve been particularly excited about working with, and that was a pretty cool way to meet this bear. 

​After lunch was served at one, I walked back to my room, since birds didn’t have another job until 3:30, when we would clean and refill all the food trays again. I began to write this post and explored the forest area right around the bungalow before walking back up to the main area of SendaVerde to do the birds’ last shift of the day. On my last shift, as I was picking up some of the older food in an enclosure, a bee decided to greet my thumb by digging its stinger nice in deep into it (my thumb is still pretty swollen and a bit sore). With the help of Sabastian, a fellow volunteer from Argentina, we got the stinger out and went back to work. 

​Some of the other volunteers went out to Corioco, the nearby town, to hang out after dinner, but I opted to stay in tonight to finish this post and shower. Tomorrow I have another day of working with the birds, before moving on to another group- I’m not sure yet what that group will be. I can assure everyone that I am writing down just about everything that happens to me here- I’ve written stuff down every day. However, to avoid my blog posts being ten pages long, everything I actually post will probably focus on one specific day. I’m writing this on June second, but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to publish it- hopefully within the next couple of days. 

​That’s all for now! This post’s food for thought: “A person does not grow from the ground like a vine or a tree, one is not part of a plot of land. Mankind has legs so it can wander.”-Roman Payne