About Volunteering at Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi
Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY) is a Bolivian organization that is deeply passionate about rainforest conservation and animal rights. We were touched by the story of how a Bolivian couple in the late 1980's, in the hopes of making a difference in Bolivia, established a school of alternative education outside of La Paz for the many children of miners who had relocated to the area. After being exposed to the lush surrounding rainforest and its ruthless destruction, the children vowed to protect the fragile rainforest and its animals through a campaign of education and awareness. During a later field trip to Rurrenabaque, the project took an important shift after the kids pooled together their meagre funds to purchase and rescue a spider monkey from its local owners who were forcing it to drink alcohol and dance for their amusement. Over the next few years, a number of other animals were adopted and rescued, despite the constant struggle to figure out what to do with them. Finally, Parque Machia, the first wildlife refuge in Bolivia, was established.
For nearly 20 years now, professionals and volunteers from all over the world have been supporting this cause through the raising of funds and the donating of time. The organization now manages three parks in Bolivia where upwards of 500 animals of over 30 different species (including bears, cats, birds, monkeys, coatis, and foxes) are cared for. The scope of their vision is all but unlimited and I am thrilled to have been a part of this movement.
For nearly 20 years now, professionals and volunteers from all over the world have been supporting this cause through the raising of funds and the donating of time. The organization now manages three parks in Bolivia where upwards of 500 animals of over 30 different species (including bears, cats, birds, monkeys, coatis, and foxes) are cared for. The scope of their vision is all but unlimited and I am thrilled to have been a part of this movement.
The text below is my detailed daily journal which follows our shorter blog post about at Parque Machía but here I am focusing on my time with Tigre. It starts off with my struggle with a gut parasite that lasted 8 painful days while trying to get used to Tigre and the jungle, and ends up with the most heart-breaking goodbye. It was a journey of conquering personal limitations and resulted in an incredibly special bond. I hope you enjoy reading about my experience, if you have any questions at all or if you are considering volunteering, please let me know! While I do recommend the experience, my recommendation does come with a few disclaimers, including that the accommodations are very very bad, the work is very hard (and rewarding) and you may expect to be wet and sticky for the whole time (but so is everyone else, so it isn't that important once you get used to it).
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March 17, 2014 - Arrive and tour, Fear is Born Only After Paying
Office on the right, beside the loudest road in Bolivia
When we arrived at Parque Machía and found the Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi office we were going to only stay for 15 days but we quickly changed our minds when Marta, the volunteer coordinator explained that if we stay longer we might get to work with the cats and bears. I got assigned to work with Tigre, one of the ocelots and Andrew got assigned to work with Balu, the Andean bear. I was excited to be assigned with a cat, it was what I was really hoping for, but I am also nervous because when we arrived this morning we heard that the girl who was working with Tigre (Amerika) got attacked badly, which is why they needed me to take over…
From reading other people’s experiences with Tigre I came to the conclusion that she wouldn’t be much more difficult than Vladmir (my cat at home) who is constantly hunting me, but never really intends to hurt me. While Andrew was reading about Balu (the bear) we started to think that maybe these animals are more violent than we were suspecting.
We went out for dinner with a bunch of other volunteers who started to make us more and more nervous the more they talked. We soon realized that every single volunteer had been mauled by their animal, and many more than once. This was starting to sound irresponsible, but there wasn’t much we could do at this point but try it out since we have already paid for the month. Apparently no one has died as a result of animal attack here, though when we asked Marta she didn’t look us in the eyes when she answered.
From reading other people’s experiences with Tigre I came to the conclusion that she wouldn’t be much more difficult than Vladmir (my cat at home) who is constantly hunting me, but never really intends to hurt me. While Andrew was reading about Balu (the bear) we started to think that maybe these animals are more violent than we were suspecting.
We went out for dinner with a bunch of other volunteers who started to make us more and more nervous the more they talked. We soon realized that every single volunteer had been mauled by their animal, and many more than once. This was starting to sound irresponsible, but there wasn’t much we could do at this point but try it out since we have already paid for the month. Apparently no one has died as a result of animal attack here, though when we asked Marta she didn’t look us in the eyes when she answered.
March 18 - Training day 1, Dinnertime Horror Stories
Youav sporting his nearly bitten-off finger
My first day with Tigre was ok. I didn’t really do anything but Francesca showed me the routines and explained a lot about Tigre’s behaviour and what to look out for. She explained that Tigre likes to “jump” volunteers whenever she has an opportunity, which really means in plain language that she is trying to attack them.
With Francesca holding Tigre’s rope, we walked off trail around some trails called roller coaster and knee breaker for a while. It was kind of a drizzly day and when the rain became heavier Tigre slept under a log while we sat in some mud under the rain. Tigre didn’t stay out very long and after she went back to her cage Francesca and I walked trails around the border of her walking area (which is massive) and I was introduced to the many walking trails (though I will probably not be using them very much since Tigre doesn’t like trails).
In the evening we heard of some more horror stories with people being attacked by animals, and one guy was sent to the hospital to get stitches after a monkey bit his finger (sliced the entire finger open, likely won’t ever have feeling in it again).
This place is not at all what we were expecting. There is no screening process for volunteers (they let EVERYONE in because they need money) and there is almost no supervision after the quick training day or two. There are hundreds of monkeys, birds, coatis and other small animals, 3 cats and a bear. There is only one volunteer coordinator who has been here for 3 months and up to 20 or 30 volunteers at a time coming and going. The animals are pretty much all violent but volunteers are asked to put themselves in vulnerable situations as part of their job with very little or no training except by other volunteers. The volunteer dorms are very grungy and full of insects having never been cleaned and the washrooms and showers are absolutely disgusting and don’t work half of the time. I guess we were expecting that a place that has been running as long as this (20 years) would have a better system than this, and at least make volunteers feel safe and comfortable.
At this point I am not really sure that I want to do it anymore, especially knowing that Tigre is the most violent of the cats and that I am absolutely going to get mauled by her probably many times (I have been assured of this). And Andrew is going to get mauled by Balu as well, just like all of his previous volunteers (who are often drunk every night and seem to make it their goal to torment Balu whenever possible). Now we know why they insist that you pay up front and don’t show you your room before-hand.
With Francesca holding Tigre’s rope, we walked off trail around some trails called roller coaster and knee breaker for a while. It was kind of a drizzly day and when the rain became heavier Tigre slept under a log while we sat in some mud under the rain. Tigre didn’t stay out very long and after she went back to her cage Francesca and I walked trails around the border of her walking area (which is massive) and I was introduced to the many walking trails (though I will probably not be using them very much since Tigre doesn’t like trails).
In the evening we heard of some more horror stories with people being attacked by animals, and one guy was sent to the hospital to get stitches after a monkey bit his finger (sliced the entire finger open, likely won’t ever have feeling in it again).
This place is not at all what we were expecting. There is no screening process for volunteers (they let EVERYONE in because they need money) and there is almost no supervision after the quick training day or two. There are hundreds of monkeys, birds, coatis and other small animals, 3 cats and a bear. There is only one volunteer coordinator who has been here for 3 months and up to 20 or 30 volunteers at a time coming and going. The animals are pretty much all violent but volunteers are asked to put themselves in vulnerable situations as part of their job with very little or no training except by other volunteers. The volunteer dorms are very grungy and full of insects having never been cleaned and the washrooms and showers are absolutely disgusting and don’t work half of the time. I guess we were expecting that a place that has been running as long as this (20 years) would have a better system than this, and at least make volunteers feel safe and comfortable.
At this point I am not really sure that I want to do it anymore, especially knowing that Tigre is the most violent of the cats and that I am absolutely going to get mauled by her probably many times (I have been assured of this). And Andrew is going to get mauled by Balu as well, just like all of his previous volunteers (who are often drunk every night and seem to make it their goal to torment Balu whenever possible). Now we know why they insist that you pay up front and don’t show you your room before-hand.
March 19 - Training Day 2, Short Walk
Morning greeting
Tigre didn’t want to go out for long today because of the rain and we think she got bitten by a bullet ant near the fallen tree that she always goes to. We walked more trails on the other side of her walking area border. The more Francesca tells me the more nervous I am getting. I am also feeling very out of shape as the trails are very overgrown and full of downed trees after the insane rainy season. There are landslides everywhere and lots of thorny trees. It sounds like I will be expected to walk with Tigre, a violent ocelot, through this terrain but off of the trails. The trails are hard enough, I don’t know anyone that would be up for this…
At the end of the day I walked up to Tigre’s cage to hang out with her before giving her dinner. While I was sitting in the hammock and chatting with her I got stung in the ass five times by some kind of wasp or something. I was already feeling sick after lunch but after the stings my stomach has been killing me. I hope it isn’t something else going on like a parasite or something.
At the end of the day I walked up to Tigre’s cage to hang out with her before giving her dinner. While I was sitting in the hammock and chatting with her I got stung in the ass five times by some kind of wasp or something. I was already feeling sick after lunch but after the stings my stomach has been killing me. I hope it isn’t something else going on like a parasite or something.
March 20 - Recovering from Nasty Gut Parasites
I stayed in bed today after a horrible night of vomiting and intense stomach pain. I had felt it coming on yesterday but had hoped that it was just from walking around in the jungle so much, but it got worse and worse as the day progressed. It was a proper rainy day so Tigre wouldn’t have gone out anyway, phew. I did manage to go up in the afternoon and feed her dinner. It was nice to see her but she just growled at me the whole time and paced around her cage until I fed her.
March 21 - Training Day 3, Learning From Mistakes
Daily cleaning and hay bed fluff up
Today I walked Tigre while Francesca followed behind. I was very nervous and trying to remember all of the things that Francesca told me to do. But I tried to stay calm and not make Tigre nervous. I was feeling very weak having not eaten for 2 days now and my stomach still felt off.
When we came up the hill to her cage she was again happy to see us, but mostly Francesca of course. She was starting to look at me more and let me scratch her a little bit every now and then, but she was still largely focused on Francesca. After she was calm and relaxed Francesca told me we were ready to get her clipped on to her leash. I went into the double door area and scratched Tigre on the head a little bit which she seemed to like. When she laid down I swiftly and perfectly clipped on her carabineer and threaded the nut, which is when I realized that I had done it through the door fencing!
Frustrated by this I quickly, while Tigre was still lying there and I still had the small metal rod hooked on her collar, tried to undo the carabineer and then I let her collar go. When she realized that she wasn’t hooked on I think she got annoyed. I didn’t give her enough time to calm down before I opened the door just a crack to slip the leash under and she jumped at the door. I held it shut with my boot and hand higher up while she jumped at the door and stuck a paw through at me.
When she had calmed down I tried to clip her on again, more nervous this time, but it was fine enough. Then I knew that it was time to let her through the double doors, right by me. I was nervous after having messed up with the collar and I hesitated a little. Francesca reminded me that if I hesitate too much Tigre will just get more annoyed and will be more likely to jump me while she walks past in the double doors (which is what happened to the previous volunteer). Of course this didn’t make me feel any better but I just sucked it up and started to open the door. Francesca then told me to stop because I didn’t have the leash secured in my left hand properly and she wanted to show me how. So she came in, took the rope and demonstrated what to do and then gave it back to me and walked out. Now I was really nervous that Tigre was going to be anxious since we were taking so long. But I looped the rope in my left hand as directed, opened the door with my right hand and Tigre walked out calmly and quickly. I shut the door, clipped the carabineer to the cage mesh and let out a large breath. This is when Francesca told me that if Tigre wanted to get me in the double doors, she could have because I didn’t have my right hand on the rope close enough to her collar. I should have opened the door with my right hand and immediately grabbed the rope near her collar to help guide her out the door in case she tried anything. Yikes, not a good start.
Having a few minutes to clean out the cage gave me some time to regain my confidence and get ready to go. Francesca got out of the cage through the side door and waited for me to leave through the front with Tigre. When I got to the front door I didn’t know that I was supposed to wait for her to tug in the direction that she wanted to go before getting out. She was standing near the cage sort of looking at me and I started to open the door and get out when she crouched down and got ready to jump. I pulled my legs back into the double door area and shut it just before Tigre got to me. Francesca then reminded me that I should wait until she has chosen a direction to go before getting out.
So sure enough within ten or twenty seconds Tigre started trying to walk to the left. I very nervously got out of the cage again, made sure that I had the coiled rope in my left hand and used my right hand to keep the rope fairly short at this point as I have been warned that she sometimes gets jumpy near the cage area, especially near a certain tree that she scratches.
Everything was fine so far, we went again to the fallen tree with all the vines and branches all over it and she sniffed around not even noticing us anymore. I had to tell her “no mas, Tigre” when she tried to crawl deeper into the mess. She was fine with that and moved along. We off trailed for maybe 45 minutes to an hour and she lead us along a path to the grass area. We sat and rested (with the rope passed around a tree just in case Tigre randomly decided to run at us, and I could pull the rope tugging her in a different direction) while Tigre ate grass and then vomited. While she did this, a group of probably 10 or 15 capuchin monkeys swung by in the treetops. When they spotted us they became curious, mostly of Tigre, and all of them came down as close as they could, hanging on the lowest durable branch to get a better look. It was a magical moment. Tigre didn’t seem to care.
Soon we continued walking on along the path for a while and then we heard Rachael (the girl that walks Millie, the other ocelot) let us know that she was near by with Millie. Of course my heart rate sped up a little as I didn’t know how Tigre would react. Francesca just said not to let them meet because they will fight, but as long as they don’t get too close they would be fine. Tigre did try and lead us to Millie and I had to keep saying “no mas, Tigre” which annoyed her. She came over to my boots and started trying to bite my knees. Whenever I pulled her away a little she got more annoyed and then eventually rolled onto her back and started biting her ass. From readying past people’s experiences with Tigre I knew that this meant she was going to try and jump me. I was very nervous but stayed calm and held the rope with my right hand as close to her collar as was safe (maybe a foot or less of rope between my hand and her collar). When she jumped I quickly moved my hand away, more instinctively than anything, and Tigre fell onto her side, unable to get me. She got up and shook off a little, and then continued along the path back the way we came. Francesca told me that normally she will just try one jump and then her aggression leaves and she will continue whatever she was doing before.
This whole jumping thing did shake me up a little but I was a relieved to see that it wasn’t really a big deal. However Francesca keeps warning me that her jumps will progressively get stronger and at some point she will absolutely get me when I am not expecting it. But she assures me that it isn’t THAT bad, I will likely get a good bruise where she bites and maybe some scratches where her claws get me, but I probably won’t need stitches but sometimes it happens… Somehow everything she tells me just makes me more nervous. I found out later, near the end of the month that the girl that got attacked the day we arrived has stitches all over her arms and back and maybe one of her legs from Tigre…
So the morning continued on. Tigre took some more trails and soon started toward her cage. Most of the way there, she stopped on a landslide area where there were some rays of sun poking through. She slept there for about an hour (and I again passed the rope around a tree) before continuing on back to the cage.
I cannot express how relieved I felt when she got into the double doors and I slid the lock through. It had been a successful day with her but many things had gone wrong and I wasn’t feeling too confident about a few things. Francesca was also being very short with me as if I don’t have a reason to be nervous. Not feeling too good right now.
When we came up the hill to her cage she was again happy to see us, but mostly Francesca of course. She was starting to look at me more and let me scratch her a little bit every now and then, but she was still largely focused on Francesca. After she was calm and relaxed Francesca told me we were ready to get her clipped on to her leash. I went into the double door area and scratched Tigre on the head a little bit which she seemed to like. When she laid down I swiftly and perfectly clipped on her carabineer and threaded the nut, which is when I realized that I had done it through the door fencing!
Frustrated by this I quickly, while Tigre was still lying there and I still had the small metal rod hooked on her collar, tried to undo the carabineer and then I let her collar go. When she realized that she wasn’t hooked on I think she got annoyed. I didn’t give her enough time to calm down before I opened the door just a crack to slip the leash under and she jumped at the door. I held it shut with my boot and hand higher up while she jumped at the door and stuck a paw through at me.
When she had calmed down I tried to clip her on again, more nervous this time, but it was fine enough. Then I knew that it was time to let her through the double doors, right by me. I was nervous after having messed up with the collar and I hesitated a little. Francesca reminded me that if I hesitate too much Tigre will just get more annoyed and will be more likely to jump me while she walks past in the double doors (which is what happened to the previous volunteer). Of course this didn’t make me feel any better but I just sucked it up and started to open the door. Francesca then told me to stop because I didn’t have the leash secured in my left hand properly and she wanted to show me how. So she came in, took the rope and demonstrated what to do and then gave it back to me and walked out. Now I was really nervous that Tigre was going to be anxious since we were taking so long. But I looped the rope in my left hand as directed, opened the door with my right hand and Tigre walked out calmly and quickly. I shut the door, clipped the carabineer to the cage mesh and let out a large breath. This is when Francesca told me that if Tigre wanted to get me in the double doors, she could have because I didn’t have my right hand on the rope close enough to her collar. I should have opened the door with my right hand and immediately grabbed the rope near her collar to help guide her out the door in case she tried anything. Yikes, not a good start.
Having a few minutes to clean out the cage gave me some time to regain my confidence and get ready to go. Francesca got out of the cage through the side door and waited for me to leave through the front with Tigre. When I got to the front door I didn’t know that I was supposed to wait for her to tug in the direction that she wanted to go before getting out. She was standing near the cage sort of looking at me and I started to open the door and get out when she crouched down and got ready to jump. I pulled my legs back into the double door area and shut it just before Tigre got to me. Francesca then reminded me that I should wait until she has chosen a direction to go before getting out.
So sure enough within ten or twenty seconds Tigre started trying to walk to the left. I very nervously got out of the cage again, made sure that I had the coiled rope in my left hand and used my right hand to keep the rope fairly short at this point as I have been warned that she sometimes gets jumpy near the cage area, especially near a certain tree that she scratches.
Everything was fine so far, we went again to the fallen tree with all the vines and branches all over it and she sniffed around not even noticing us anymore. I had to tell her “no mas, Tigre” when she tried to crawl deeper into the mess. She was fine with that and moved along. We off trailed for maybe 45 minutes to an hour and she lead us along a path to the grass area. We sat and rested (with the rope passed around a tree just in case Tigre randomly decided to run at us, and I could pull the rope tugging her in a different direction) while Tigre ate grass and then vomited. While she did this, a group of probably 10 or 15 capuchin monkeys swung by in the treetops. When they spotted us they became curious, mostly of Tigre, and all of them came down as close as they could, hanging on the lowest durable branch to get a better look. It was a magical moment. Tigre didn’t seem to care.
Soon we continued walking on along the path for a while and then we heard Rachael (the girl that walks Millie, the other ocelot) let us know that she was near by with Millie. Of course my heart rate sped up a little as I didn’t know how Tigre would react. Francesca just said not to let them meet because they will fight, but as long as they don’t get too close they would be fine. Tigre did try and lead us to Millie and I had to keep saying “no mas, Tigre” which annoyed her. She came over to my boots and started trying to bite my knees. Whenever I pulled her away a little she got more annoyed and then eventually rolled onto her back and started biting her ass. From readying past people’s experiences with Tigre I knew that this meant she was going to try and jump me. I was very nervous but stayed calm and held the rope with my right hand as close to her collar as was safe (maybe a foot or less of rope between my hand and her collar). When she jumped I quickly moved my hand away, more instinctively than anything, and Tigre fell onto her side, unable to get me. She got up and shook off a little, and then continued along the path back the way we came. Francesca told me that normally she will just try one jump and then her aggression leaves and she will continue whatever she was doing before.
This whole jumping thing did shake me up a little but I was a relieved to see that it wasn’t really a big deal. However Francesca keeps warning me that her jumps will progressively get stronger and at some point she will absolutely get me when I am not expecting it. But she assures me that it isn’t THAT bad, I will likely get a good bruise where she bites and maybe some scratches where her claws get me, but I probably won’t need stitches but sometimes it happens… Somehow everything she tells me just makes me more nervous. I found out later, near the end of the month that the girl that got attacked the day we arrived has stitches all over her arms and back and maybe one of her legs from Tigre…
So the morning continued on. Tigre took some more trails and soon started toward her cage. Most of the way there, she stopped on a landslide area where there were some rays of sun poking through. She slept there for about an hour (and I again passed the rope around a tree) before continuing on back to the cage.
I cannot express how relieved I felt when she got into the double doors and I slid the lock through. It had been a successful day with her but many things had gone wrong and I wasn’t feeling too confident about a few things. Francesca was also being very short with me as if I don’t have a reason to be nervous. Not feeling too good right now.
March 22 - Day 4 without food, hospital visit
Today I went to the hospital to see what is going on with my stomach. Again I spent the night in pain, running in and out of the washroom for several hours before getting to sleep. Luckily it was another very rainy day so Tigre likely would not have come out for a walk anyway. I did go and hang out with her for a bit in the afternoon and fed her dinner to let her know that I was still around.
The tests they ran at the hospital confirmed that I have a parasite in my gut from something I ate. They gave me antibiotics, antiparasites and fever medication. Hope this goes away pronto!
The tests they ran at the hospital confirmed that I have a parasite in my gut from something I ate. They gave me antibiotics, antiparasites and fever medication. Hope this goes away pronto!
March 23 - First day totally on my own, jumped 4 times
hide and seek!
Today was the first day by myself with Tigre. I was very nervous, mostly of getting mauled by her, so I wore a lot of extra clothing – I had on my green jungle pants and at the second-hand store I bought a pair of long khaki shorts that reach about to where my boots end, and over top of that I put on a pair of rain pants that have a liner in them. On top I wore a long sleeve cotton shirt, a jean jacket and my raincoat. I figured if she did get me today her claws wouldn’t get through all of that fabric so I had a bit more confidence.
When I approached her cage she was more or less happy to see me. I greeted her and chatted for a bit. She let me scratch her neck through the cage and she only growled a little. I played with the stick and rope with her for a little while and could tell that she had a lot of energy. She ran around the cage and paced awhile. After I could sense that she was calm and relaxed I decided it was time to do it.
I put on all my layers and very slowly arranged everything outside the cage (moved the broom over to the back access door, made sure I had on my backpack, locked the food box, put the emergency cord in my pocket, and double checked everything). When I opened the outside of the double door area Tigre was waiting patiently on the other side looking very happy and ready to go. I had a little trouble finding the small metal rod to use to grab her collar and was a little nervous that she would lose patience with me. Before indicating that I was ready for her to lay down I opened the cage door slightly and slipped the carabineer side of the leash under the door then shut it again calmly and quickly. Then I pulled the carabineer through the hole in the bottom of the door where I can reach her collar. She pretty much immediately laid down and put her neck by the hole so I wasted no time in grabbing her collar clip with the small metal rod to pull it through the hole and clipped the carabineer onto her collar (you also have to thread the nut which is the scary part since you hand is so close to her face and claws). She let me do this with no trouble at all. Once she was on the leash I knew I had to quickly and calmly open the door and let her walk by me through the outside double door. If I waited too long she would get impatient and possibly jump me (this is what happened to Amerika on the day that we arrived). I gathered as much rope as I could in my left hand from my side of the door, opened the door and quickly with my right hand grabbed the rope close to her as she came through the door and sort of guided her out (but not pulling because that pisses her off too). I shut the outside door locking myself in her cage, clipped the rope to the door and took a breath of relief.
It was nice to have that part over with and give myself a few minutes to relax and clean her cage before letting myself out with her to start our walk. It is nice that she is used to waiting after being let out so I didn’t feel that I had to rush at any point.
When it was time to go I calmly walked to the outside double door and told her “listo!” and off she went tugging in the direction that she wanted (the signal that I should come out). It was very easy; she pulled me pretty hard for the first minute or so indicating that she was very interested in going somewhere. We first went to the fallen tree again, she sniffed around and tried to climb into the mess of branches and vines, but like every day I had to tell her “no mas, Tigre” and limit her rope, which makes me a bit nervous. But she was fine with it since she knew that the last several days we didn’t let her go there either. We continued on up the landslide area and into some thicker undergrowth where she basically dragged me along at a very fast pace. I was afraid that if I didn’t keep up she would get annoyed but whenever I said “espera por favor” she would just stop and wait, looking back at me with a happy face. This went on for quite a while, she was very happy, moving very quickly. It seemed like she wanted to climb every steep hill we could find (at the steepest slope, of course) and then once at the top she wanted to go down the other side, again the steepest route possible. It was very hard to keep up since I still couldn’t eat anything and my stomach was killing me. I got stuck in vines, thorny trees pulled my hair, roots that I was standing on crumbled and I slid down a few muddy slopes scrambling to grab anything (and sometimes grabbing a thorn tree, ouch!). Through all of this I had to try and keep track of where we were but several times we would come out to a bit of an opening or a landmark that I recognized and I would realize how confused I was, thinking we were in an entirely different area. I was most worried that we would find ourselves near the monkey mirador – apparently the monkeys become very violent when Tigre and her walker are near.
After about two hours of this I was begging her to take a break to find a flat trail – Having only been able to eat about a half a cup of rice each day since arriving here, I felt extremely faint and thirsty, and my stomach was still not well. Some luck finally struck when we got to the top of another hill where there was a trail that I recognized and Tigre spotted and caught a small snake. She lay down on the path facing me while she slowly killed and ate the snake. When she bit it in half I was surprised to see that both halves of the snake continued to try and wriggle away for a long time. This break gave me four or five minutes to take a big drink of water and catch my breath a little. But before long Tigre was ready to go again, luckily she chose the trail, phew!
We walked and walked and walked some more for probably another 40 or 50 minutes and ended up at the grassy area where she apparently likes to chill, eat grass and vomit so I though we would have another rest (I needed it so badly) but after maybe two or three minutes she just wanted to keep going, and of course this time it was down the hill off trail. Finally at a very steep part I told her “no mas, sendero por favor”. I could see that she was a little annoyed by this. She walked down the trail a little ways and tried again to get to the same slope from a different way and again I had to tell her “no mas Tigre”. She looked at me angrily but understood and came and lay on my boots. She lay there while I stood on the slope trying not to slip, or move at all while my feet were going numb for about 20 or 30 minutes! I felt like I was going to pass out but just stood there. Eventually when she woke up she started getting playful and biting my boots. I knew this wasn’t going to be good. She tried biting my knees and I had to pull her away softly but it pissed her off. She rolled over and wrapped her paws around my boot while trying to bite and I had to tug at her a little harder. This is when she started to do the ass-biting thing, which means she is going to jump me. I just stayed as calm as I could, held her rope firmly as close to her collar as safe and watcher her. When she jumped I swiftly tugged the rope to the side and she couldn’t do anything. I was really hoping that this would be the only try but I was wrong.
I insisted that we start walking somewhere sensing that maybe she was just bored and would enjoy going somewhere else. It worked for a minute but when she tried to go to the hill again and I said “no mas” she crouched down and tried to jump again, missing me again which pissed her off more. She then lay down on her back and tugged at the rope with all of her paws while staring at my hand – this can’t be good! I just held the rope and waited for her to jump again. This time she jumped to my hand, as I suspected that she would and as I moved my hand up out of the way I also tugged her with it. She landed on her side on the ground looking startled. She shook off and at this point I just desperately wanted to get out of this area. I suggested we go down the trail, and when she stopped again to try and go down the steep part I thought maybe there is a path down there and I should at least go down a tiny bit to see. But I was wrong, very soon it was clear that it was just a pile of thick thick vines and fallen trees and it just gets steeper. I think she was happy that I tried and accepted that it wasn’t going to happen, so she turned around, went back up to the trail and away we went with no more trouble.
However, she didn’t stop to rest anymore. We walked down the path to the bottom of a hill, did some more off trailing and then back up another path that leads to her cage. I was so relieved when we finally made it back to her cage and I shut the door. I sat on the ground for a good 10 minutes after I unhooked her carabineer; she sat with me and thanked me for the walk. Then I went to the hammock the rest for a few minutes and she went to her bed on the other side of the cage, satisfied and also pooped out. It took everything in me to walk down the trail after that. My body was completely drained of energy and my legs were trembling with weakness. While the idea of hanging out alone with an ocelot in the rainforest, allowing her to have this kind of freedom really makes me happy, I just don’t know if I have it in me to do this every day especially without being able to eat and my stomach still bothering me. This is going to be a very long month...
When I approached her cage she was more or less happy to see me. I greeted her and chatted for a bit. She let me scratch her neck through the cage and she only growled a little. I played with the stick and rope with her for a little while and could tell that she had a lot of energy. She ran around the cage and paced awhile. After I could sense that she was calm and relaxed I decided it was time to do it.
I put on all my layers and very slowly arranged everything outside the cage (moved the broom over to the back access door, made sure I had on my backpack, locked the food box, put the emergency cord in my pocket, and double checked everything). When I opened the outside of the double door area Tigre was waiting patiently on the other side looking very happy and ready to go. I had a little trouble finding the small metal rod to use to grab her collar and was a little nervous that she would lose patience with me. Before indicating that I was ready for her to lay down I opened the cage door slightly and slipped the carabineer side of the leash under the door then shut it again calmly and quickly. Then I pulled the carabineer through the hole in the bottom of the door where I can reach her collar. She pretty much immediately laid down and put her neck by the hole so I wasted no time in grabbing her collar clip with the small metal rod to pull it through the hole and clipped the carabineer onto her collar (you also have to thread the nut which is the scary part since you hand is so close to her face and claws). She let me do this with no trouble at all. Once she was on the leash I knew I had to quickly and calmly open the door and let her walk by me through the outside double door. If I waited too long she would get impatient and possibly jump me (this is what happened to Amerika on the day that we arrived). I gathered as much rope as I could in my left hand from my side of the door, opened the door and quickly with my right hand grabbed the rope close to her as she came through the door and sort of guided her out (but not pulling because that pisses her off too). I shut the outside door locking myself in her cage, clipped the rope to the door and took a breath of relief.
It was nice to have that part over with and give myself a few minutes to relax and clean her cage before letting myself out with her to start our walk. It is nice that she is used to waiting after being let out so I didn’t feel that I had to rush at any point.
When it was time to go I calmly walked to the outside double door and told her “listo!” and off she went tugging in the direction that she wanted (the signal that I should come out). It was very easy; she pulled me pretty hard for the first minute or so indicating that she was very interested in going somewhere. We first went to the fallen tree again, she sniffed around and tried to climb into the mess of branches and vines, but like every day I had to tell her “no mas, Tigre” and limit her rope, which makes me a bit nervous. But she was fine with it since she knew that the last several days we didn’t let her go there either. We continued on up the landslide area and into some thicker undergrowth where she basically dragged me along at a very fast pace. I was afraid that if I didn’t keep up she would get annoyed but whenever I said “espera por favor” she would just stop and wait, looking back at me with a happy face. This went on for quite a while, she was very happy, moving very quickly. It seemed like she wanted to climb every steep hill we could find (at the steepest slope, of course) and then once at the top she wanted to go down the other side, again the steepest route possible. It was very hard to keep up since I still couldn’t eat anything and my stomach was killing me. I got stuck in vines, thorny trees pulled my hair, roots that I was standing on crumbled and I slid down a few muddy slopes scrambling to grab anything (and sometimes grabbing a thorn tree, ouch!). Through all of this I had to try and keep track of where we were but several times we would come out to a bit of an opening or a landmark that I recognized and I would realize how confused I was, thinking we were in an entirely different area. I was most worried that we would find ourselves near the monkey mirador – apparently the monkeys become very violent when Tigre and her walker are near.
After about two hours of this I was begging her to take a break to find a flat trail – Having only been able to eat about a half a cup of rice each day since arriving here, I felt extremely faint and thirsty, and my stomach was still not well. Some luck finally struck when we got to the top of another hill where there was a trail that I recognized and Tigre spotted and caught a small snake. She lay down on the path facing me while she slowly killed and ate the snake. When she bit it in half I was surprised to see that both halves of the snake continued to try and wriggle away for a long time. This break gave me four or five minutes to take a big drink of water and catch my breath a little. But before long Tigre was ready to go again, luckily she chose the trail, phew!
We walked and walked and walked some more for probably another 40 or 50 minutes and ended up at the grassy area where she apparently likes to chill, eat grass and vomit so I though we would have another rest (I needed it so badly) but after maybe two or three minutes she just wanted to keep going, and of course this time it was down the hill off trail. Finally at a very steep part I told her “no mas, sendero por favor”. I could see that she was a little annoyed by this. She walked down the trail a little ways and tried again to get to the same slope from a different way and again I had to tell her “no mas Tigre”. She looked at me angrily but understood and came and lay on my boots. She lay there while I stood on the slope trying not to slip, or move at all while my feet were going numb for about 20 or 30 minutes! I felt like I was going to pass out but just stood there. Eventually when she woke up she started getting playful and biting my boots. I knew this wasn’t going to be good. She tried biting my knees and I had to pull her away softly but it pissed her off. She rolled over and wrapped her paws around my boot while trying to bite and I had to tug at her a little harder. This is when she started to do the ass-biting thing, which means she is going to jump me. I just stayed as calm as I could, held her rope firmly as close to her collar as safe and watcher her. When she jumped I swiftly tugged the rope to the side and she couldn’t do anything. I was really hoping that this would be the only try but I was wrong.
I insisted that we start walking somewhere sensing that maybe she was just bored and would enjoy going somewhere else. It worked for a minute but when she tried to go to the hill again and I said “no mas” she crouched down and tried to jump again, missing me again which pissed her off more. She then lay down on her back and tugged at the rope with all of her paws while staring at my hand – this can’t be good! I just held the rope and waited for her to jump again. This time she jumped to my hand, as I suspected that she would and as I moved my hand up out of the way I also tugged her with it. She landed on her side on the ground looking startled. She shook off and at this point I just desperately wanted to get out of this area. I suggested we go down the trail, and when she stopped again to try and go down the steep part I thought maybe there is a path down there and I should at least go down a tiny bit to see. But I was wrong, very soon it was clear that it was just a pile of thick thick vines and fallen trees and it just gets steeper. I think she was happy that I tried and accepted that it wasn’t going to happen, so she turned around, went back up to the trail and away we went with no more trouble.
However, she didn’t stop to rest anymore. We walked down the path to the bottom of a hill, did some more off trailing and then back up another path that leads to her cage. I was so relieved when we finally made it back to her cage and I shut the door. I sat on the ground for a good 10 minutes after I unhooked her carabineer; she sat with me and thanked me for the walk. Then I went to the hammock the rest for a few minutes and she went to her bed on the other side of the cage, satisfied and also pooped out. It took everything in me to walk down the trail after that. My body was completely drained of energy and my legs were trembling with weakness. While the idea of hanging out alone with an ocelot in the rainforest, allowing her to have this kind of freedom really makes me happy, I just don’t know if I have it in me to do this every day especially without being able to eat and my stomach still bothering me. This is going to be a very long month...
March 24/25 - Sick Days
Feeling really guilty for not going out with Tigre, but having not eaten in a week and dealing with the stomach pain has left me bed ridden for a couple of days. Francesca walked Tigre for these two days.
March 26 - Recovered, Close lightning Strike
Afternoon nap
Feeling much better this morning, though a little weary of spending the whole day being dragged through vines, creeks and up and down steep muddy hills, I set out for another day on my own with Tigre. The weather was great, day 3 with no sign of rain (aside from a little bit during the night). This means that Tigre will be in a good mood.
When I got to the cage in the morning it seemed that I had awaken Tigre from a very deep sleep. Her eyes were all poofy while she looked around slowly, still sitting in her bed when I approached the cage. After a minute or two she came down to greet me near the hammock I was sitting in. She stretched and yawned and sat half dazed for awhile before her energy started to pick up a bit. It was nice to see her so calm, no pacing or grumbling or anything.
I got her out of the cage very smoothly. She was in a very calm mood and so was I. We went over to the fallen tree area again for some more investigating and then took off toward knee breaker and roller coaster (trail areas), though I was never quite sure of exactly where we were at any point. She didn’t go quite as fast as the last time I took her out, but she went along steadily for a good few hours. At some point I recognized where we might be when Tigre found one of the bat caves and tried to catch one of the bats (but missed). I realized that we were probably near the far west boundary of her walking area. Of course we continued on for another while. Things started to look unfamiliar when we got to a thinned out tree area and Tigre found a grassy spot that I had not heard about from Francesca. Probably Millie’s territory, oops! I tried to convince Tigre to go back the other way but she wouldn’t have it, so I figured whatever, the river was on one side of us and the road on the other, so we weren’t really “lost”. Soon we came to a small clearing and what I think might be a coca plantation (I found out later that it was just a field somewhere outside of the park area, of course). I have heard of this and knew that it was just outside of Tigre’s areas. I could tell that she knew we shouldn’t be there by her body language. She crouched down a bit and had her ears slightly curved back. We didn’t stay there long before heading back in the direction that I wanted to go, yay!
The rest of the day was a bit frustrating. At 1:30 we came to a stream somewhere in Tigre’s Valley where she decided to take a nap. It was nice, but there were sooooo many mosquitoes and other little terrible bugs. My whole face and hands are covered in bites and they might make me insane soon. After only about half an hour she woke up and continued on only for a short while before finding a sunny patch on a trail near Yellow Ribbon Tree. She slept for maybe 20 minutes and then came and slept on my feet for what seemed like forever. My feet had gone numb and I was so uncomfortable! She didn’t really sleep as much as keep looking up at me playfully and then try to bite my knees. I would back away when she tried to bite but she just kept on coming closer and doing it over again. This went on for a good painful hour or more. Finally she got bored enough with me and we went on just a little further, but mostly in the same area, off trailing up and down one steep hillside over and over again. And then more playing with my boots again for another hour. I was getting pretty annoyed by now and it was near 4:00. I really just wanted to go back to the cage so I could take a rest, drink some water, eat some crackers.
By about 4:30 it started to rain. It started out light enough but within 10 minutes turned into a torrential downpour with wind, lightning and thunder. Tigre hates to get wet so she hid under a log as best as she could, but not before taking a quick jump at me (from far away so I was able to deter her with my boot) because of course the rain was my doing. I stood there for awhile but when I realized that it wasn’t going to stop I decided to call the office for advice, and also for someone to come and help me because 1, I didn’t really know where I was exactly, and 2, it is easier to get Tigre to move if another person is walking in front of her.
I called but the phone only had enough credit in it for the one call. I wasn’t sure if someone was going to come or if I would be spending the night out there if the rain didn’t stop. I was half preparing myself to be there a long time when all of a sudden lightning struck a tree very close to us. A huge branch came down and sent us both running! Tigre was on her feet dragging me as fast as I could go, all the way back to the cage. We were not that far, maybe only a 10-minute run.
I was so happy to have her back in the cage, and so was she. She let me scratch her neck and back for a while even with rain hitting her still. I fed her her nasty raw meat dinner and was eager to head back down to the office to let everyone know I was all good. The trail back down the hill follows a little stream for most of the way, but with all the rain it was completely unrecognizable, filled with fast moving water and jungle debris. I made it down safely just after 5:30 (I had thought it was much later) and was very happy to take a shower and get some dry clothes on.
When I got to the cage in the morning it seemed that I had awaken Tigre from a very deep sleep. Her eyes were all poofy while she looked around slowly, still sitting in her bed when I approached the cage. After a minute or two she came down to greet me near the hammock I was sitting in. She stretched and yawned and sat half dazed for awhile before her energy started to pick up a bit. It was nice to see her so calm, no pacing or grumbling or anything.
I got her out of the cage very smoothly. She was in a very calm mood and so was I. We went over to the fallen tree area again for some more investigating and then took off toward knee breaker and roller coaster (trail areas), though I was never quite sure of exactly where we were at any point. She didn’t go quite as fast as the last time I took her out, but she went along steadily for a good few hours. At some point I recognized where we might be when Tigre found one of the bat caves and tried to catch one of the bats (but missed). I realized that we were probably near the far west boundary of her walking area. Of course we continued on for another while. Things started to look unfamiliar when we got to a thinned out tree area and Tigre found a grassy spot that I had not heard about from Francesca. Probably Millie’s territory, oops! I tried to convince Tigre to go back the other way but she wouldn’t have it, so I figured whatever, the river was on one side of us and the road on the other, so we weren’t really “lost”. Soon we came to a small clearing and what I think might be a coca plantation (I found out later that it was just a field somewhere outside of the park area, of course). I have heard of this and knew that it was just outside of Tigre’s areas. I could tell that she knew we shouldn’t be there by her body language. She crouched down a bit and had her ears slightly curved back. We didn’t stay there long before heading back in the direction that I wanted to go, yay!
The rest of the day was a bit frustrating. At 1:30 we came to a stream somewhere in Tigre’s Valley where she decided to take a nap. It was nice, but there were sooooo many mosquitoes and other little terrible bugs. My whole face and hands are covered in bites and they might make me insane soon. After only about half an hour she woke up and continued on only for a short while before finding a sunny patch on a trail near Yellow Ribbon Tree. She slept for maybe 20 minutes and then came and slept on my feet for what seemed like forever. My feet had gone numb and I was so uncomfortable! She didn’t really sleep as much as keep looking up at me playfully and then try to bite my knees. I would back away when she tried to bite but she just kept on coming closer and doing it over again. This went on for a good painful hour or more. Finally she got bored enough with me and we went on just a little further, but mostly in the same area, off trailing up and down one steep hillside over and over again. And then more playing with my boots again for another hour. I was getting pretty annoyed by now and it was near 4:00. I really just wanted to go back to the cage so I could take a rest, drink some water, eat some crackers.
By about 4:30 it started to rain. It started out light enough but within 10 minutes turned into a torrential downpour with wind, lightning and thunder. Tigre hates to get wet so she hid under a log as best as she could, but not before taking a quick jump at me (from far away so I was able to deter her with my boot) because of course the rain was my doing. I stood there for awhile but when I realized that it wasn’t going to stop I decided to call the office for advice, and also for someone to come and help me because 1, I didn’t really know where I was exactly, and 2, it is easier to get Tigre to move if another person is walking in front of her.
I called but the phone only had enough credit in it for the one call. I wasn’t sure if someone was going to come or if I would be spending the night out there if the rain didn’t stop. I was half preparing myself to be there a long time when all of a sudden lightning struck a tree very close to us. A huge branch came down and sent us both running! Tigre was on her feet dragging me as fast as I could go, all the way back to the cage. We were not that far, maybe only a 10-minute run.
I was so happy to have her back in the cage, and so was she. She let me scratch her neck and back for a while even with rain hitting her still. I fed her her nasty raw meat dinner and was eager to head back down to the office to let everyone know I was all good. The trail back down the hill follows a little stream for most of the way, but with all the rain it was completely unrecognizable, filled with fast moving water and jungle debris. I made it down safely just after 5:30 (I had thought it was much later) and was very happy to take a shower and get some dry clothes on.
March 27 - Close call with a porcupine!
Porcupine quills we found later in the day
Another successful but long day. The morning started out pretty much the same, Tigre awoke when I arrived and took the time to wake up and greet me. She came out of her cage quickly and smoothly. We didn’t go to the fallen tree today for the first time since I’ve been here. Instead we went up the hill behind her cage and wandered around for a while before finding the Highway trail leading toward Candy Cane trail. We actually walked along the Highway for a good ten minutes or so. While walking a group of capuchin monkeys checked us out again. Tigre didn’t really care that much, but she did glance up at them slightly nervously when one of them came really close to get a good look. A little further down the trail we saw Rachael, Ru and Millie below us in a valley, not too far away. I let them know we were there and made sure Tigre didn’t head toward them, though that was all she wanted to do for a good 20 minutes. I thought she was going to get angry with me after not letting her go down the hill but she just grumbled, lay down and eventually agreed to keep going, but this time off trail.
I learned a new trick today as well. I was getting exhausted with Tigre laying on my boots and then trying to bite my knees and feet all the time. Francesca suggested that I try and wrap her rope around a tree and then if she tries anything I just have to move away and she can’t move with me. It worked! I let her lay on my feet but as soon as she would try anything I would just move out of her reach. It didn’t make her angry, and it gave me some peace. And later in the day when she was getting lazy I let her sleep on my boots for a while and she didn’t even try anything! It was a great success.
Sometime around noon we were wandering around and found a piece of rotting log that had porcupine quills all stuck in it, clearly there had been an altercation here and it really gave me the chills – how horrible it would be to come across one of those little guys with Tigre. Tigre acted very strangely; she spent a good ten or fifteen minutes pulling the quills out of the log, one at a time, semi-aggressively but also gently. Francesca told me that sometime in the past when she was walking with Tigre they had come across a porcupine that Tigre attacked. She gashed the little guy in the head while it spewed its quills all over her face and body. It sounded very horrible. I wondered if Tigre was thinking about that while she was pulling out the quills.
Later in the day, probably around 3:00 we were following a dried up creek bed and came across a massive downed log that looked like it had a little burrow under it (as every log does here). I let her dig at the small hole on one side while I stood on top of the log. She was getting very excited and dug faster and faster until she had dug a hole large enough to stick most of her upper body into. I wasn’t expecting what happened next – all of a sudden she dashed full body into the hole under the log, almost knocking me down. I looked back at the other side of the log and there was Tigre, chasing a porcupine! I immediately grabbed the rope tight and pulled her back just before she reached the porcupine. I just held the rope tighter for a few minutes while the porcupine escaped and Tigre became more and more anxious. Now I had to figure out how to get the rope out from under the log (there was no way she was going to come back through the hole), and I definitely could not reach around the huge log holding the end of the rope while trying to grab the part that came out the other side. Eventually I saw an opportunity – Tigre jumped up onto the log and sat down. I quickly dropped the end of the rope as Tigre started to walk down the log. When she realized that she was free she sped up and I literally dove onto the muddy ground 4ft below hands first for the rope as it slid on the ground out of the other side of the log. I got it just as Tigre was about to run after the animal again!
Phew, that was close, too close! It took another few minutes of not letting her go after the porcupine, again I thought she might start to get angry at me but she wasn’t too bad. Just paced for a while, lay down again, and then when she had calmed down we continued on in a different direction.
As usual, I was lost the whole day pretty much. We would come to a familiar landmark every now and then, but other than that I had no clue where we were. Sometimes I would think that we were heading back to the cage, and that the next ridge was home, only to find that there was another empty valley on the other side. It seemed like we just wandered in circles up and down the hillsides. I just went along with it, not expecting to be back at the cage again until she got hungry for dinner. Today she was happy to be outside, and even the medium heavy rain didn’t phase her like it did yesterday.
When we finally did make it back to the cage around 4:30 Tigre was very happy. She rubbed up against the cage where I was for a good ten or twenty minutes and let me scratch her head, side and back. I believe I even heard a purr in there :)
I learned a new trick today as well. I was getting exhausted with Tigre laying on my boots and then trying to bite my knees and feet all the time. Francesca suggested that I try and wrap her rope around a tree and then if she tries anything I just have to move away and she can’t move with me. It worked! I let her lay on my feet but as soon as she would try anything I would just move out of her reach. It didn’t make her angry, and it gave me some peace. And later in the day when she was getting lazy I let her sleep on my boots for a while and she didn’t even try anything! It was a great success.
Sometime around noon we were wandering around and found a piece of rotting log that had porcupine quills all stuck in it, clearly there had been an altercation here and it really gave me the chills – how horrible it would be to come across one of those little guys with Tigre. Tigre acted very strangely; she spent a good ten or fifteen minutes pulling the quills out of the log, one at a time, semi-aggressively but also gently. Francesca told me that sometime in the past when she was walking with Tigre they had come across a porcupine that Tigre attacked. She gashed the little guy in the head while it spewed its quills all over her face and body. It sounded very horrible. I wondered if Tigre was thinking about that while she was pulling out the quills.
Later in the day, probably around 3:00 we were following a dried up creek bed and came across a massive downed log that looked like it had a little burrow under it (as every log does here). I let her dig at the small hole on one side while I stood on top of the log. She was getting very excited and dug faster and faster until she had dug a hole large enough to stick most of her upper body into. I wasn’t expecting what happened next – all of a sudden she dashed full body into the hole under the log, almost knocking me down. I looked back at the other side of the log and there was Tigre, chasing a porcupine! I immediately grabbed the rope tight and pulled her back just before she reached the porcupine. I just held the rope tighter for a few minutes while the porcupine escaped and Tigre became more and more anxious. Now I had to figure out how to get the rope out from under the log (there was no way she was going to come back through the hole), and I definitely could not reach around the huge log holding the end of the rope while trying to grab the part that came out the other side. Eventually I saw an opportunity – Tigre jumped up onto the log and sat down. I quickly dropped the end of the rope as Tigre started to walk down the log. When she realized that she was free she sped up and I literally dove onto the muddy ground 4ft below hands first for the rope as it slid on the ground out of the other side of the log. I got it just as Tigre was about to run after the animal again!
Phew, that was close, too close! It took another few minutes of not letting her go after the porcupine, again I thought she might start to get angry at me but she wasn’t too bad. Just paced for a while, lay down again, and then when she had calmed down we continued on in a different direction.
As usual, I was lost the whole day pretty much. We would come to a familiar landmark every now and then, but other than that I had no clue where we were. Sometimes I would think that we were heading back to the cage, and that the next ridge was home, only to find that there was another empty valley on the other side. It seemed like we just wandered in circles up and down the hillsides. I just went along with it, not expecting to be back at the cage again until she got hungry for dinner. Today she was happy to be outside, and even the medium heavy rain didn’t phase her like it did yesterday.
When we finally did make it back to the cage around 4:30 Tigre was very happy. She rubbed up against the cage where I was for a good ten or twenty minutes and let me scratch her head, side and back. I believe I even heard a purr in there :)
March 28 - Rainy Day, No Walk for Tigre
Rainy day, she didn’t go out. I helped the monkey people make little granola presents wrapped inside leaves.
March 29 - Short walk, hunting Snakes
Tigre and her snake of the day
Rainy morning, she didn’t go out until 12:10. She left the cage smoothly again once she decided to go. We went to the fallen tree again and inspected for a while before heading up and over the landslide area by her cage. We got to an area that she was very interested in but I couldn’t really see why. We were on a small ridge overlooking a deeper valley that had huuuuge trees coming out. She kept on looking up at them and tried to climb a bunch of them to get a better look at something. There were some massive birds eating something high up in one of the trees but she didn’t seem to be interested in them. Their breathing while they ate was so loud, like elephants breathing in the bush next to us. Eerie. This went on for maybe 20 or 30 minutes before we continued on.
We just wandered around in the jungle, her sniffing around, me untangling myself from the vines constantly. It is so funny how she waits for me when I get stuck, like she is laughing at me a little. At one point we came across a bunch of spider monkeys! They made the strangest sounds as they communicated with each other. When they noticed us they looked down at us for a while. Two of them came to the tree that we were under and down to the lowest branch for a closer look. I was a little nervous that they were getting a little too close, but they held their positions so it was ok. Tigre watched them as well but mostly just for something to look at. She isn’t too interested in them. She was happy enough to take a nap right there though so I got to watch them for a while longer. But not without constantly looking down at my feet to make sure Tigre wasn’t up to something. I let her sleep there but I had wrapped the cord around a tree in case I needed to step back out of her reach. Of course, after a little while the biting game started again. It is getting a little less stressful now that I have a good tree-wrapping plan, but it still gets me a bit excited when she starts because I know it is going to be a good 20 or 30 minutes until she is tired of trying to get me. Today she got pretty close to taking my knee off. She looked up at me and I knew it was coming, but I didn’t expect it so quickly! I felt her teeth run along my kneecap as I was stepping back and she grabbed a massive mouthful of my rain pants. I am so happy I was wearing them!
I don’t think she was trying to hurt me though, it was playful enough, but I really don’t want to encourage this game anymore. So I didn’t let her sleep on my feet again which annoyed her and she growled at me when she realized that she couldn’t get to me (because when I step back she usually gets up and follows me to get back onto my feet). Later in the day, however, after walking for another hour or two I did let her and she was totally fine, didn’t try anything. So things are getting much better, calmer for both of us these days.
We wandered to one of the boundary trails of her area and followed it all the way back to her cage at the end of the day. When we were getting close to the cage she caught a snake! I don’t know what kind it was but it was bigger than the one a few days ago, was brownish with diamond patterns on its back, kind of like a fair de lance (very poisonous!) so I made sure to stay out of the way. I think it might have bitten her but she didn’t seem to get sick or anything. It might have just got her fur and she shook her foot away to drop it. She kept on trying to bring it to me while it was still alive and lunging through the air to try and get her, and ME! I had to dodge the thing so many times because she wouldn’t kill it and kept flinging it at me. Finally I heard a big crunch sound and its head was gone. I guess the poison isn’t dangerous if eaten??
After it was dead and headless she didn’t care about it anymore so we continued back to the cage. Again as we got closer she growled and grumbled loudly. It makes me nervous every time, but I am starting to think that it’s just her way of showing excitement? It was 4:30, which meant dinnertime so it might also mean that she is hungry. Either way, once she is in her cage she stops growling and rubs her face all over the cage near me and I get to scratch her head and side a bunch. It is when she is the happiest.
All in all, very good day, and it was nice for me that it was only 4 hours instead of 7 or 8.
We just wandered around in the jungle, her sniffing around, me untangling myself from the vines constantly. It is so funny how she waits for me when I get stuck, like she is laughing at me a little. At one point we came across a bunch of spider monkeys! They made the strangest sounds as they communicated with each other. When they noticed us they looked down at us for a while. Two of them came to the tree that we were under and down to the lowest branch for a closer look. I was a little nervous that they were getting a little too close, but they held their positions so it was ok. Tigre watched them as well but mostly just for something to look at. She isn’t too interested in them. She was happy enough to take a nap right there though so I got to watch them for a while longer. But not without constantly looking down at my feet to make sure Tigre wasn’t up to something. I let her sleep there but I had wrapped the cord around a tree in case I needed to step back out of her reach. Of course, after a little while the biting game started again. It is getting a little less stressful now that I have a good tree-wrapping plan, but it still gets me a bit excited when she starts because I know it is going to be a good 20 or 30 minutes until she is tired of trying to get me. Today she got pretty close to taking my knee off. She looked up at me and I knew it was coming, but I didn’t expect it so quickly! I felt her teeth run along my kneecap as I was stepping back and she grabbed a massive mouthful of my rain pants. I am so happy I was wearing them!
I don’t think she was trying to hurt me though, it was playful enough, but I really don’t want to encourage this game anymore. So I didn’t let her sleep on my feet again which annoyed her and she growled at me when she realized that she couldn’t get to me (because when I step back she usually gets up and follows me to get back onto my feet). Later in the day, however, after walking for another hour or two I did let her and she was totally fine, didn’t try anything. So things are getting much better, calmer for both of us these days.
We wandered to one of the boundary trails of her area and followed it all the way back to her cage at the end of the day. When we were getting close to the cage she caught a snake! I don’t know what kind it was but it was bigger than the one a few days ago, was brownish with diamond patterns on its back, kind of like a fair de lance (very poisonous!) so I made sure to stay out of the way. I think it might have bitten her but she didn’t seem to get sick or anything. It might have just got her fur and she shook her foot away to drop it. She kept on trying to bring it to me while it was still alive and lunging through the air to try and get her, and ME! I had to dodge the thing so many times because she wouldn’t kill it and kept flinging it at me. Finally I heard a big crunch sound and its head was gone. I guess the poison isn’t dangerous if eaten??
After it was dead and headless she didn’t care about it anymore so we continued back to the cage. Again as we got closer she growled and grumbled loudly. It makes me nervous every time, but I am starting to think that it’s just her way of showing excitement? It was 4:30, which meant dinnertime so it might also mean that she is hungry. Either way, once she is in her cage she stops growling and rubs her face all over the cage near me and I get to scratch her head and side a bunch. It is when she is the happiest.
All in all, very good day, and it was nice for me that it was only 4 hours instead of 7 or 8.
March 30 - Lazy Fun Day
She left her tongue out for a good half an hour, lol
Another good day, but shorter than expected. When I first got Tigre out of the cage around 10:00 she went straight for the fallen tree again, but as we arrived we could hear monkeys playing in the treetops. We stopped and watched for a good while as all kinds of monkeys swung around eating and watching us. Capuchin, squirrel and spider monkeys, all at the same place at the same time. I didn’t realize that they would all get along so well.
Being that the monkeys were hanging around Tigre’s cage area for so long, I think she got a bit protective and didn’t want to wander too far until the monkeys were gone. We sat right beside her cage for a while waiting for them to leave and finally, when they did, so did we. I wasn’t sure how far she would go today knowing that so many of them were near by.
I was right and we didn’t go very far from her area. We went to the grassy area on Mountain Trail nearby so she could eat and vomit a bit (yuck!) and then we just wandered slowly back to the cage, stopping every now and then to climb up a steep hillside and back down again. We were on a trail for a lot of the day which was nice for me :)
We got back to the cage at 1:30. Tigre looked really tired, and I was as well. It was also a pretty hot day so maybe a bit of the monkeys and a bit of the heat just wiped us out early. Either way, cool with me! I got to hang around for a bit and scratch Tigre’s face and chin and shoulders as she purred and thanked me for the walk.
I am sensing a change in our relationship now. She is very calm with me and is also very patient with me when I get stuck in vines (all the time!). She also will not sleep anywhere except for on my boots which kind of sucks because I don’t get a minute to myself at all. But she doesn’t go for my knees as much anymore, and when she does I just have to step away and she just lies on her side and looks at me in a funny way. And then of course, she comes over again and lies on my boots and the cycle continues. I’m not too worried about it anymore.
Being that the monkeys were hanging around Tigre’s cage area for so long, I think she got a bit protective and didn’t want to wander too far until the monkeys were gone. We sat right beside her cage for a while waiting for them to leave and finally, when they did, so did we. I wasn’t sure how far she would go today knowing that so many of them were near by.
I was right and we didn’t go very far from her area. We went to the grassy area on Mountain Trail nearby so she could eat and vomit a bit (yuck!) and then we just wandered slowly back to the cage, stopping every now and then to climb up a steep hillside and back down again. We were on a trail for a lot of the day which was nice for me :)
We got back to the cage at 1:30. Tigre looked really tired, and I was as well. It was also a pretty hot day so maybe a bit of the monkeys and a bit of the heat just wiped us out early. Either way, cool with me! I got to hang around for a bit and scratch Tigre’s face and chin and shoulders as she purred and thanked me for the walk.
I am sensing a change in our relationship now. She is very calm with me and is also very patient with me when I get stuck in vines (all the time!). She also will not sleep anywhere except for on my boots which kind of sucks because I don’t get a minute to myself at all. But she doesn’t go for my knees as much anymore, and when she does I just have to step away and she just lies on her side and looks at me in a funny way. And then of course, she comes over again and lies on my boots and the cycle continues. I’m not too worried about it anymore.
March 31 - Lost all day
Tigre tracks going right, wild puma going left
Today was a decent day except that we were lost outside of the park area for most of the day. I got Tigre out of her cage around 10:10 and we headed up to Roller Coaster (trail) where she caught another snake, bigger this time but the same brown with diamonds on the back (I took a video). At some point I started to notice blue flags, which define the limit that we should not go past, on the left side of us, which I didn’t understand when looking at a map. I figured that the rubber plantation boundary was closer than the map showed. So we stayed on the correct side, until eventually Tigre wanted to go off trailing. She went off to the right of the trail (which didn’t give us much room to wander according to the map) but I didn’t see any blue flags so I let her go. After an hour or so of trekking the jungle got very thick, thicker than usual and we started seeing things that I haven’t seen before or heard of (another landslide area, an opening to a field area, unique trees, etc.). But it was too late, there was nothing I could really do to convince her to turn around so I just hoped that we would make our way back eventually and that she would know the direction (because I was really disoriented and had no clue).
During the day we came across many monkeys in the treetops. It seemed like they were everywhere, and Tigre spent quite a lot of time watching them (me too) while sitting on my boots (and making my feet go numb). When Tigre took a rest for 40 minutes in one area I sat down and was just looking around watching the bugs and birds when a hummingbird zoomed in and stopped about a foot from my face staring at me! It was amazing, just floated there for a few seconds checking me out and me it. Tigre looked up as well just as it flew off again. Very cool!
Around 4:30 I was starting to get a bit more nervous because we hadn’t seen any flags in several hours, and I wasn’t sure if Tigre knew the direction to get back. I started noticing that she was looking around a lot and sniffing, I thought she might be trying to figure out how to get back as well. She would walk a little while one direction, change her mind and go back to where we were, go another direction, change her mind again and go back, and so on. She sat down and looked up at me and I just told her I had no idea and that she probably knew better than me, so she got back up and picked a direction. Soon I realized that we were completely backtracking and recognized all the places that she had marked on our way in. When we finally found a trail we entered onto it through blue flags, haha, yep, definitely not where we were supposed to be! But we made it back at 5:10pm, I gave her her dinner, and went home for a much needed shower!
During the day we came across many monkeys in the treetops. It seemed like they were everywhere, and Tigre spent quite a lot of time watching them (me too) while sitting on my boots (and making my feet go numb). When Tigre took a rest for 40 minutes in one area I sat down and was just looking around watching the bugs and birds when a hummingbird zoomed in and stopped about a foot from my face staring at me! It was amazing, just floated there for a few seconds checking me out and me it. Tigre looked up as well just as it flew off again. Very cool!
Around 4:30 I was starting to get a bit more nervous because we hadn’t seen any flags in several hours, and I wasn’t sure if Tigre knew the direction to get back. I started noticing that she was looking around a lot and sniffing, I thought she might be trying to figure out how to get back as well. She would walk a little while one direction, change her mind and go back to where we were, go another direction, change her mind again and go back, and so on. She sat down and looked up at me and I just told her I had no idea and that she probably knew better than me, so she got back up and picked a direction. Soon I realized that we were completely backtracking and recognized all the places that she had marked on our way in. When we finally found a trail we entered onto it through blue flags, haha, yep, definitely not where we were supposed to be! But we made it back at 5:10pm, I gave her her dinner, and went home for a much needed shower!
April 1 - Fell down a landslide, Tigre waited
Tigre getting ready to bite my knees
Today was a strange day. We got a later start, around 11, because I needed a little break and figured that I could give myself an extra hour (I was totally pooped out from the previous day). I think Tigre was also very tired today as once we got going it wasn’t long before she took a long nap in the sun. Along the way, Tigre found a route from her cage area up to the Mountain Trail that was very steep, I asked her to pick a different route and she did but it was also steep, however it had better options for hand and foot holds, so I let her go up and tried my best to keep up behind her. We were near the top and I could feel the ground under my feet was starting to give out; the ground here is kind of sandy, clay mud and is not very strong even when it looks like rock. I was looking to grab a root or something to hold onto but everything I touched disintegrated, rotten, and down I went. I didn’t want to take Tigre down with me so I just let the rope go and called her name as I tumbled down the hillside which was actually a pretty long fall, maybe 30m or more down.
I was not hurt or anything but was worrying about Tigre, hoping that she wouldn’t run away. I scrambled up the hill again as fast as I could and made it this time. When I was getting close to the top of the hill I looked around to see if Tigre was nearby – and she was! She was just over the crest of the hill sitting down waiting for me :)
She had a look like she was laughing at me, but sat and waited for me to get up and walk over to her, and then she gave me a minute to catch my breath, watching me as if asking if I was ok. When I was ready I told her “ok, listo!” and she got up from her sitting position, turned her head back in front of her and we continued on. It was so nice to see her do that for me. Her leash wasn’t caught on anything and she could have gone if she had wanted to (and she is known to do it), I was down the hill for at least a couple of minutes calling to her as I climbed back up. She trusts me, aww
Later when we got to a sunny spot and Tigre took a very long nap (more than an hour which is unusual for her) beside a log, I was sitting a little away from her playing a game on my iphone when all of a sudden we were both started by a spider monkey that had snuck up on Tigre and was trying to get really close to her. Tigre got up and stood just watching. I shouted at the monkey to get away when it motioned to come even closer (just past the leash length at this point) like she wanted to pet Tigre, then she backed off just a little. Next came two more, and they all crossed the path in front of us and jumped up into the treetops. Tigre was pretty annoyed by this and became pretty grumpy. She wouldn’t leave the area for another hour or so but kept on trying to sleep on my boots while growling (yikes!).
Eventually she did decide to move on, and I was thankful. We followed the highway trail towards Candycane, where Millie’s walking area is. Every time her go near this area we seem to cross paths with Millie and her walkers. It hasn’t been a huge issue, but it does seem to bother Tigre at least a little. I was really hoping that they weren’t in this area when I started to hear voices chatting – it was them…
Tigre was very upset by running into Millie today. She tried to get up to her for a good hour or so and when I wouldn’t let her she would growl so loudly that it frightened me and then she would come and sit on my boots and try and bite my knees! I felt that she was getting more and more agitated and she would probably end up jumping me, but I held my ground and wouldn’t let her go. When she started to head off in another direction, unfortunately there was blue flagging tape on a tree, indicating that we shouldn’t go further as it is Millie’s territory past here, so I couldn’t let her go there either! After a very long and frustrating battle with Tigre, trying to get her to leave the way we came (the only direction we could go), she finally did. She grumbled and growled all the way back to the cage from here, clearly annoyed at the world. We got back at 3:30, earlier than I thought we would, but I was very happy to be back! I hung out for an hour so I could feed her at 4:30, and she let my scratch her head and face through the cage. But of course the closer to 4:30 it got, the more she paced in her cage, growling because she was hungry.
I fed her at 4:30 and then said goodnight. It had been a long and stressful day. Hopefully she is happier tomorrow. I guess we both needed some rest after yesterdays long day! I also feel a head cold coming on, hopefully I will get some good rest tonight and it will go away…?
I was not hurt or anything but was worrying about Tigre, hoping that she wouldn’t run away. I scrambled up the hill again as fast as I could and made it this time. When I was getting close to the top of the hill I looked around to see if Tigre was nearby – and she was! She was just over the crest of the hill sitting down waiting for me :)
She had a look like she was laughing at me, but sat and waited for me to get up and walk over to her, and then she gave me a minute to catch my breath, watching me as if asking if I was ok. When I was ready I told her “ok, listo!” and she got up from her sitting position, turned her head back in front of her and we continued on. It was so nice to see her do that for me. Her leash wasn’t caught on anything and she could have gone if she had wanted to (and she is known to do it), I was down the hill for at least a couple of minutes calling to her as I climbed back up. She trusts me, aww
Later when we got to a sunny spot and Tigre took a very long nap (more than an hour which is unusual for her) beside a log, I was sitting a little away from her playing a game on my iphone when all of a sudden we were both started by a spider monkey that had snuck up on Tigre and was trying to get really close to her. Tigre got up and stood just watching. I shouted at the monkey to get away when it motioned to come even closer (just past the leash length at this point) like she wanted to pet Tigre, then she backed off just a little. Next came two more, and they all crossed the path in front of us and jumped up into the treetops. Tigre was pretty annoyed by this and became pretty grumpy. She wouldn’t leave the area for another hour or so but kept on trying to sleep on my boots while growling (yikes!).
Eventually she did decide to move on, and I was thankful. We followed the highway trail towards Candycane, where Millie’s walking area is. Every time her go near this area we seem to cross paths with Millie and her walkers. It hasn’t been a huge issue, but it does seem to bother Tigre at least a little. I was really hoping that they weren’t in this area when I started to hear voices chatting – it was them…
Tigre was very upset by running into Millie today. She tried to get up to her for a good hour or so and when I wouldn’t let her she would growl so loudly that it frightened me and then she would come and sit on my boots and try and bite my knees! I felt that she was getting more and more agitated and she would probably end up jumping me, but I held my ground and wouldn’t let her go. When she started to head off in another direction, unfortunately there was blue flagging tape on a tree, indicating that we shouldn’t go further as it is Millie’s territory past here, so I couldn’t let her go there either! After a very long and frustrating battle with Tigre, trying to get her to leave the way we came (the only direction we could go), she finally did. She grumbled and growled all the way back to the cage from here, clearly annoyed at the world. We got back at 3:30, earlier than I thought we would, but I was very happy to be back! I hung out for an hour so I could feed her at 4:30, and she let my scratch her head and face through the cage. But of course the closer to 4:30 it got, the more she paced in her cage, growling because she was hungry.
I fed her at 4:30 and then said goodnight. It had been a long and stressful day. Hopefully she is happier tomorrow. I guess we both needed some rest after yesterdays long day! I also feel a head cold coming on, hopefully I will get some good rest tonight and it will go away…?
April 2 - Hot Lazy day, lots of chillin in the sun
Lazy day nap
Woke up with a full-blown head cold, but feeling well enough to go out with Tigre. Tomorrow is my day off so I can recover then. When I got up to the cage this morning Tigre greeted me as usual, by running over to the side of the cage closest to where I come up and meow/growling at me to say good morning. I scratched her neck and head for a while and then played with her rope on a stick for another while, a game that she gets more and more into every day. She also gets into a hide and seek game with me where she hides behind the big tree in her cage and waits for me to lean over and try and see her. If I spot her she jumps and runs around the cage. So silly. Also, when she walks on her tree planks she always looks underneath and if she can see her tail she drops onto her belly and leans under to grab her tail from the other side. This morning she was extra playful, though she does all of these things pretty much every day.
When she was ready to go (and when I was ready) I clipped her onto her leash, cleaned her cage quickly and off we went. It was a hot day, lots of sun again for the third day in a row so not too much humidity, but hot nonetheless. We spent a lot of time near the cage area only taking trails that were in the vicinity (kneebreaker and back to the cage, the landslide area beside the cage for a bit, highway and mountain trail to eat some grass and then return to cage, pretty much all trails today and only very little off trailing). We left at 10 and were back at the cage early by 2:30. She was moving very slow all day and took many many naps (nearly every 10 or 20 steps especially later in the day). I think it was because of the heat. I let her sleep on my boots a lot today since she was so calm and happy. She didn’t really try to get my knees today. I only had to step away once or twice because she had rolled onto her side and tried to grab my boots with her paws, but only playfully (though not a good habit). All in all, it was a wonderful day for me, but I am hoping that she was lazy because of the heat and not something else, like a parasite or something. She did drag her but on one of the planks in the morning for a quick second, so I will have to keep an eye on her. I told the vet, volunteer coordinator and owner of the place as well but no one seemed too concerned.
When she was ready to go (and when I was ready) I clipped her onto her leash, cleaned her cage quickly and off we went. It was a hot day, lots of sun again for the third day in a row so not too much humidity, but hot nonetheless. We spent a lot of time near the cage area only taking trails that were in the vicinity (kneebreaker and back to the cage, the landslide area beside the cage for a bit, highway and mountain trail to eat some grass and then return to cage, pretty much all trails today and only very little off trailing). We left at 10 and were back at the cage early by 2:30. She was moving very slow all day and took many many naps (nearly every 10 or 20 steps especially later in the day). I think it was because of the heat. I let her sleep on my boots a lot today since she was so calm and happy. She didn’t really try to get my knees today. I only had to step away once or twice because she had rolled onto her side and tried to grab my boots with her paws, but only playfully (though not a good habit). All in all, it was a wonderful day for me, but I am hoping that she was lazy because of the heat and not something else, like a parasite or something. She did drag her but on one of the planks in the morning for a quick second, so I will have to keep an eye on her. I told the vet, volunteer coordinator and owner of the place as well but no one seemed too concerned.
April 3 - Day off
My day off, and I have a cold. That’s ok though, I will rest and hang out with some of the other volunteers that have days off. I feel a little bit sad because I didn’t go out to the river bonfire last night that Richard was very excited about. He made his famous Gypsy Rum for everyone. But after dinner my head started pounding and all I wanted to do was go to sleep to make it stop. Stupid cold!!!
April 4 - Short Walk, Hammock time
Hammock time, my favourite before dinner bonding
Lazy Friday. It’s another hot hot day and Tigre wasn’t having it. When I first got up to her cage she greeted me as normal and let me scratch her head. I offered her some grass to eat, also as usual, and she ate a couple of pieces before quickly sticking her paw out of the cage to try and get me! That was the first time she has done it and kind of startled me. She didn’t seem aggressive or anything, but something seemed a bit off. I offered her another piece of grass and she did the same thing. So I just lay back in the hammock and let her calm down for a bit.
She paced around her cage a little bit and I played with her rope on a stick for a few minutes until she got bored of that too. She was grumbling and growling a little the whole time. Obviously something isn’t right with her.
Also when I first got up to the cage I noticed that a tree branch had fallen from very high up and landed right beside her cage. It took down another small tree and ripped down some of the tarp that leads into her entryway. I wonder when this would have happened since there haven’t been any storms or wind or anything in the last two days, and if maybe this has something to do with her feeling a bit off. I put on my gloves and tossed the branches and leaves down the hill away from the cage, and then raked up all the bits of twigs and leaves that were scattered around. It was a pretty big mess. While I was clearing things up Tigre finally stopped pacing and watched me while she lay by the entryway near me. I believe she actually felt better when I cleared this up for her. Next I was going to try and repair the tarp over her entry but when I lifted it up I noticed a gigantic tarantula and kind of panicked and ran away. I grabbed the camera and rake, used the rake to lift the tarp again and snapped a quick (and bad) photo before it bounded up the tarp to try and hide further in. I decided that the tarp can remain the way it is for now. I am worried that from now on I will have this spider on my mind every time I go into the cage…
After it looked like Tigre was ready to go and she seemed a bit happier, I got ready and clipped on her collar. Everything was as smooth as usual while I cleaned out her cage and she waited outside for me. We started walking around the cage area and Tigre immediately turned around and started walking toward me with a funny look on her face – “here it comes” I thought. She sat on my boot and then tried to bite my knee quickly. I tugged the rope a bit and she fell onto her side. I thought she might do the ass-biting thing and then try and jump me but I think she was too lazy. She got up after a moment and went to her scratching tree. Again, she looked at me funny and started to get ready to jump me, but I deterred her by saying “no gracias, Tigre” and she just turned around and walked on. Yep, something is up with her. Could be the heat, or the tree branch that fell, or maybe she isn’t feeling well. I will be keeping a close eye on her over the next few days.
We didn’t go very far at all. Just to her usual fallen tree to sniff around, up the landslide a little ways, around the uphill side of her cage and then back to the cage again in less than an hour. She did sit on my boots again and tried to bite my knees again, annoying!
I was kind of looking forward to having a good long day with Tigre today so when she went back to her cage I was a little surprised and bummed out. I lay in the hammock and hung out for another hour and she did the same in her hammock beside me. I sang to her for awhile which I think she likes. Sometimes she sings along which is so cute. I also played some music on my ipod wondering if she would like it, and I think she did. After awhile she went up to her hay bed and I said goodbye before heading down for lunch. I’ll be back up to feed her at 4:30 (maybe I’ll go a little early to see how she is doing). Hope she feels better tomorrow! She hasn’t gone out for a good long day in a while now.
She paced around her cage a little bit and I played with her rope on a stick for a few minutes until she got bored of that too. She was grumbling and growling a little the whole time. Obviously something isn’t right with her.
Also when I first got up to the cage I noticed that a tree branch had fallen from very high up and landed right beside her cage. It took down another small tree and ripped down some of the tarp that leads into her entryway. I wonder when this would have happened since there haven’t been any storms or wind or anything in the last two days, and if maybe this has something to do with her feeling a bit off. I put on my gloves and tossed the branches and leaves down the hill away from the cage, and then raked up all the bits of twigs and leaves that were scattered around. It was a pretty big mess. While I was clearing things up Tigre finally stopped pacing and watched me while she lay by the entryway near me. I believe she actually felt better when I cleared this up for her. Next I was going to try and repair the tarp over her entry but when I lifted it up I noticed a gigantic tarantula and kind of panicked and ran away. I grabbed the camera and rake, used the rake to lift the tarp again and snapped a quick (and bad) photo before it bounded up the tarp to try and hide further in. I decided that the tarp can remain the way it is for now. I am worried that from now on I will have this spider on my mind every time I go into the cage…
After it looked like Tigre was ready to go and she seemed a bit happier, I got ready and clipped on her collar. Everything was as smooth as usual while I cleaned out her cage and she waited outside for me. We started walking around the cage area and Tigre immediately turned around and started walking toward me with a funny look on her face – “here it comes” I thought. She sat on my boot and then tried to bite my knee quickly. I tugged the rope a bit and she fell onto her side. I thought she might do the ass-biting thing and then try and jump me but I think she was too lazy. She got up after a moment and went to her scratching tree. Again, she looked at me funny and started to get ready to jump me, but I deterred her by saying “no gracias, Tigre” and she just turned around and walked on. Yep, something is up with her. Could be the heat, or the tree branch that fell, or maybe she isn’t feeling well. I will be keeping a close eye on her over the next few days.
We didn’t go very far at all. Just to her usual fallen tree to sniff around, up the landslide a little ways, around the uphill side of her cage and then back to the cage again in less than an hour. She did sit on my boots again and tried to bite my knees again, annoying!
I was kind of looking forward to having a good long day with Tigre today so when she went back to her cage I was a little surprised and bummed out. I lay in the hammock and hung out for another hour and she did the same in her hammock beside me. I sang to her for awhile which I think she likes. Sometimes she sings along which is so cute. I also played some music on my ipod wondering if she would like it, and I think she did. After awhile she went up to her hay bed and I said goodbye before heading down for lunch. I’ll be back up to feed her at 4:30 (maybe I’ll go a little early to see how she is doing). Hope she feels better tomorrow! She hasn’t gone out for a good long day in a while now.
April 5 - The Bad Night, Really Lost
Tigre leading me who knows where
We got a long day in, and was it ever long. Up until the rescue team was sent to find us (we were lost) the day was perfect. Tigre was happy and energetic all day and pretty much just loved life.
When I got up to the cage in the morning Tigre rolled out of bed and took her time waking up. I played with her rope on a stick for a while and chatted with her until she was ready to go. We also waited a few extra minutes for some monkeys that were in the area to go away. Everything was straight forward again getting out of the cage and heading out to the trails. We first stopped at the fallen tree to sniff around as usual, and then we headed up zig-zag, over the highway and over into Tigre’s Valley where we are most free, knowing that the outer boundaries are far in every direction. It always gives me some comfort when I know that we are in the park area.
It seems that every day we get lost, and I haven’t quite figured out how it happens. We always start off fine, in Tigre’s allotted walking areas and then at some point we get to a boundary, I am careful not to cross it and then bam, all of a sudden we are in unknown territory and there is no sign of any trail flags. Today this is what happened, again. We followed a boundary trail for a while, I believe near loop 2, and at some point Tigre wanted to go off trailing, as usual. So of course, I let her lead us off the trail and onto the side away from the blue flags, so we should have been inside Tigre’s area. For a little awhile we kept on seeing orange and white flags when we would cross a trail so I knew we were still in the right place. At one point I started to sense that we were heading off in the wrong direction so I got Tigre to turn back toward where I thought the trails were and sure enough we came to a blue flag – somehow we had indeed crossed out of her area, again. How frustrating!
So thinking that I had made a good call and feeling confident that we were not going to get lost today (my only real goal for the day because I shouldn’t have to be lost every single day) we continued on into her area. We followed along another boundary trail somewhere near loop 2 again and things were going well. Tigre wanted to go off trail again so we picked the direction opposite the blue flags, again, which should mean that it is a safe place to take her, but soon we stopped seeing flags and the jungle started to become more dense. I knew we had SOMEHOW crossed outside the boundary again, but I had no idea when or where we could possibly have.
At this point I was getting pretty frustrated with always being lost. Francesca and I spent 2 days marking the outer boundary of Tigre’s area when I first got here but apparently we either missed some areas or the flags have been removed somehow (rain, monkeys, birds, ?). I am getting angry that no matter what I do we get lost every day outside of the park, this shouldn’t happen! And it shouldn’t be a normal occurrence, which I found out later today it is.
I decided to let Tigre lead the way since she knows the area better than me and I would try in my head to keep oriented so I know approximately which direction is home. As usual, this became an impossible task with Tigre changing direction constantly and road sounds coming from every direction cannot be relied upon to indicate anything specific. I did recognize some of the landmarks that we passed from other days when we had gotten lost in this area, so I felt some comfort that Tigre would at least know the way back when she was ready. But I still wanted to at least try and head in the right direction so I suggested to Tigre that we go up a hill that I thought would take us back. I was wrong. We ended up in a coca plantation field which scared the shit out of me because I have been told that mean dogs guard these fields and if I ever got into one with Tigre I should get out immediately!
Unfortunately Tigre decided that it was a good time to take a nap just then, and so she did, right in the middle of the field. The time was 1:30pm. Since there were no dogs and I can’t make Tigre move if I wanted to, I just got comfy and waited while Tigre got some rest. It was still a nice warm day, not too warm, but comfortable. A lizard ran by a few times startling Tigre awake and sending her on a quick sprint to try and catch it. But she never did, so she would just go back to sleep, sometimes on my boots which she really can’t seem to go without these days. While waiting I took out my map and compass and figured that if we were at the coca plantation that is indicated on the map we should go south and would eventually find a trail.
When Tigre was ready at around 2:00 I directed her to the south and off we went. Before long Tigre cut left (east I believe) and I thought we would still hit part of the trails in that direction so I let her lead bearing more or less southeast. By 4:30 I was getting even more frustrated since we had been walking for more than 2 hours and still hadn’t found a flag let alone any landmark that I had seen before at all. When things started to look very foreign I started thinking about phoning the office. I have our Spot GPS device with me so I decided that if we were still lost at 5:30 I would send a GPS signal and phone to see if they could at least tell me which direction to go.
When I did call at 5:30 and sent a GPS beacon from the top of a HUGE landslide area (the only place that the signal would get through), Marta would not tell me which direction to walk in! I was annoyed because she just wanted me to stay where I was and she would send some people to help escort me back. While I really was not interested in having a search party come out to get me, I waited where I was since Marta was very insistent. I knew right then that it was going to be a long night, but I didn’t expect it to be so stressful.
It took a good 3 hours before they found me. We spent that time phoning back and forth to see if we could hear each other’s shouts and whistles, and finally Andrew and two Bolivian guys found us. Tigre was fine up until this point. When it got dark the bats started flying around and some larger insects came out. Tigre was having a great time trying to catch everything. I could tell that she was a little annoyed to be stuck in the same place for so long, but she was more or less comfortable and totally calm, even when I whistled (which I felt very bad doing so close to her).
When the guys found me I figured ok, great, we will head back in the direction that they came from and when we recognize the trails again they can go away and Tigre can lead me back to the cage via them (she knows the trails very well, and so do I with my map). This is what we normally do anyways at the end of a day.
But, the Bolivian guys decided that they had a better idea… I knew right then that it was going to be very bad. They wanted to follow a stream that was nearby to a road, and from there get Tigre in a cage or tranquilize her!!! I couldn’t convince them otherwise and felt I had lost all control of the situation, so I just tried to keep Tigre calm and let her know that I was there and everything would be ok.
She was so frantic with all these strange people around, shining their flashlights in her face and shouting at her to follow. I got them to just go down the trail and be quiet and patient while I slowly got her to follow far behind with me. It worked for a while but when we got closer to the road and the noises of traffic and people got too much and she just lost it. She was frantically running to hide under any bush, rock, log, anything and we stopped making any progress. By now it was near 9:30. I told them that Tigre wasn’t going any further so they’d better come up with a new plan. They then went to the road and brought a cage over. Nena and I tried to get Tigre to go into the cage but she was too terrified. She was strangling herself trying to get away from us. I have never felt so cruel in my life.
After an hour of this we finally just kept her rope tight and moved the cage over to her. We got her to peek inside at a piece of chicken and then shut the door. She was so frightened; her tongue was out as far as I have ever seen it and her eyes were panic ridden and huge. We covered the cage with blankets before carrying her out the rest of the trail and into the vehicle.
When we got back to the park at 10:30 we left her in the cage near her trail and decided to walk her up in the morning when she had settled down for awhile.
When I got up to the cage in the morning Tigre rolled out of bed and took her time waking up. I played with her rope on a stick for a while and chatted with her until she was ready to go. We also waited a few extra minutes for some monkeys that were in the area to go away. Everything was straight forward again getting out of the cage and heading out to the trails. We first stopped at the fallen tree to sniff around as usual, and then we headed up zig-zag, over the highway and over into Tigre’s Valley where we are most free, knowing that the outer boundaries are far in every direction. It always gives me some comfort when I know that we are in the park area.
It seems that every day we get lost, and I haven’t quite figured out how it happens. We always start off fine, in Tigre’s allotted walking areas and then at some point we get to a boundary, I am careful not to cross it and then bam, all of a sudden we are in unknown territory and there is no sign of any trail flags. Today this is what happened, again. We followed a boundary trail for a while, I believe near loop 2, and at some point Tigre wanted to go off trailing, as usual. So of course, I let her lead us off the trail and onto the side away from the blue flags, so we should have been inside Tigre’s area. For a little awhile we kept on seeing orange and white flags when we would cross a trail so I knew we were still in the right place. At one point I started to sense that we were heading off in the wrong direction so I got Tigre to turn back toward where I thought the trails were and sure enough we came to a blue flag – somehow we had indeed crossed out of her area, again. How frustrating!
So thinking that I had made a good call and feeling confident that we were not going to get lost today (my only real goal for the day because I shouldn’t have to be lost every single day) we continued on into her area. We followed along another boundary trail somewhere near loop 2 again and things were going well. Tigre wanted to go off trail again so we picked the direction opposite the blue flags, again, which should mean that it is a safe place to take her, but soon we stopped seeing flags and the jungle started to become more dense. I knew we had SOMEHOW crossed outside the boundary again, but I had no idea when or where we could possibly have.
At this point I was getting pretty frustrated with always being lost. Francesca and I spent 2 days marking the outer boundary of Tigre’s area when I first got here but apparently we either missed some areas or the flags have been removed somehow (rain, monkeys, birds, ?). I am getting angry that no matter what I do we get lost every day outside of the park, this shouldn’t happen! And it shouldn’t be a normal occurrence, which I found out later today it is.
I decided to let Tigre lead the way since she knows the area better than me and I would try in my head to keep oriented so I know approximately which direction is home. As usual, this became an impossible task with Tigre changing direction constantly and road sounds coming from every direction cannot be relied upon to indicate anything specific. I did recognize some of the landmarks that we passed from other days when we had gotten lost in this area, so I felt some comfort that Tigre would at least know the way back when she was ready. But I still wanted to at least try and head in the right direction so I suggested to Tigre that we go up a hill that I thought would take us back. I was wrong. We ended up in a coca plantation field which scared the shit out of me because I have been told that mean dogs guard these fields and if I ever got into one with Tigre I should get out immediately!
Unfortunately Tigre decided that it was a good time to take a nap just then, and so she did, right in the middle of the field. The time was 1:30pm. Since there were no dogs and I can’t make Tigre move if I wanted to, I just got comfy and waited while Tigre got some rest. It was still a nice warm day, not too warm, but comfortable. A lizard ran by a few times startling Tigre awake and sending her on a quick sprint to try and catch it. But she never did, so she would just go back to sleep, sometimes on my boots which she really can’t seem to go without these days. While waiting I took out my map and compass and figured that if we were at the coca plantation that is indicated on the map we should go south and would eventually find a trail.
When Tigre was ready at around 2:00 I directed her to the south and off we went. Before long Tigre cut left (east I believe) and I thought we would still hit part of the trails in that direction so I let her lead bearing more or less southeast. By 4:30 I was getting even more frustrated since we had been walking for more than 2 hours and still hadn’t found a flag let alone any landmark that I had seen before at all. When things started to look very foreign I started thinking about phoning the office. I have our Spot GPS device with me so I decided that if we were still lost at 5:30 I would send a GPS signal and phone to see if they could at least tell me which direction to go.
When I did call at 5:30 and sent a GPS beacon from the top of a HUGE landslide area (the only place that the signal would get through), Marta would not tell me which direction to walk in! I was annoyed because she just wanted me to stay where I was and she would send some people to help escort me back. While I really was not interested in having a search party come out to get me, I waited where I was since Marta was very insistent. I knew right then that it was going to be a long night, but I didn’t expect it to be so stressful.
It took a good 3 hours before they found me. We spent that time phoning back and forth to see if we could hear each other’s shouts and whistles, and finally Andrew and two Bolivian guys found us. Tigre was fine up until this point. When it got dark the bats started flying around and some larger insects came out. Tigre was having a great time trying to catch everything. I could tell that she was a little annoyed to be stuck in the same place for so long, but she was more or less comfortable and totally calm, even when I whistled (which I felt very bad doing so close to her).
When the guys found me I figured ok, great, we will head back in the direction that they came from and when we recognize the trails again they can go away and Tigre can lead me back to the cage via them (she knows the trails very well, and so do I with my map). This is what we normally do anyways at the end of a day.
But, the Bolivian guys decided that they had a better idea… I knew right then that it was going to be very bad. They wanted to follow a stream that was nearby to a road, and from there get Tigre in a cage or tranquilize her!!! I couldn’t convince them otherwise and felt I had lost all control of the situation, so I just tried to keep Tigre calm and let her know that I was there and everything would be ok.
She was so frantic with all these strange people around, shining their flashlights in her face and shouting at her to follow. I got them to just go down the trail and be quiet and patient while I slowly got her to follow far behind with me. It worked for a while but when we got closer to the road and the noises of traffic and people got too much and she just lost it. She was frantically running to hide under any bush, rock, log, anything and we stopped making any progress. By now it was near 9:30. I told them that Tigre wasn’t going any further so they’d better come up with a new plan. They then went to the road and brought a cage over. Nena and I tried to get Tigre to go into the cage but she was too terrified. She was strangling herself trying to get away from us. I have never felt so cruel in my life.
After an hour of this we finally just kept her rope tight and moved the cage over to her. We got her to peek inside at a piece of chicken and then shut the door. She was so frightened; her tongue was out as far as I have ever seen it and her eyes were panic ridden and huge. We covered the cage with blankets before carrying her out the rest of the trail and into the vehicle.
When we got back to the park at 10:30 we left her in the cage near her trail and decided to walk her up in the morning when she had settled down for awhile.
April 6 - No walk for Tigre after the bad night
Pretty stream in the park
In the morning when I walked her up she was definitely more calm, but still pretty frantic and her tongue was still out as she breathed quickly. She knows the trail back to her cage so it was pretty easy going. When we arrived at the cage, just me, Tigre and Nena, Tigre lay down outside of her cage for some time. Nena left back down the trail and I hung out with Tigre until she felt calm enough to get into her cage by herself. I gave her as much time as she wanted and just chatted with her a little bit and told her how sorry I was. Eventually she got up and moved closer to the cage door but not quite inside, and then with some hesitation, she did it. I stayed and hung out with Tigre for an hour or more while she calmed down. After 10 or 15 minutes of being inside her cage she calmed down enough to breath slowly again and sucked her tongue back in. She started cleaning herself and had some water. Soon she came over to me and rubbed her face on the cage near me so I could scratch her head and neck. I think this means that she forgives me, but I still feel awful.
Poor Tigre, I felt like the meanest person on earth, putting her through that. I am here to try and make her life a little bit better. Let her taste some freedom in her days walking out in the jungle, hunting, running, sun bathing, climbing, napping. But here I am, getting lost all the time and this time causing her more stress than she should ever have in her entre lifetime put together! How awful I am.
I am angry that Marta wouldn’t have just told me which direction to go in to get back to the trails. I am also angry that a search team was sent and that their awful solution was to bring Tigre to a road!! The trails that they came from were most definitely closer that the stupid river that we followed, plus Tigre is afraid of water, HELLO SHE IS A CAT! The whole situation was terrible, but I don’t know what I could have done to avoid it. Or what to do to avoid repeating it. One thing I do know though, is next time I am lost with Tigre, I will NOT be calling for help.
Obviously we are not going out today. Tigre needs a good rest day to chill out and let the events of last night absorb. Nena kind of shrugged the whole thing off like, “hey, this happens all the time”, but that just makes me angrier. How can this be an acceptable standard? Especially with random volunteers that have next to no training with Tigre let alone the jungle or her trails before being left alone to do this job! In any other country this organization would be riddled with lawsuits. I guess since in Bolivia lawsuits are pointless, they can lower their standards. But that doesn’t make any of this right.
I spent the day walking the outer boundary trails for Tigre’s area and putting up a ton of blue flagging tape so that if we walk up to this trail we will know not to go beyond. I only got about half way around before I ran out of blue flagging tape but I continued all the way around just to refresh myself on how the trail looks. I actually got myself lost several times as the trails are not marked at all in many places, and they are riddled with landslides and fallen trees. When I got the loop 2 I decided to look around up over a little hill beside the trail, curious if I could see where the coca plantation was and where we were lost yesterday. Sure enough just over a small ridge maybe 50m from the loop 2 trail was the plantation. After all that last night we were only 50m from a trail. Poor Tigre went through all that stress for no reason – if they had only told me which direction to go in we could have found our way back by ourselves.
Poor Tigre, I felt like the meanest person on earth, putting her through that. I am here to try and make her life a little bit better. Let her taste some freedom in her days walking out in the jungle, hunting, running, sun bathing, climbing, napping. But here I am, getting lost all the time and this time causing her more stress than she should ever have in her entre lifetime put together! How awful I am.
I am angry that Marta wouldn’t have just told me which direction to go in to get back to the trails. I am also angry that a search team was sent and that their awful solution was to bring Tigre to a road!! The trails that they came from were most definitely closer that the stupid river that we followed, plus Tigre is afraid of water, HELLO SHE IS A CAT! The whole situation was terrible, but I don’t know what I could have done to avoid it. Or what to do to avoid repeating it. One thing I do know though, is next time I am lost with Tigre, I will NOT be calling for help.
Obviously we are not going out today. Tigre needs a good rest day to chill out and let the events of last night absorb. Nena kind of shrugged the whole thing off like, “hey, this happens all the time”, but that just makes me angrier. How can this be an acceptable standard? Especially with random volunteers that have next to no training with Tigre let alone the jungle or her trails before being left alone to do this job! In any other country this organization would be riddled with lawsuits. I guess since in Bolivia lawsuits are pointless, they can lower their standards. But that doesn’t make any of this right.
I spent the day walking the outer boundary trails for Tigre’s area and putting up a ton of blue flagging tape so that if we walk up to this trail we will know not to go beyond. I only got about half way around before I ran out of blue flagging tape but I continued all the way around just to refresh myself on how the trail looks. I actually got myself lost several times as the trails are not marked at all in many places, and they are riddled with landslides and fallen trees. When I got the loop 2 I decided to look around up over a little hill beside the trail, curious if I could see where the coca plantation was and where we were lost yesterday. Sure enough just over a small ridge maybe 50m from the loop 2 trail was the plantation. After all that last night we were only 50m from a trail. Poor Tigre went through all that stress for no reason – if they had only told me which direction to go in we could have found our way back by ourselves.
April 7 - Forgiven
Good times resting in the sun
I was looking forward to today so that I could get out with Tigre again and see if she still trusts me. When I got up to the cage in the morning she greeted me as usual, rubbed her face and side on the cage near where I stood and let me scratch her head, face and neck. Seems like she has forgiven me. I could see that she was pretty lazy, maybe still worn out from the bad night, or maybe just hot from the heat – it has been really hot this last week.
After I scratched her for a while she went up to her straw bed and slept for a good hour. She wasn’t interested in going out. I stayed there and hung out on the hammock until she woke up. In the meantime I set off another GPS beacon so that if I got lost in the future they could see this point and tell me which direction to go to get to it. I always have my compass with me. I also gathered up a bunch of big leaves to use for some nice green mats for her to lay on in a few spots in her cage. When I got back, after shouting at a monkey who tried to steal our Spot GPS beacon and then dropped it in water, Tigre was up and about again. Sure enough when I checked to see if she wanted to go out for a walk she did!
We left at just after noon at a slow pace. We didn’t go far, just up her cage trail toward zig zag then over to knee breaker, back up to roller coaster and just in and around those areas. After a couple of hours Tigre decided to take a nap in a nice leafy area for half an hour or so. When she got up to go again it started to trickle a little rain on us, and within 5 minutes the rain turned into a sunny downpour with thunder and lightning. Tigre tried to hide under some small leaves but soon realized that they weren’t going to cover her. She started heading in the direction of her cage to find the comfort of her straw bed covered by a tarp, but surprisingly she took her time and didn’t seem to be too bothered by the rain anymore.
We got back to the cage at around 3:15 and I hung out until her dinnertime at 4:30. It had been a short walking day for Tigre but I was happy that she came out, and that she seems to have forgiven me for that bad night.
When I got back down to the office I found out that there is a new volunteer that will be taking over walking Tigre for me when I leave. I have been sort of looking forward to leaving this place since we got here – the management seems very scattered and disorganized (they have taken on a LOT of animals but not enough staff to manage), the things volunteers are expected to do are often dangerous and much more work than expected with only every 15th day off, the living arrangements are absolutely terrible, nothing ever dries and we all stink like vinegar and mold. It is uncomfortable to say the very least. However, today when I heard about the new volunteer I immediately felt a little panic in my heart. I have come to love Tigre. As much as this place is uncomfortable, it is all worth it to know that I am giving Tigre some freedom in her days. When I see her wandering around smelling plants, hunting snakes, sleeping in the sun, being happy as can be outside with me walking with her, it is all worth it. What a special experience to be able to spend my days with her.
The 16th will be my last day with her, and for the last 3 days I will train Emma, the new volunteer. So I still have some time to spend with Tigre alone before that. I hope to make the most of this time and give Tigre as much freedom as I can before I go. It must be lonely for her to have to go through the trouble of getting used to and getting to know a new walker only for them to leave after only one month.
After I scratched her for a while she went up to her straw bed and slept for a good hour. She wasn’t interested in going out. I stayed there and hung out on the hammock until she woke up. In the meantime I set off another GPS beacon so that if I got lost in the future they could see this point and tell me which direction to go to get to it. I always have my compass with me. I also gathered up a bunch of big leaves to use for some nice green mats for her to lay on in a few spots in her cage. When I got back, after shouting at a monkey who tried to steal our Spot GPS beacon and then dropped it in water, Tigre was up and about again. Sure enough when I checked to see if she wanted to go out for a walk she did!
We left at just after noon at a slow pace. We didn’t go far, just up her cage trail toward zig zag then over to knee breaker, back up to roller coaster and just in and around those areas. After a couple of hours Tigre decided to take a nap in a nice leafy area for half an hour or so. When she got up to go again it started to trickle a little rain on us, and within 5 minutes the rain turned into a sunny downpour with thunder and lightning. Tigre tried to hide under some small leaves but soon realized that they weren’t going to cover her. She started heading in the direction of her cage to find the comfort of her straw bed covered by a tarp, but surprisingly she took her time and didn’t seem to be too bothered by the rain anymore.
We got back to the cage at around 3:15 and I hung out until her dinnertime at 4:30. It had been a short walking day for Tigre but I was happy that she came out, and that she seems to have forgiven me for that bad night.
When I got back down to the office I found out that there is a new volunteer that will be taking over walking Tigre for me when I leave. I have been sort of looking forward to leaving this place since we got here – the management seems very scattered and disorganized (they have taken on a LOT of animals but not enough staff to manage), the things volunteers are expected to do are often dangerous and much more work than expected with only every 15th day off, the living arrangements are absolutely terrible, nothing ever dries and we all stink like vinegar and mold. It is uncomfortable to say the very least. However, today when I heard about the new volunteer I immediately felt a little panic in my heart. I have come to love Tigre. As much as this place is uncomfortable, it is all worth it to know that I am giving Tigre some freedom in her days. When I see her wandering around smelling plants, hunting snakes, sleeping in the sun, being happy as can be outside with me walking with her, it is all worth it. What a special experience to be able to spend my days with her.
The 16th will be my last day with her, and for the last 3 days I will train Emma, the new volunteer. So I still have some time to spend with Tigre alone before that. I hope to make the most of this time and give Tigre as much freedom as I can before I go. It must be lonely for her to have to go through the trouble of getting used to and getting to know a new walker only for them to leave after only one month.
April 8 - Lizard Hunt
The lizard was pretty huge!
Wonderful day. I had a good feeling right away when I woke up this morning. The sun was already out and something made the air smelled extra sweet when I went outside. The tree overhanging our walkway to our house has bloomed into hundreds of beautiful yellow flowers, some of them have fallen onto the steps and landing leading into the house. Beautiful. After breakfast we had a little meeting in the office for all of the cat people regarding medication – a new homeopathic veterinarian is visiting and would like to try some new medications for all of the animals. Tigre doesn’t have any major health issues but has been known to become easily stressed out. Aside from the bad night I have not really witnessed this stress, but I guess that means that her previous medication has been working well.
The new medication will start tomorrow, and for the last three days (including today) she has been drinking mint water in order to cleanse her system of the previous homeopathic medication. I wasn’t sure that she would drink the mint water as I hadn’t seen her drink any water at all before, but it was interesting that as soon as the mint water was in her dish I have seen her drinking quite a lot. Too bad it is only for three days.
After our meeting I hiked up to Tigre, stepping over the tortoise who lives on the path. He used to hide in his shell when I would walk by but now he is used to me and just continues eating plants or wandering around when I pass by. Silly creature.
When I got up to Tigre’s cage she was still lying in her straw bed and lifted her head to greet me. I sat down in the hammock and waited as she slowly woke herself up, stretching and yawning as she climbed down from her ledge and walked over to me. I added some big leaves as a sleeping mat beside my hammock so she can sit comfortably if she wants to and to my surprise she loves it. She lay there for awhile and let me scratch her head and neck. When she was awake enough she did her usual run around the cage and hide and seek game behind her big tree. I played with her stick and string with her until she got bored and then we got ready to head out for the day.
It was another hot day out so we moved relatively slowly to my relief. She sniffed around her fallen tree again but the time we spend there decreases every day. Then we wandered along some trails and off trail only a little while. We wandered over to her grass area where I thought we would stay for some time but she got distracted by some noises coming from the direction of her cage. I had asked the Estaban on the construction crew to come up and fix her ladder to her bed ledge today while we were out. She wanted to go back and see but I wouldn’t let her. She lay down in some sunrays for 20 minutes or so while I sat near by and watched the birds. A humming bird flew very close by my face again and stopped in the air to check me out. This happens so often now, I love it!
Tigre was awakened from her nap by a foot-long green lizard; I saw it too, climbing up almost onto the path that we were on. It had spotted us too late but stopped, hoping that we hadn’t seen it. Tigre slowly crouched into her hunting posture and I followed suit making sure that she had enough rope to pounce when she was ready. She went for it and I sprinted ahead to keep up as she tumbled over the edge of a very steep hill – I believe she fell over a small cliff but it was worth it, when she climbed back up the poor lizard was hanging in her mouth and I immediately felt bad for it. I knew that Tigre wasn’t planning on eating it.
She brought it over to a good flat spot on the path and put it down keeping one paw on it. It didn’t move so she slowly lifted her paw and crouched in her ready hunting position again. The lizard waited a few moments and then darted off but Tigre was faster and she caught it again, biting down behind its head. She put the lizard back down again and continued this routine for about an hour, adding more and more gashes to the poor suffering lizard and occasionally flinging it into the air. Finally she crunched down on the lizards’ face and chewed on it for a few minutes. I thought the lizard was dead then but when she dropped it. I was surprised to see it try and run away again without a face. Tigre chewed on and ate most of its tail while the lizards’ body flailed in pain. I don’t know if she ended up killing it or not but at this point it did stop moving and Tigre seemed to be getting bored with it. All of a sudden Tigre began to heave and the lizards’ tail came back up looking like it hadn’t even been eaten. She then licked something off of the lizards’ body and left! She didn’t even eat it, just tortured it until it died. I told her that I didn’t approve and she responded by walking over to me, bumping her head into my boots and purring louder than I had ever heard before. She sat on my boots and looked up at me before lying down and taking a short nap. I am getting good at anticipating the boot napping so before she got to me I had made sure that my feet were on flat ground and as comfortable as they could be.
I let her stay there for awhile until my feet were almost completely numb and when I started to move my feet to step away she rolled onto her side and tried to bite my boots lazily. I used to be afraid of this, but now I find it funny. She is so lazy that she just reaches her paws to try and grab my boot and I just slowly step away out of her reach. She smiles and meows, then yawns and sleeps on her back for a few more minutes. I can’t believe I was ever afraid of her J
I hadn’t heard any more noise coming from Tigre’s cage so I figured that Estaban was done with the ladder project. Tigre wanted to head back so I let her now. Estaban had closed her cage door, which was a little annoying as normally I leave it open so that when we get back she just goes in and I can close the door behind her. This time when she got to the door she was a little confused but it wasn’t an issue at all. It was pretty early to be back, 2:30, but we had a good day out and it was still really hot. I scratched her head for a while and unhooked her carabineer. She looked at the new ladder only very briefly but decided to sleep in her hammock beside mine. We both napped for an hour and when she woke up I played with her stick and string with her and chatted with her. She meows back so it really does feel like a real conversation. At about 4:00 she started to get impatient, knowing that dinnertime was close. She paced around the cage and growled a lot, but she still let me scratch her head when she came by me. Finally it was 4:30 and I hid her food on a ledge beside her bed area so she had to use the new ladder to climb up. She found it quickly enough and seemed to appreciate the ladder.
It was a perfect day for Tigre and I, but maybe not for the lizard.
The new medication will start tomorrow, and for the last three days (including today) she has been drinking mint water in order to cleanse her system of the previous homeopathic medication. I wasn’t sure that she would drink the mint water as I hadn’t seen her drink any water at all before, but it was interesting that as soon as the mint water was in her dish I have seen her drinking quite a lot. Too bad it is only for three days.
After our meeting I hiked up to Tigre, stepping over the tortoise who lives on the path. He used to hide in his shell when I would walk by but now he is used to me and just continues eating plants or wandering around when I pass by. Silly creature.
When I got up to Tigre’s cage she was still lying in her straw bed and lifted her head to greet me. I sat down in the hammock and waited as she slowly woke herself up, stretching and yawning as she climbed down from her ledge and walked over to me. I added some big leaves as a sleeping mat beside my hammock so she can sit comfortably if she wants to and to my surprise she loves it. She lay there for awhile and let me scratch her head and neck. When she was awake enough she did her usual run around the cage and hide and seek game behind her big tree. I played with her stick and string with her until she got bored and then we got ready to head out for the day.
It was another hot day out so we moved relatively slowly to my relief. She sniffed around her fallen tree again but the time we spend there decreases every day. Then we wandered along some trails and off trail only a little while. We wandered over to her grass area where I thought we would stay for some time but she got distracted by some noises coming from the direction of her cage. I had asked the Estaban on the construction crew to come up and fix her ladder to her bed ledge today while we were out. She wanted to go back and see but I wouldn’t let her. She lay down in some sunrays for 20 minutes or so while I sat near by and watched the birds. A humming bird flew very close by my face again and stopped in the air to check me out. This happens so often now, I love it!
Tigre was awakened from her nap by a foot-long green lizard; I saw it too, climbing up almost onto the path that we were on. It had spotted us too late but stopped, hoping that we hadn’t seen it. Tigre slowly crouched into her hunting posture and I followed suit making sure that she had enough rope to pounce when she was ready. She went for it and I sprinted ahead to keep up as she tumbled over the edge of a very steep hill – I believe she fell over a small cliff but it was worth it, when she climbed back up the poor lizard was hanging in her mouth and I immediately felt bad for it. I knew that Tigre wasn’t planning on eating it.
She brought it over to a good flat spot on the path and put it down keeping one paw on it. It didn’t move so she slowly lifted her paw and crouched in her ready hunting position again. The lizard waited a few moments and then darted off but Tigre was faster and she caught it again, biting down behind its head. She put the lizard back down again and continued this routine for about an hour, adding more and more gashes to the poor suffering lizard and occasionally flinging it into the air. Finally she crunched down on the lizards’ face and chewed on it for a few minutes. I thought the lizard was dead then but when she dropped it. I was surprised to see it try and run away again without a face. Tigre chewed on and ate most of its tail while the lizards’ body flailed in pain. I don’t know if she ended up killing it or not but at this point it did stop moving and Tigre seemed to be getting bored with it. All of a sudden Tigre began to heave and the lizards’ tail came back up looking like it hadn’t even been eaten. She then licked something off of the lizards’ body and left! She didn’t even eat it, just tortured it until it died. I told her that I didn’t approve and she responded by walking over to me, bumping her head into my boots and purring louder than I had ever heard before. She sat on my boots and looked up at me before lying down and taking a short nap. I am getting good at anticipating the boot napping so before she got to me I had made sure that my feet were on flat ground and as comfortable as they could be.
I let her stay there for awhile until my feet were almost completely numb and when I started to move my feet to step away she rolled onto her side and tried to bite my boots lazily. I used to be afraid of this, but now I find it funny. She is so lazy that she just reaches her paws to try and grab my boot and I just slowly step away out of her reach. She smiles and meows, then yawns and sleeps on her back for a few more minutes. I can’t believe I was ever afraid of her J
I hadn’t heard any more noise coming from Tigre’s cage so I figured that Estaban was done with the ladder project. Tigre wanted to head back so I let her now. Estaban had closed her cage door, which was a little annoying as normally I leave it open so that when we get back she just goes in and I can close the door behind her. This time when she got to the door she was a little confused but it wasn’t an issue at all. It was pretty early to be back, 2:30, but we had a good day out and it was still really hot. I scratched her head for a while and unhooked her carabineer. She looked at the new ladder only very briefly but decided to sleep in her hammock beside mine. We both napped for an hour and when she woke up I played with her stick and string with her and chatted with her. She meows back so it really does feel like a real conversation. At about 4:00 she started to get impatient, knowing that dinnertime was close. She paced around the cage and growled a lot, but she still let me scratch her head when she came by me. Finally it was 4:30 and I hid her food on a ledge beside her bed area so she had to use the new ladder to climb up. She found it quickly enough and seemed to appreciate the ladder.
It was a perfect day for Tigre and I, but maybe not for the lizard.
April 9 - Hunting Bats
Waiting to go for the day
Good walking day for Tigre. It was another pretty hot day after a stormy night. When I got up to the cage in the morning Tigre was still in her bed and took her time to wake up and come over to my hammock area. I scratched her head for a while and played with the stick and string with her. She seemed to be in a very good mood and had some good energy, running around the cage and chasing her tail while walking on the treetop planks.
When we set off to go we went over to the fallen tree to sniff around but didn’t spend too much time there. We wandered over to knee breaker and roller coaster before heading down the highway trail to the yellow ribbon tree. We were off trail for most of the day but there was quite a bit of trail mixed in, more than usual. We passed by a bat cave and Tigre caught one! She ate it in less than a minute. I thought I took a video but when I went to hit the stop recording button I realized that I had only just started it. Bummer.
Tigre had bats on her mind for the next couple of hours. We hiked along any cliff area with overhang; bats like to hide under the overhangs especially where it is almost like a cave. She didn’t end up catching any other ones but we did see them flee the caves many times when we approached.
After a few hours of wandering around, fairly slowly as the day got hotter, Tigre took a nice little nap on my boots and then we carried on to the mountain trail. I thought she was going to eat some grass and vomit as she hasn’t done it in a few days and she hasn’t wanted any grass that I’ve offered her, but she only ate a few grass tips before moving on down the trail. We stopped at the lizard carcass from yesterday and Tigre picked it up and licked it a bunch. Disgusting. It was crazy to see how quickly its body has broken down. It was all mushy and unrecognizable and most of it was eaten by bugs already. I had to stop her from eating it in case she got a parasite or something.
We got back to the cage pretty early, around 2:15. I hung out for a while and when Tigre moved up to her straw bed I headed down to the café to see if Emma wanted to hike a few trails before I had to feed Tigre at 4:30. We hiked around knee breaker and Rollercoaster, and then down mountain trail, the southern boundary trails, and then called it a day. Tigre was happy to see me at dinnertime and didn’t really growl or anything. She even let me scratch her head for a while before I fed her.
When we set off to go we went over to the fallen tree to sniff around but didn’t spend too much time there. We wandered over to knee breaker and roller coaster before heading down the highway trail to the yellow ribbon tree. We were off trail for most of the day but there was quite a bit of trail mixed in, more than usual. We passed by a bat cave and Tigre caught one! She ate it in less than a minute. I thought I took a video but when I went to hit the stop recording button I realized that I had only just started it. Bummer.
Tigre had bats on her mind for the next couple of hours. We hiked along any cliff area with overhang; bats like to hide under the overhangs especially where it is almost like a cave. She didn’t end up catching any other ones but we did see them flee the caves many times when we approached.
After a few hours of wandering around, fairly slowly as the day got hotter, Tigre took a nice little nap on my boots and then we carried on to the mountain trail. I thought she was going to eat some grass and vomit as she hasn’t done it in a few days and she hasn’t wanted any grass that I’ve offered her, but she only ate a few grass tips before moving on down the trail. We stopped at the lizard carcass from yesterday and Tigre picked it up and licked it a bunch. Disgusting. It was crazy to see how quickly its body has broken down. It was all mushy and unrecognizable and most of it was eaten by bugs already. I had to stop her from eating it in case she got a parasite or something.
We got back to the cage pretty early, around 2:15. I hung out for a while and when Tigre moved up to her straw bed I headed down to the café to see if Emma wanted to hike a few trails before I had to feed Tigre at 4:30. We hiked around knee breaker and Rollercoaster, and then down mountain trail, the southern boundary trails, and then called it a day. Tigre was happy to see me at dinnertime and didn’t really growl or anything. She even let me scratch her head for a while before I fed her.
April 10 - Rainy Day, Walking Trails with Emma, stepped on a bee hive!
Bat-mobile ant, I did not modify this photo
Woke up to lots and lots of rain. This is kind of what I was hoping for so that Tigre wouldn’t want to go out. I say this only because I still need to mark the northern boundary trails and want to do it with Emma so that she has at least walked the whole boundary once before starting training with Tigre.
We walked up to the cage and said good morning to Tigre who was still in her straw bed. She didn’t even get out of her bed but sat up and looked at us. The rain was really pouring so she wasn’t going to move from her perch anytime soon.
We hiked up zig zag and toward lightning tree. From there we continued along to candycane junction, sonko’s plaza and onward all the way around the boundary of Tigre’s walking areas which took 5 hours. We added several more blue flags which indicate where you should not go past. Hopefully this will help Emma out and she won’t get lost outside of the park area every day like I have. I wish someone had done this for me.
Emma seems to be very impressed with the jungle, but at the same time a bit apprehensive. I don’t blame her especially since this is the first time she has been in a jungle at all (again, shouldn’t there be a screening process for this job??). The trails are barely trails and are riddled with landslides and fallen trees. We slid down many muddy slopes, grabbed many spikey trees cutting our hands, fell into knee deep streams and got tangled in vines, all day long. At one point I also stepped on a beehive while crawling through a mess of vines and downed trees. At first I thought they were just flies but then more and more came until I could barely see through the cloud of them. I felt some biting my neck (the only exposed skin) and started running down the path yelling “BEES’!” Emma moved out of my way as I ran past and slid down a muddy slope into a creek. I stuck my head in the water upside-down and waited a few minutes until I figured that the bees had drowned. I pulled out at least 20 bees from my hair before brushing myself off and continuing on.
By now I am pretty used to this and have already forgotten how intimidating it was on my first day. I did my best to reassure Emma that with Tigre you will be going much slower than we were walking today, and if you get lost Tigre will know the way back so not to panic, etc. I don’t want her to feel so freaked out by everything like I was when Francesca was training me. Francesca basically just scared the shit out of my whenever she could, and whenever I asked a question she would give me the exact opposite answer that I was hoping for. Though in my experience things never came even close to what I was warned about, and I have found Tigre to be such a gentle and patient creature. I will continue to give Emma all the appropriate warnings but I want to add my own disclaimers that “yes, this could happen, but it didn’t happen to me and I don’t think it will to you” and also things that I have learned to avoid or deal with situations. I think she sincerely appreciated the things I told her and felt more comfortable, but I can sense that she is still quite overwhelmed. We still have 3 days together before she is on her own, and they will be with Tigre, so I hope she feels more comfortable by the end of those.
We walked up to the cage and said good morning to Tigre who was still in her straw bed. She didn’t even get out of her bed but sat up and looked at us. The rain was really pouring so she wasn’t going to move from her perch anytime soon.
We hiked up zig zag and toward lightning tree. From there we continued along to candycane junction, sonko’s plaza and onward all the way around the boundary of Tigre’s walking areas which took 5 hours. We added several more blue flags which indicate where you should not go past. Hopefully this will help Emma out and she won’t get lost outside of the park area every day like I have. I wish someone had done this for me.
Emma seems to be very impressed with the jungle, but at the same time a bit apprehensive. I don’t blame her especially since this is the first time she has been in a jungle at all (again, shouldn’t there be a screening process for this job??). The trails are barely trails and are riddled with landslides and fallen trees. We slid down many muddy slopes, grabbed many spikey trees cutting our hands, fell into knee deep streams and got tangled in vines, all day long. At one point I also stepped on a beehive while crawling through a mess of vines and downed trees. At first I thought they were just flies but then more and more came until I could barely see through the cloud of them. I felt some biting my neck (the only exposed skin) and started running down the path yelling “BEES’!” Emma moved out of my way as I ran past and slid down a muddy slope into a creek. I stuck my head in the water upside-down and waited a few minutes until I figured that the bees had drowned. I pulled out at least 20 bees from my hair before brushing myself off and continuing on.
By now I am pretty used to this and have already forgotten how intimidating it was on my first day. I did my best to reassure Emma that with Tigre you will be going much slower than we were walking today, and if you get lost Tigre will know the way back so not to panic, etc. I don’t want her to feel so freaked out by everything like I was when Francesca was training me. Francesca basically just scared the shit out of my whenever she could, and whenever I asked a question she would give me the exact opposite answer that I was hoping for. Though in my experience things never came even close to what I was warned about, and I have found Tigre to be such a gentle and patient creature. I will continue to give Emma all the appropriate warnings but I want to add my own disclaimers that “yes, this could happen, but it didn’t happen to me and I don’t think it will to you” and also things that I have learned to avoid or deal with situations. I think she sincerely appreciated the things I told her and felt more comfortable, but I can sense that she is still quite overwhelmed. We still have 3 days together before she is on her own, and they will be with Tigre, so I hope she feels more comfortable by the end of those.
April 11 - Last Day Alone with Tigre
She wanted to cuddle to feel better, aww
Tigre was sick for my last day alone with her :(
When I got to the cage she greeted me as usual, taking her time to wake up, stretch and yawn. She let me scratch her head a little and hung out near me for a while. I gave her some grass and she vomited as usual. When she started to get a bit more energetic I tried to play with her string and stick with her but she was acting a little strange. Normally she runs up to her plank and tries to get the string when I toss it up near her. Today she did this a little, but also spent a lot of time biting the backs of her thighs. I think I may have seen her semi drag her butt on the plank a little ways as well. A sign that maybe she isn’t feeling well.
When we were ready to go everything was as usual – I let her out, cleaned her cage and then we were off. We immediately headed toward mountain trail via her old cage that was caught in a landslide a couple of years ago (but she escaped somehow). We spent a few minutes looking around the old cage for a while before moving on. When we got to the grassy area I was surprised that she started eating grass again. I have seen her do this a couple of times but she usually will eat one or two pieces and keep going without vomiting. Today however she went all out. She ate probably double the amount that I’ve seen her eat when she wants to vomit. A couple of times she coughed and gagged on the grass. Eventually she started heaving like she always does before vomiting but this time when she vomited she coughed and gagged a lot and also some diarrhea came out at the same time. When she finished vomiting (very difficult) she scratched the ground to prepare her shitting place and then shat the weirdest diarrhea I have ever seen (not that I look at it a lot). It was white and foamy, almost like her vomit and there were a couple of poo pieces in it. I took a photo and noted how terrible it smelled!
Tigre took a minute to catch her breath and then we very slowly carried on toward lightning tree. We pretty much only took trails today. When we got near candy cane junction Tigre decided to lay down and rest. She slept on my boots for 3 hours! Normally she will sleep for up to 40 minutes, very occasionally one hour but no more than that. She was on my boots the whole time and rolled around uncomfortably just as I would do if I had a stomachache. I scratched her head and she let me for a few seconds. When she did get herself to sleep she snored and twitched as if she was having a nightmare. I felt so bad for her and just wished that she would feel better quickly.
By 2:30 she felt good enough to walk back to her cage. We walked directly but slowly taking a bit over half an hour to get there. She lay in her double door area and I scratched her head a little but she started grumbling quite a bit, I think because she still wasn’t feeling well. I stayed in the hammock until dinnertime and she hung out on one of her leaf beds that I made for her but wasn’t feeling too social.
To my surprise at 4:00, as she usually does, she came over to me pacing and grumbling and meowing, telling me that she is hungry. This was a good sign! And sure enough at 4:30 when I fed her she was excited to eat and did just that.
I really hope that she feels better in the morning. Before hiking back down I called the office and told then what was going on. I hiked back up to the mountain trail and scooped up some of her rancid smelling poo in a bag to show the vet. We will see what they say.
When I got to the cage she greeted me as usual, taking her time to wake up, stretch and yawn. She let me scratch her head a little and hung out near me for a while. I gave her some grass and she vomited as usual. When she started to get a bit more energetic I tried to play with her string and stick with her but she was acting a little strange. Normally she runs up to her plank and tries to get the string when I toss it up near her. Today she did this a little, but also spent a lot of time biting the backs of her thighs. I think I may have seen her semi drag her butt on the plank a little ways as well. A sign that maybe she isn’t feeling well.
When we were ready to go everything was as usual – I let her out, cleaned her cage and then we were off. We immediately headed toward mountain trail via her old cage that was caught in a landslide a couple of years ago (but she escaped somehow). We spent a few minutes looking around the old cage for a while before moving on. When we got to the grassy area I was surprised that she started eating grass again. I have seen her do this a couple of times but she usually will eat one or two pieces and keep going without vomiting. Today however she went all out. She ate probably double the amount that I’ve seen her eat when she wants to vomit. A couple of times she coughed and gagged on the grass. Eventually she started heaving like she always does before vomiting but this time when she vomited she coughed and gagged a lot and also some diarrhea came out at the same time. When she finished vomiting (very difficult) she scratched the ground to prepare her shitting place and then shat the weirdest diarrhea I have ever seen (not that I look at it a lot). It was white and foamy, almost like her vomit and there were a couple of poo pieces in it. I took a photo and noted how terrible it smelled!
Tigre took a minute to catch her breath and then we very slowly carried on toward lightning tree. We pretty much only took trails today. When we got near candy cane junction Tigre decided to lay down and rest. She slept on my boots for 3 hours! Normally she will sleep for up to 40 minutes, very occasionally one hour but no more than that. She was on my boots the whole time and rolled around uncomfortably just as I would do if I had a stomachache. I scratched her head and she let me for a few seconds. When she did get herself to sleep she snored and twitched as if she was having a nightmare. I felt so bad for her and just wished that she would feel better quickly.
By 2:30 she felt good enough to walk back to her cage. We walked directly but slowly taking a bit over half an hour to get there. She lay in her double door area and I scratched her head a little but she started grumbling quite a bit, I think because she still wasn’t feeling well. I stayed in the hammock until dinnertime and she hung out on one of her leaf beds that I made for her but wasn’t feeling too social.
To my surprise at 4:00, as she usually does, she came over to me pacing and grumbling and meowing, telling me that she is hungry. This was a good sign! And sure enough at 4:30 when I fed her she was excited to eat and did just that.
I really hope that she feels better in the morning. Before hiking back down I called the office and told then what was going on. I hiked back up to the mountain trail and scooped up some of her rancid smelling poo in a bag to show the vet. We will see what they say.
April 12 - Emma Training Day 1
Eating grass to vomit, nasty...
first day training Emma. I am sad because I don’t want to share Tigre, and I am going to miss her so much!!
When we got to the cage Tigre greeted us and let me scratch her head and neck. Emma was a bit unsure about scratching Tigre just yet, but I think Tigre would have let her too. We hung out for a bit and tried to play with her stick and string. Tigre didn’t have too much energy so the game didn’t last long. I figured that she still wasn’t feeling good but hoped that she would come out of the cage at least for a couple of hours. I offered her some grass that we had picked on the way up to see her but she didn’t want any.
When I went to see if she wanted to come out she lay down by the door so I could hook her carabineer on and out she went. I showed Emma how to clean the cage and then got her to follow behind me when we left. Tigre didn’t want to go anywhere at first. She just lay on the ground outside the cage, but eventually she got herself up and went over to the grass bundle that we brought. She tried to eat some of it but gave up quickly as it is pretty difficult unless someone is holding it up for her. Then we headed down the hill very very slowly to her old landslide cage again. I explained to Emma that it is sort of weird that for the last few days she has gone to her old cage, sniffing around and hanging out by the pieces of cage that were sticking out of the mud. I wondered if she was thinking about when the landslide happened – apparently she escaped somehow when it happened but the whole thing is totally buried save for the pieces sticking out in a few places. It must have been traumatic for her. When she came to this spot a couple of days ago I wondered if she was showing it to me. She went to each piece that was sticking up, she would stop and look at me and then go to the next piece, stop and look at me, and so on.
We spent the rest of our short day here with Tigre. She found a spot to lay on a log near her old broken and buried cage and ate some plants so she could vomit. She didn’t have any trouble vomiting today but I could tell that she wasn’t feeling well. For the next hour Tigre slept on my boots and then we headed back to her cage.
I am happy that she came out of her cage today, but sad that she is still feeling sick and came back so early. It is good that she is getting some good rest though to fight whatever is going on.
At the office I told Nena, Luis (the vet) and Marta how Tigre was today and they phoned the homeopathic vet to ask what he thought of the photo I took of her vomit and diarrhea from yesterday and let him know how she was today. He said that this sometimes happens with homeopathic medications – symptoms can get worse for 2-3 days before they get better, and that this specific medication is a trauma anti-blocker so Tigre might be experiencing a major purge (physical and mental) of negative build-up. The vet gave us a recipe for some tea that we will make for Tigre to help calm her stomach down – something with chamomile and other yummy herbs.
After Marta got off the phone and explained this to me in English it clicked in my head and I told her about how Tigre has been spending a lot of time at her old buried cage. She looked surprised and told me that yes that is most likely what is going on with her. She has likely been reliving her traumas beginning with the most recent and working backward. We both hoped that from here on she will get better but it may take another day or two.
When we went back up to give Tigre her dinner (with Emma and Dianne because we spent the afternoon walking trails and marking points on the GPS for a new map) she was excited to get her food again and ate all of it. I think she will feel better tomorrow and I really hope we get to go out for a good full day!
When we got to the cage Tigre greeted us and let me scratch her head and neck. Emma was a bit unsure about scratching Tigre just yet, but I think Tigre would have let her too. We hung out for a bit and tried to play with her stick and string. Tigre didn’t have too much energy so the game didn’t last long. I figured that she still wasn’t feeling good but hoped that she would come out of the cage at least for a couple of hours. I offered her some grass that we had picked on the way up to see her but she didn’t want any.
When I went to see if she wanted to come out she lay down by the door so I could hook her carabineer on and out she went. I showed Emma how to clean the cage and then got her to follow behind me when we left. Tigre didn’t want to go anywhere at first. She just lay on the ground outside the cage, but eventually she got herself up and went over to the grass bundle that we brought. She tried to eat some of it but gave up quickly as it is pretty difficult unless someone is holding it up for her. Then we headed down the hill very very slowly to her old landslide cage again. I explained to Emma that it is sort of weird that for the last few days she has gone to her old cage, sniffing around and hanging out by the pieces of cage that were sticking out of the mud. I wondered if she was thinking about when the landslide happened – apparently she escaped somehow when it happened but the whole thing is totally buried save for the pieces sticking out in a few places. It must have been traumatic for her. When she came to this spot a couple of days ago I wondered if she was showing it to me. She went to each piece that was sticking up, she would stop and look at me and then go to the next piece, stop and look at me, and so on.
We spent the rest of our short day here with Tigre. She found a spot to lay on a log near her old broken and buried cage and ate some plants so she could vomit. She didn’t have any trouble vomiting today but I could tell that she wasn’t feeling well. For the next hour Tigre slept on my boots and then we headed back to her cage.
I am happy that she came out of her cage today, but sad that she is still feeling sick and came back so early. It is good that she is getting some good rest though to fight whatever is going on.
At the office I told Nena, Luis (the vet) and Marta how Tigre was today and they phoned the homeopathic vet to ask what he thought of the photo I took of her vomit and diarrhea from yesterday and let him know how she was today. He said that this sometimes happens with homeopathic medications – symptoms can get worse for 2-3 days before they get better, and that this specific medication is a trauma anti-blocker so Tigre might be experiencing a major purge (physical and mental) of negative build-up. The vet gave us a recipe for some tea that we will make for Tigre to help calm her stomach down – something with chamomile and other yummy herbs.
After Marta got off the phone and explained this to me in English it clicked in my head and I told her about how Tigre has been spending a lot of time at her old buried cage. She looked surprised and told me that yes that is most likely what is going on with her. She has likely been reliving her traumas beginning with the most recent and working backward. We both hoped that from here on she will get better but it may take another day or two.
When we went back up to give Tigre her dinner (with Emma and Dianne because we spent the afternoon walking trails and marking points on the GPS for a new map) she was excited to get her food again and ate all of it. I think she will feel better tomorrow and I really hope we get to go out for a good full day!
April 13 - Emma Training Day 2
Chillin with my buddy - going to miss her so much
Better day for Tigre but she didn’t stay out for too long. It seems like rainy season has come back full swing. It was rain, thunder and lightning all night and drizzle in the morning and through the day today.
When we got to the cage Tigre was still in her hay bed and took her time to stretch, yawn and wake up before coming down and greeting us. She let both of us scratch her head and neck and as she slowly woke herself up she seemed to have much more energy today than yesterday. We played with the stick and string with her for a while and she seemed to be pretty into the game today. When she seemed calm and ready to go I demonstrated to Emma how you have to wait for Tigre to lay down with her neck by the hole in the door where you can hook on her carabineer and how you have to make sure to pass the rope under the door first. It all went smoothly and Tigre waited outside while we cleaned her cage.
When we were ready to go Tigre was already up and heading off to the right. It was so good to see her as herself again. We headed up the hill behind her cage and over toward knee breaker, sniffing and marking along the way. Tigre seemed more or less calm, but she was a little more easily startled today and kept on looking back at Emma and I as she went. I could tell that having another person with us was stressing her out a little bit. But we carried on along the knee breaker trail for a while before turning off the trail and down a crazy steep hill that I slid all the way down (pulling vines as I fell which knocked a small tree down right onto my face). I love how used to this I have already become and how quickly I can move through the thick jungle now with Tigre leading ahead. Emma struggled to keep up and I could hear her a few times grunting in frustration. I totally understand how she feels – after my first day with Tigre I was really questioning this job. But now that I have been here for a month I am truly feeling sad to leave. Tigre and I have come so far together and I am going to really miss her. I also feel guilty leaving her after she has gotten used to me now.
We continued hiking up and over another steep hillside off trailing and eventually came to the rollercoaster trail where Tigre almost immediately caught a large snake, maybe a meter or more long. Of course we spent some time hanging out as Tigre tortured the snake, tossing it into the air, letting it escape so she can re-catch it, and finally she bit it in half. Both halves wriggled away and Tigre went after the tail end. We watched as the head end slithered away over a tree root and down the hill, leaking some kind of important liquid from its severed body. Tigre lay down and ate the tail end for a while before coming back to see where the head end went. She was visibly upset when she realized that it had escaped and spent a while looking around for it.
Just as Tigre was giving up her search the rain started to pick up a bit. Not really heavy, but we could feel the drops through the canopy. We both noticed that a switch went off in Tigre – her eyes were different, like she was still in her hunting mode, only this time she kept on looking at Emma and I. I wasn’t too concerned but I knew that she was going to try and jump me. She ran up a tree as far as I would let her and then when she came down she tried to jump at me but I saw that her rope was wrapped around a vine so she wouldn’t reach me. Of course once she realized it too, she got annoyed.
I untangled her and we walked a little ways down the trail. When we got to the cutoff to go back to her cage I hoped that we would just go past. Tigre sat down as if she couldn’t decide what to do. We waited a moment but could still sense that Tigre was a bit stressed out from the rain, losing her snake and having another person with us, so we tried to give her some space. She rolled onto her side and looked at me in a mean way, and then started rubbing her face on the ground. She then began her ass-biting thing and I told Emma to pay attention to how I handle the rope while she tried to jump me. I was surprisingly calm the whole time. After biting her ass she got back onto her feet and crouched down facing me. I held the rope close to her collar and just waited for her to jump, though calmly and politely tried to ask her “no mas por favor, Tigre”. When she jumped she did bite my leg a little but it wasn’t hard at all, and my hand re-direction made her fall onto her side on the ground. I wasn’t sure if she would do it again but as soon as she gathered herself she started biting her ass again. She jumped me three times in total, each time just barely biting my leg but my re-direction preventing her from really getting me. After the third jump she was very frustrated in not being able to get me and took off quickly down the path toward her cage. A couple of times she came back toward me thinking about jumping me again but when I asked her “por favor no, Tigre” she just turned around and continued to the cage. When we got to the cage she went in and didn’t stop at the door. She lay down under her tarp to hide from the rain and also probably to sulk a little bit.
While I didn’t enjoy being jumped by Tigre, I am kind of happy that she did it today so that Emma could see. I think she feels ok with Tigre in general now and shouldn’t be too worried about being jumped anymore. She told me that she watched how I handled the rope and was impressed by how calm I was, and that my calmness has made her feel calm as well. So nice to hear!
It did make me a little bit sad to be jumped by Tigre, but I think I can understand why she did it. She has been feeling sick for the last couple of days, now there is another person coming with us on walks and she probably knows that that means I am leaving soon. I told her that I am sorry that I have to leave and thanked her for our time together. After 20 minutes hiding under her tarp Tigre came back to the double door area and let me unclip her carabineer. She wasn’t too friendly but she did let me scratch her head for a little while before heading up to her straw bed. I think that means she forgives me, but I still feel bad for leaving.
We headed down to the office to have some lunch and get Dianne so we can walk some more trails this afternoon. We will bring up Tigre’s tea and give it to her with dinner. Tomorrow she will be walking with Emma and I will follow behind. I hope it goes well though I suspect that she will probably try to jump Emma at least once. Shall be interesting!
When we got to the cage Tigre was still in her hay bed and took her time to stretch, yawn and wake up before coming down and greeting us. She let both of us scratch her head and neck and as she slowly woke herself up she seemed to have much more energy today than yesterday. We played with the stick and string with her for a while and she seemed to be pretty into the game today. When she seemed calm and ready to go I demonstrated to Emma how you have to wait for Tigre to lay down with her neck by the hole in the door where you can hook on her carabineer and how you have to make sure to pass the rope under the door first. It all went smoothly and Tigre waited outside while we cleaned her cage.
When we were ready to go Tigre was already up and heading off to the right. It was so good to see her as herself again. We headed up the hill behind her cage and over toward knee breaker, sniffing and marking along the way. Tigre seemed more or less calm, but she was a little more easily startled today and kept on looking back at Emma and I as she went. I could tell that having another person with us was stressing her out a little bit. But we carried on along the knee breaker trail for a while before turning off the trail and down a crazy steep hill that I slid all the way down (pulling vines as I fell which knocked a small tree down right onto my face). I love how used to this I have already become and how quickly I can move through the thick jungle now with Tigre leading ahead. Emma struggled to keep up and I could hear her a few times grunting in frustration. I totally understand how she feels – after my first day with Tigre I was really questioning this job. But now that I have been here for a month I am truly feeling sad to leave. Tigre and I have come so far together and I am going to really miss her. I also feel guilty leaving her after she has gotten used to me now.
We continued hiking up and over another steep hillside off trailing and eventually came to the rollercoaster trail where Tigre almost immediately caught a large snake, maybe a meter or more long. Of course we spent some time hanging out as Tigre tortured the snake, tossing it into the air, letting it escape so she can re-catch it, and finally she bit it in half. Both halves wriggled away and Tigre went after the tail end. We watched as the head end slithered away over a tree root and down the hill, leaking some kind of important liquid from its severed body. Tigre lay down and ate the tail end for a while before coming back to see where the head end went. She was visibly upset when she realized that it had escaped and spent a while looking around for it.
Just as Tigre was giving up her search the rain started to pick up a bit. Not really heavy, but we could feel the drops through the canopy. We both noticed that a switch went off in Tigre – her eyes were different, like she was still in her hunting mode, only this time she kept on looking at Emma and I. I wasn’t too concerned but I knew that she was going to try and jump me. She ran up a tree as far as I would let her and then when she came down she tried to jump at me but I saw that her rope was wrapped around a vine so she wouldn’t reach me. Of course once she realized it too, she got annoyed.
I untangled her and we walked a little ways down the trail. When we got to the cutoff to go back to her cage I hoped that we would just go past. Tigre sat down as if she couldn’t decide what to do. We waited a moment but could still sense that Tigre was a bit stressed out from the rain, losing her snake and having another person with us, so we tried to give her some space. She rolled onto her side and looked at me in a mean way, and then started rubbing her face on the ground. She then began her ass-biting thing and I told Emma to pay attention to how I handle the rope while she tried to jump me. I was surprisingly calm the whole time. After biting her ass she got back onto her feet and crouched down facing me. I held the rope close to her collar and just waited for her to jump, though calmly and politely tried to ask her “no mas por favor, Tigre”. When she jumped she did bite my leg a little but it wasn’t hard at all, and my hand re-direction made her fall onto her side on the ground. I wasn’t sure if she would do it again but as soon as she gathered herself she started biting her ass again. She jumped me three times in total, each time just barely biting my leg but my re-direction preventing her from really getting me. After the third jump she was very frustrated in not being able to get me and took off quickly down the path toward her cage. A couple of times she came back toward me thinking about jumping me again but when I asked her “por favor no, Tigre” she just turned around and continued to the cage. When we got to the cage she went in and didn’t stop at the door. She lay down under her tarp to hide from the rain and also probably to sulk a little bit.
While I didn’t enjoy being jumped by Tigre, I am kind of happy that she did it today so that Emma could see. I think she feels ok with Tigre in general now and shouldn’t be too worried about being jumped anymore. She told me that she watched how I handled the rope and was impressed by how calm I was, and that my calmness has made her feel calm as well. So nice to hear!
It did make me a little bit sad to be jumped by Tigre, but I think I can understand why she did it. She has been feeling sick for the last couple of days, now there is another person coming with us on walks and she probably knows that that means I am leaving soon. I told her that I am sorry that I have to leave and thanked her for our time together. After 20 minutes hiding under her tarp Tigre came back to the double door area and let me unclip her carabineer. She wasn’t too friendly but she did let me scratch her head for a little while before heading up to her straw bed. I think that means she forgives me, but I still feel bad for leaving.
We headed down to the office to have some lunch and get Dianne so we can walk some more trails this afternoon. We will bring up Tigre’s tea and give it to her with dinner. Tomorrow she will be walking with Emma and I will follow behind. I hope it goes well though I suspect that she will probably try to jump Emma at least once. Shall be interesting!
April 14 - Emma Training Day 3, My Last Day With Tigre :(
I wore that frightened look on my first day too
My last day with Tigre… It is time for Emma to take over today, me just observing and supporting if anything crazy happens. Unfortunately Emma’s first day on the rope was much harder than my first day was. She got jumped multiple times and Tigre got her pretty hard on the leg a few times.
In the morning Emma and I walked up to the cage together and Tigre greeted us happily at the side of the cage. She let us scratch her as usual and then ran around the cage playfully. We got out the rope and stick game and played for a while before offering her some grass to eat and vomit. When she seemed calm and ready to go we went over to the double doors and sat inside waiting for Tigre to lay down in her usual way to let us get her carabineer on, but she didn’t do it at first. When she saw that Emma was going to be walking her today I think she got a bit upset and had to take some time to prepare herself for the change in routine. Eventually she did come back to the doors and lay down properly so that Emma could hook her up. When she slipped the rope under the door Tigre did try and jump at the door, just like on my first day, but quickly calmed down and let Emma continue. She got it on and opened the door to let her out the doors past her but she didn’t have the rope very tight in her hand as Tigre went by. Luckily Tigre didn’t do anything but she could have if she had wanted to. While I was explaining this to Emma who was still standing inside the double doors, Tigre all of a sudden ran at the cage and tried to paw at Emma through the cage mesh. She handled it very well, stayed calm and just took a step back (as far as she could anyways). She then got inside the cage and let me in the side door to do our cleaning.
When we were ready to go Tigre chose her direction and off we went. She was pulling very hard on the rope and took us up a little bit behind her cage. She stopped and looked at Emma and I noticed the look in her eyes was not good. I warned Emma that Tigre was likely going to try and jump her and that she should just remain calm and have the rope coiled in her left hand and use her right hand to direct the rope near her collar. She did this pretty well, but Tigre got her leg pretty good on the third or fourth jump. It seemed for a few minutes like Tigre wasn’t going to stop but eventually when she was satisfied that she had made her point we carried on. I felt bad for Emma and wished that Tigre hadn’t done that, especially so early on.
The next hour or so was pretty chill. We wandered around the landslide area near Tigre’s cage and then down the creek trail that leads from her cage to the office area. We cut up the hillside and took mountain trail, stopping for a little break near the grassy area. Tigre then showed us that she was still a little stressed out and jumped Emma a few more times but Emma had much better control on the rope this time and she didn’t get a full bite in this time. We carried on to the highway and headed toward candy cane junction. Above Millie’s cage Tigre stopped again and tried to go down Millies trail, which she is not allowed to do. Emma spent a good half hour or more saying “no mas, Tigre” and dodging her knee bites and jump attempts. Finally we continued on into Tigre’s Valley somewhere and wandered off trail checking out holes and sniffing plants along the way. She had an hour-long nap, part of it by herself, part on Emma’s boots and part on my boots. She seemed to be calming down a bit but still when she is on Emma’s boots she tries to bite her knees a lot. I taught her the rope around tree trick so hopefully that will give her some peace of mind tomorrow when she is on her own.
After her nap, Tigre led us along a trail and found a hole that had something in it! She dug and dug and waited and dug some more until a fairly large agouti ran out another holed to escape from Tigre. The agouti moved so quickly that I barely got a good look at it even as it ran right over my boots and flung itself down a hill and into another hole further down. Tigre was upset that she didn’t get it but I was happy that it got away!
We wandered a bit more and Tigre continued to rest on Emma’s boots, still trying to bite her knees a little bit but much less aggressively now. By 4:00 we began to head back to the cage. We took trails all the way back and arrived at the cage at 4:30, just in time for her dinner.
I could hear Emma exhale a huge sigh of relief when Tigre got into her cage and lay down. She took a moment before I helped her unhook Tigre’s carabineer and then we were done for the day (aside from giving her her food). It had been a very long day for Emma, I hope she will stick with it and begin to enjoy her time with Tigre. Hopefully tomorrow when she is on her own with things will be easier and Tigre won’t jump her so much. I tried to reassure her that today would be the hardest day of all and that Tigre really is gentle and amazing once she gets to know her. I think she believes me but is having trouble with the physical challenges of climbing through vines up and down steep muddy slopes and the mental challenges of trying not to get lost, trying not to grab spiny trees, trying not to get attacked by Tigre. It is a lot to take in at first and I still remember how discouraged I felt after my first day walking Tigre. Even without the parasite in my gut this job is a lot to take on at first.
After we fed Tigre her dinner I said my final goodbye. She was chewing on her raw meat, sitting on her tree plank as we left and just before we left her view she looked down at me and blinked. I thanked her for everything and told her I love her. I am so lucky to have spent this month (minus my parasite sick days) with her and gotten to know her. I am finding it very hard to say goodbye and feel guilty for leaving. It is amazing how much we have grown together in this short time. I will never forget Tigre and the times we shared.
In the morning Emma and I walked up to the cage together and Tigre greeted us happily at the side of the cage. She let us scratch her as usual and then ran around the cage playfully. We got out the rope and stick game and played for a while before offering her some grass to eat and vomit. When she seemed calm and ready to go we went over to the double doors and sat inside waiting for Tigre to lay down in her usual way to let us get her carabineer on, but she didn’t do it at first. When she saw that Emma was going to be walking her today I think she got a bit upset and had to take some time to prepare herself for the change in routine. Eventually she did come back to the doors and lay down properly so that Emma could hook her up. When she slipped the rope under the door Tigre did try and jump at the door, just like on my first day, but quickly calmed down and let Emma continue. She got it on and opened the door to let her out the doors past her but she didn’t have the rope very tight in her hand as Tigre went by. Luckily Tigre didn’t do anything but she could have if she had wanted to. While I was explaining this to Emma who was still standing inside the double doors, Tigre all of a sudden ran at the cage and tried to paw at Emma through the cage mesh. She handled it very well, stayed calm and just took a step back (as far as she could anyways). She then got inside the cage and let me in the side door to do our cleaning.
When we were ready to go Tigre chose her direction and off we went. She was pulling very hard on the rope and took us up a little bit behind her cage. She stopped and looked at Emma and I noticed the look in her eyes was not good. I warned Emma that Tigre was likely going to try and jump her and that she should just remain calm and have the rope coiled in her left hand and use her right hand to direct the rope near her collar. She did this pretty well, but Tigre got her leg pretty good on the third or fourth jump. It seemed for a few minutes like Tigre wasn’t going to stop but eventually when she was satisfied that she had made her point we carried on. I felt bad for Emma and wished that Tigre hadn’t done that, especially so early on.
The next hour or so was pretty chill. We wandered around the landslide area near Tigre’s cage and then down the creek trail that leads from her cage to the office area. We cut up the hillside and took mountain trail, stopping for a little break near the grassy area. Tigre then showed us that she was still a little stressed out and jumped Emma a few more times but Emma had much better control on the rope this time and she didn’t get a full bite in this time. We carried on to the highway and headed toward candy cane junction. Above Millie’s cage Tigre stopped again and tried to go down Millies trail, which she is not allowed to do. Emma spent a good half hour or more saying “no mas, Tigre” and dodging her knee bites and jump attempts. Finally we continued on into Tigre’s Valley somewhere and wandered off trail checking out holes and sniffing plants along the way. She had an hour-long nap, part of it by herself, part on Emma’s boots and part on my boots. She seemed to be calming down a bit but still when she is on Emma’s boots she tries to bite her knees a lot. I taught her the rope around tree trick so hopefully that will give her some peace of mind tomorrow when she is on her own.
After her nap, Tigre led us along a trail and found a hole that had something in it! She dug and dug and waited and dug some more until a fairly large agouti ran out another holed to escape from Tigre. The agouti moved so quickly that I barely got a good look at it even as it ran right over my boots and flung itself down a hill and into another hole further down. Tigre was upset that she didn’t get it but I was happy that it got away!
We wandered a bit more and Tigre continued to rest on Emma’s boots, still trying to bite her knees a little bit but much less aggressively now. By 4:00 we began to head back to the cage. We took trails all the way back and arrived at the cage at 4:30, just in time for her dinner.
I could hear Emma exhale a huge sigh of relief when Tigre got into her cage and lay down. She took a moment before I helped her unhook Tigre’s carabineer and then we were done for the day (aside from giving her her food). It had been a very long day for Emma, I hope she will stick with it and begin to enjoy her time with Tigre. Hopefully tomorrow when she is on her own with things will be easier and Tigre won’t jump her so much. I tried to reassure her that today would be the hardest day of all and that Tigre really is gentle and amazing once she gets to know her. I think she believes me but is having trouble with the physical challenges of climbing through vines up and down steep muddy slopes and the mental challenges of trying not to get lost, trying not to grab spiny trees, trying not to get attacked by Tigre. It is a lot to take in at first and I still remember how discouraged I felt after my first day walking Tigre. Even without the parasite in my gut this job is a lot to take on at first.
After we fed Tigre her dinner I said my final goodbye. She was chewing on her raw meat, sitting on her tree plank as we left and just before we left her view she looked down at me and blinked. I thanked her for everything and told her I love her. I am so lucky to have spent this month (minus my parasite sick days) with her and gotten to know her. I am finding it very hard to say goodbye and feel guilty for leaving. It is amazing how much we have grown together in this short time. I will never forget Tigre and the times we shared.
Afterthought about This Experience
She is gentle, intelligent and patient in my eyes
My first impression of Inti Wara Yassi was not what I was expecting it would be, but now there is a part of my heart that will remain here forever.
For some reason I had naively thought that walking an ocelot would be a pretty simple and magical thing to do. While it was absolutely magical, it was also the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life. Physically, hiking in the jungle on trails is hard enough, but add in trying to keep up with Tigre, take away the trails and you are now scaling very steep hillsides of sheer mud with only spiny trees to grab onto and vines tripping you just when you think you’ve made it through a tough part. And you have to keep this up for 7-8 hours with Tigre on her long days. It is exhausting at best. Mentally, you have to be alert as to where you are at all times because if Tigre leaves her walking area, you might be lost for a very long time before a search team finds you, you have to be aware of beehives and porcupines and mean monkeys that could attack you at any time. And then there is getting used to Tigre. Once you get to know her she is very sweet and gentle, but at first she can scare the shit out of anyone.
I felt like the worlds biggest wimp when I first started this job. I’m not sure if things would have been different if I didn’t have that stomach parasite for the first 8 days but it made the physical part of the job almost unbearable and mentally I was defeated. You need a lot of energy and I wasn’t able to eat much more than a half a cup of rice per day for those 8 days. Aside from that, when I first arrived, everyone was warning me about how crazy Tigre is and I knew that the day that we arrived Tigre did attack someone badly (stitches all over her body) which is why I got assigned to her. No one told me that Tigre would be gentle or sweet once she got to know me. I had been loaded with fear since the moment we had arrived. After a few days with the stomach issues and some altercations with Tigre I wanted nothing more than to leave this place immediately!
For some reason I couldn’t do it though, I couldn’t leave. Something inside me told me “I have to do this, face your fears”. So I did. And was it ever worth it!
It was around the week and a half mark that things started to improve. My stomach was feeling better (probably had more of an impact on me than I originally realized) and Tigre and I were getting really used to each other. I stopped counting the days, and now when it came time to get Tigre out of her cage my fear was all but gone. I really started to enjoy being in the jungle with her. Whenever I felt that I couldn’t do it anymore I thought about Tigre and how happy it makes her to be out of her cage. That thought kept me going and stopped any negative thoughts in their tracks.
We really developed an amazing relationship over time. She never tried to jump me after my first day alone (until I started training Emma) and she was nothing but gentle and patient with me. She showed me things and I believe that we had some real conversations (not with words, obviously). We worked as a team and helped each other out when one of us got stuck or hurt or sick.
Still now I feel a little bit like I didn’t do all that I could have done for her. I took 3 days off for being sick at the start, and then I took a day off on the 15th day, there were a few rainy days in there when Tigre didn’t go out (at least one when I probably could have gone up and tried to take her out later in the day when it had stopped raining), and we got lost one night and ended up having to trap Tigre in a small cage to bring her back to her home cage. I also trained Emma two days early so that I could be around for her first two days on her own in case she has any questions – I would be working with the monkeys or helping with the GPS mapping project. I feel like I want to work harder for her. However I also felt, most of the time, like I was working to my limit. So it is a mixed and confusing feeling that I am left with. But Tigre has shown me nothing but love; she has forgiven me for getting lost and right up to the last moment with her, she stayed close to me and allowed me to scratch her head, even outside of the cage (which I have been told was impossible). I hope that I helped make her life a little bit better. It is so hard to say goodbye...
For some reason I had naively thought that walking an ocelot would be a pretty simple and magical thing to do. While it was absolutely magical, it was also the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life. Physically, hiking in the jungle on trails is hard enough, but add in trying to keep up with Tigre, take away the trails and you are now scaling very steep hillsides of sheer mud with only spiny trees to grab onto and vines tripping you just when you think you’ve made it through a tough part. And you have to keep this up for 7-8 hours with Tigre on her long days. It is exhausting at best. Mentally, you have to be alert as to where you are at all times because if Tigre leaves her walking area, you might be lost for a very long time before a search team finds you, you have to be aware of beehives and porcupines and mean monkeys that could attack you at any time. And then there is getting used to Tigre. Once you get to know her she is very sweet and gentle, but at first she can scare the shit out of anyone.
I felt like the worlds biggest wimp when I first started this job. I’m not sure if things would have been different if I didn’t have that stomach parasite for the first 8 days but it made the physical part of the job almost unbearable and mentally I was defeated. You need a lot of energy and I wasn’t able to eat much more than a half a cup of rice per day for those 8 days. Aside from that, when I first arrived, everyone was warning me about how crazy Tigre is and I knew that the day that we arrived Tigre did attack someone badly (stitches all over her body) which is why I got assigned to her. No one told me that Tigre would be gentle or sweet once she got to know me. I had been loaded with fear since the moment we had arrived. After a few days with the stomach issues and some altercations with Tigre I wanted nothing more than to leave this place immediately!
For some reason I couldn’t do it though, I couldn’t leave. Something inside me told me “I have to do this, face your fears”. So I did. And was it ever worth it!
It was around the week and a half mark that things started to improve. My stomach was feeling better (probably had more of an impact on me than I originally realized) and Tigre and I were getting really used to each other. I stopped counting the days, and now when it came time to get Tigre out of her cage my fear was all but gone. I really started to enjoy being in the jungle with her. Whenever I felt that I couldn’t do it anymore I thought about Tigre and how happy it makes her to be out of her cage. That thought kept me going and stopped any negative thoughts in their tracks.
We really developed an amazing relationship over time. She never tried to jump me after my first day alone (until I started training Emma) and she was nothing but gentle and patient with me. She showed me things and I believe that we had some real conversations (not with words, obviously). We worked as a team and helped each other out when one of us got stuck or hurt or sick.
Still now I feel a little bit like I didn’t do all that I could have done for her. I took 3 days off for being sick at the start, and then I took a day off on the 15th day, there were a few rainy days in there when Tigre didn’t go out (at least one when I probably could have gone up and tried to take her out later in the day when it had stopped raining), and we got lost one night and ended up having to trap Tigre in a small cage to bring her back to her home cage. I also trained Emma two days early so that I could be around for her first two days on her own in case she has any questions – I would be working with the monkeys or helping with the GPS mapping project. I feel like I want to work harder for her. However I also felt, most of the time, like I was working to my limit. So it is a mixed and confusing feeling that I am left with. But Tigre has shown me nothing but love; she has forgiven me for getting lost and right up to the last moment with her, she stayed close to me and allowed me to scratch her head, even outside of the cage (which I have been told was impossible). I hope that I helped make her life a little bit better. It is so hard to say goodbye...
April 15 - Monkey Day
Peppa feeding me a piece of banana tree
A day in quarantine with the monkeys (not an actual quarantine, used to be but the name stuck after they changed it to just a monkey area).
I was sad to not be with Tigre today, but it was nice to spend some time with monkeys and learn a bit about their way of life here. I hoped that Emma would have a better day with Tigre today, which I found out later she did!
The monkeys are a bit difficult to wrap your head around. On the Heaven side of quarantine there are something like 50 capuchin monkeys and a lot of them are let out of their tiny cages during the day to hang out on their harness and runners allowing them to climb part way up some nearby trees and play with things within their short reach. On the Earth side there are probably 20 or 30 capuchin monkeys, 3 albifron monkeys and 2 spider monkeys. Most of the monkeys on the Earth side cannot be let out of their cages on runners because they are violent and don’t interact well with each other or people. We’ve been told that the park has tried to introduce these monkeys to different groups to see if they could be integrated into a proper social gang but they have either been beaten up by the groups that they introduce them to or just rejected some other way. Monkeys are very social animals and not everyone fits in with the rest. So sadly these “rejected” monkeys have to live in their cages 24/7, and the stress of this life has visibly taken its toll on a lot of them – many pull their hair out, are very angry all the time, or become very timid and lonely. At the same time they do see volunteers coming and going all the time and some of the monkeys seem to look forward to seeing people and like to play funny little games with us.
The day was very long, starting work at 7:30. I was assigned to the Earth side (bummer, I was hoping to be able to play with the monkeys on runners on the Heaven side) and the day started off with us giving all of the monkeys api (some kind of watery oatmeal mix), always remembering to give Victor his food first every time because he is the alpha male of the Earth side. If you give to another monkey first I think all of the monkeys will freak out, Victor especially.
Next we swept up all the poo and mess from overnight. The cages are elevated so we just swept the ground and hosed down underneath and inside the cages if we saw any poo inside. Then we gave them some bamboo to play with and chew on and got to socialize with them a bit which was really fun. There is one albifron monkey that is on a runner, Fernanda, that lay in my arms and let me scratch her head and back. Also there is a spider monkey, Marucha who is on a runner that I might be able to sit with soon but I want her to get to know me first. Maybe tomorrow I will try if she gives me the signal (squishes up her face and makes a horse like noise).
For lunch we cut up some kind of sweet potato thing (looks like a potato but tastes like an apple kind of) and oranges and served them on their assigned serving trays. We have to stick around the area while the monkeys eat so we can chase away the free monkeys that try and steal food from the Earthlings. After the monkeys were finished eating we swept and hosed under the cages again. Before grabbing lunch for ourselves a few of us hung out near the Heaven side and I got to go in a hang out with one of the nice monkeys on a runner Peppa and her baby! They both sat on me, searching my pockets and just when I thought they weren’t going to find anything they jumped up onto my head and stole my hair tie. I didn’t try to take it back because 1) I wouldn’t be able to take it back anyway, and 2) if I upset the monkeys they “might” attack me.
After eating our own lunch we went back to Earth and gave the monkeys some banana tree pieces to play with and chew on and started preparing their dinner. We had run out of whatever was supposed to be for dinner so we had to give them some more sweet potato thing again but this time with some cucumber as well. We served up dinner and then did the clean up one more time before calling it a day at 6:30pm. Wow, a lot of work!
I was sad to not be with Tigre today, but it was nice to spend some time with monkeys and learn a bit about their way of life here. I hoped that Emma would have a better day with Tigre today, which I found out later she did!
The monkeys are a bit difficult to wrap your head around. On the Heaven side of quarantine there are something like 50 capuchin monkeys and a lot of them are let out of their tiny cages during the day to hang out on their harness and runners allowing them to climb part way up some nearby trees and play with things within their short reach. On the Earth side there are probably 20 or 30 capuchin monkeys, 3 albifron monkeys and 2 spider monkeys. Most of the monkeys on the Earth side cannot be let out of their cages on runners because they are violent and don’t interact well with each other or people. We’ve been told that the park has tried to introduce these monkeys to different groups to see if they could be integrated into a proper social gang but they have either been beaten up by the groups that they introduce them to or just rejected some other way. Monkeys are very social animals and not everyone fits in with the rest. So sadly these “rejected” monkeys have to live in their cages 24/7, and the stress of this life has visibly taken its toll on a lot of them – many pull their hair out, are very angry all the time, or become very timid and lonely. At the same time they do see volunteers coming and going all the time and some of the monkeys seem to look forward to seeing people and like to play funny little games with us.
The day was very long, starting work at 7:30. I was assigned to the Earth side (bummer, I was hoping to be able to play with the monkeys on runners on the Heaven side) and the day started off with us giving all of the monkeys api (some kind of watery oatmeal mix), always remembering to give Victor his food first every time because he is the alpha male of the Earth side. If you give to another monkey first I think all of the monkeys will freak out, Victor especially.
Next we swept up all the poo and mess from overnight. The cages are elevated so we just swept the ground and hosed down underneath and inside the cages if we saw any poo inside. Then we gave them some bamboo to play with and chew on and got to socialize with them a bit which was really fun. There is one albifron monkey that is on a runner, Fernanda, that lay in my arms and let me scratch her head and back. Also there is a spider monkey, Marucha who is on a runner that I might be able to sit with soon but I want her to get to know me first. Maybe tomorrow I will try if she gives me the signal (squishes up her face and makes a horse like noise).
For lunch we cut up some kind of sweet potato thing (looks like a potato but tastes like an apple kind of) and oranges and served them on their assigned serving trays. We have to stick around the area while the monkeys eat so we can chase away the free monkeys that try and steal food from the Earthlings. After the monkeys were finished eating we swept and hosed under the cages again. Before grabbing lunch for ourselves a few of us hung out near the Heaven side and I got to go in a hang out with one of the nice monkeys on a runner Peppa and her baby! They both sat on me, searching my pockets and just when I thought they weren’t going to find anything they jumped up onto my head and stole my hair tie. I didn’t try to take it back because 1) I wouldn’t be able to take it back anyway, and 2) if I upset the monkeys they “might” attack me.
After eating our own lunch we went back to Earth and gave the monkeys some banana tree pieces to play with and chew on and started preparing their dinner. We had run out of whatever was supposed to be for dinner so we had to give them some more sweet potato thing again but this time with some cucumber as well. We served up dinner and then did the clean up one more time before calling it a day at 6:30pm. Wow, a lot of work!
April 16 - GPS Mapping Trails with Dianne
Dianne mapping the trails so future volunteers don't get lost!!
Today I walked trails with Dianne (previous Gato the Puma handler who graciously decided to stay an extra month to make a real trail map) in Tigre’s area so that she could GPS map the area so that future volunteers don’t get lost anymore (why after 20 years are we doing this now??). Also, in the morning Nena came up to us and begged us to stay another week. Neither Andrew or I really want to stay since we are getting pretty burned out by now and looking forward to being dry and clean and not having bug bites covering our entire bodies, etc. But Nena really needs us so we agreed to 3 more days. Andrew will stay with Balu since they don’t have anyone new to train in his place yet, and I didn’t know what I would be doing, maybe more quarantine or something else. I figured I would just do whatever they need but I really am not looking forward to 3 long days in quarantine….
While walking with Dianne I found out that she could really use a hand mapping out Tigre’s trails for a few days, so I think I have found out what I will be doing now. I am looking forward to walking the trails again for a few more days, hanging out in the jungle while doing something useful.
While it will be a bit difficult to drag on working a few more days (we are really feeling burned out by now and getting tired of the crappy accommodations here) I think it will be fun. I was really worried about doing quarantine for 3 days and thought that maybe I should reconsider the agreement from this morning, but now that I can do the mapping project with Dianne I feel like I can handle it.
While out walking with Dianne today we crossed paths with Millie. It was my first time seeing her up close, which was cool. She came over and sniffed my boots and Dianne’s as well and then we continued onto the trails. We did the entire outer boundary trail today!
While walking with Dianne I found out that she could really use a hand mapping out Tigre’s trails for a few days, so I think I have found out what I will be doing now. I am looking forward to walking the trails again for a few more days, hanging out in the jungle while doing something useful.
While it will be a bit difficult to drag on working a few more days (we are really feeling burned out by now and getting tired of the crappy accommodations here) I think it will be fun. I was really worried about doing quarantine for 3 days and thought that maybe I should reconsider the agreement from this morning, but now that I can do the mapping project with Dianne I feel like I can handle it.
While out walking with Dianne today we crossed paths with Millie. It was my first time seeing her up close, which was cool. She came over and sniffed my boots and Dianne’s as well and then we continued onto the trails. We did the entire outer boundary trail today!
April 17 - GpS Mapping and Emma Rescue
Cool-as shiny beetle on the trail
Today Dianne and I walked all of the trails inside of Tigre’s area. It was a long day of hiking and mapping and was really awesome. It was a beautiful sunny day and I couldn’t think of a better way to be spending it (unless Tigre was with us the whole time).
We heard Emma and Tigre pretty early on in the day and Tigre insisted on following us for a while (so cute!). Emma was totally freaked out thinking that Tigre might get stressed out and jump her but I didn’t think that would happen. She knows me very well and it seemed to me like she was happy to see me, awww. Even though it stressed Emma out a lot I was so happy that we saw them today. Later in the day we saw them again way on the other side of her property and again she came over to us and followed us for a while. Both times I said hello to her and let her hang out near my boots. Emma was a bit calmer the second time but I could still see that she didn’t want to be seeing us.
After our day of hiking and mapping all of the inner trails (yay!) we came down to the café and had some lunch. It was about 4:30 now. Just as I had finished taking my last bite Marta came and asked me to talk to Emma on the phone. Immediately I knew I was going to have to go and help her out of some situation. Sure enough, she said she was lost somewhere but not far out of the blue area, near a landslide, which she described and I think I knew, and Tigre was just laying around not wanting to move at all. If it were me I would have probably waited another hour or two before phoning but I don’t think Emma understands that Tigre will be like this a lot. While I was completely pooped out from the day of hiking and didn’t really want to head back up into the trails, I was also happy to be able to see Tigre again.
Andrew agreed to come and get Emma with me. Tigre likes to follow people sometimes so we were just hoping to find them and then Tigre would get up and follow us back to her cage. We set out up the trails and about half way up to the cage a rock that I had stepped on a hundred times before tipped over and I felt my ankle dislocate and a bunch of tendons tear in my leg. Crap!
Once the immediate pain had subsided and my foot was in place again I stood up and determined I could still walk as long as I only step straight down and don’t turn or twist my foot at all. So on we went, but I did end up putting a tenser bandage on (good thing we carry a first aid kit everywhere!).
When we got to the area that I thought she was near (Sonko’s Plaza or Loop 2, near where I got lost on the bad night) we started shouting but Emma couldn’t hear us. We kept on walking and then Emma phoned and said that Tigre had gotten up and wanted to go again. I told her that Tigre knows the area better than any of us, having been here for 11 years now, and she is probably hungry so I would trust her and let her lead Emma back to the cage. Sure enough Emma phoned back a few minutes later letting us know that they were back into Tigre’s area on a trail and she gave me a landmark so I knew exactly where they were. She said that Tigre was acting funny though, moving very slowly as if she didn’t want to go back, and seemed a bit stressed out. So Andrew and I decided to go around the trails toward them, them in the direction toward us, and we would eventually meet them on the way.
When we met them Tigre immediately came to us and said hello. She was up and moving now that we were there and followed us pretty quickly the whole way back to her cage. She caught a mouse as well; I saw it scurry in front of Tigre and sure enough Tigre somehow caught it quickly. She carried it in her mouth for a few minutes before swallowing it whole, probably still alive, yuck.
We took the five peaks trail back up to the cage, which was tiring. I have never seen Tigre move so quickly. Normally when she is leading the way up she takes many breaks on the way up, but today with Andrew and I in front she was pulling on the rope hard and climbing up as fast as she could. We had to make sure to keep far enough ahead for her.
Eventually we got to the cage and Tigre was panting like crazy. Maybe we should have paced ourselves better, but at the time I also thought that maybe she was getting some good exercise. She lay down in the cage and I took off her carabineer while she let me scratch her head for a while. She was growling a lot though because she was really hungry so Emma quickly fed her (it was 5:30 or later by now) and then we hiked back down.
Long day. My legs are tired and my ankle hurts quite a bit now that I am not walking anymore. Hopefully it wasn’t a permanent damage kind of sprain but it really felt like things were tearing inside my leg. Time will tell…
We heard Emma and Tigre pretty early on in the day and Tigre insisted on following us for a while (so cute!). Emma was totally freaked out thinking that Tigre might get stressed out and jump her but I didn’t think that would happen. She knows me very well and it seemed to me like she was happy to see me, awww. Even though it stressed Emma out a lot I was so happy that we saw them today. Later in the day we saw them again way on the other side of her property and again she came over to us and followed us for a while. Both times I said hello to her and let her hang out near my boots. Emma was a bit calmer the second time but I could still see that she didn’t want to be seeing us.
After our day of hiking and mapping all of the inner trails (yay!) we came down to the café and had some lunch. It was about 4:30 now. Just as I had finished taking my last bite Marta came and asked me to talk to Emma on the phone. Immediately I knew I was going to have to go and help her out of some situation. Sure enough, she said she was lost somewhere but not far out of the blue area, near a landslide, which she described and I think I knew, and Tigre was just laying around not wanting to move at all. If it were me I would have probably waited another hour or two before phoning but I don’t think Emma understands that Tigre will be like this a lot. While I was completely pooped out from the day of hiking and didn’t really want to head back up into the trails, I was also happy to be able to see Tigre again.
Andrew agreed to come and get Emma with me. Tigre likes to follow people sometimes so we were just hoping to find them and then Tigre would get up and follow us back to her cage. We set out up the trails and about half way up to the cage a rock that I had stepped on a hundred times before tipped over and I felt my ankle dislocate and a bunch of tendons tear in my leg. Crap!
Once the immediate pain had subsided and my foot was in place again I stood up and determined I could still walk as long as I only step straight down and don’t turn or twist my foot at all. So on we went, but I did end up putting a tenser bandage on (good thing we carry a first aid kit everywhere!).
When we got to the area that I thought she was near (Sonko’s Plaza or Loop 2, near where I got lost on the bad night) we started shouting but Emma couldn’t hear us. We kept on walking and then Emma phoned and said that Tigre had gotten up and wanted to go again. I told her that Tigre knows the area better than any of us, having been here for 11 years now, and she is probably hungry so I would trust her and let her lead Emma back to the cage. Sure enough Emma phoned back a few minutes later letting us know that they were back into Tigre’s area on a trail and she gave me a landmark so I knew exactly where they were. She said that Tigre was acting funny though, moving very slowly as if she didn’t want to go back, and seemed a bit stressed out. So Andrew and I decided to go around the trails toward them, them in the direction toward us, and we would eventually meet them on the way.
When we met them Tigre immediately came to us and said hello. She was up and moving now that we were there and followed us pretty quickly the whole way back to her cage. She caught a mouse as well; I saw it scurry in front of Tigre and sure enough Tigre somehow caught it quickly. She carried it in her mouth for a few minutes before swallowing it whole, probably still alive, yuck.
We took the five peaks trail back up to the cage, which was tiring. I have never seen Tigre move so quickly. Normally when she is leading the way up she takes many breaks on the way up, but today with Andrew and I in front she was pulling on the rope hard and climbing up as fast as she could. We had to make sure to keep far enough ahead for her.
Eventually we got to the cage and Tigre was panting like crazy. Maybe we should have paced ourselves better, but at the time I also thought that maybe she was getting some good exercise. She lay down in the cage and I took off her carabineer while she let me scratch her head for a while. She was growling a lot though because she was really hungry so Emma quickly fed her (it was 5:30 or later by now) and then we hiked back down.
Long day. My legs are tired and my ankle hurts quite a bit now that I am not walking anymore. Hopefully it wasn’t a permanent damage kind of sprain but it really felt like things were tearing inside my leg. Time will tell…
April 18 - Last day... for now!
Last breakfast at the cafe, sad to leave
Today Diane and I sorted out the GPS lines from Tigre’s trails into a legible map, and what a nice one it is! Comparing to the old map we can see why so many people got lost. The orientation was all wrong and relative positions of things were incorrect. It will be so nice to have an accurate map of not only Tigre’s trails, but the whole property including Millie’s trails, Gato’s trails, Balu’s trails, the tourist trail, the river, roads, etc.
To be honest I felt a bit useless today even though Dianne claims that I saved her at least 2 weeks of work. I wish I could have gone and done more trails today or something else, but I am unable to walk much right now. I woke up a few times during the night feeling shooting pains up and down my leg from my hip to my toes. And when I woke up my ankle was pretty swollen. Looks like a pretty good sprain but I hope it is nothing more than that. Throughout the day today I had some trouble concentrating because of the pain. Good thing it is our last day of work!
I am sad to leave but am very ready. The bug bites are so itchy and we smell like mold all the time. When we get to Sucre I would like to spend a whole day watching movies :)
I hope to come back to Inti Wara Yassi someday, but I think I will stay in a hostel in town. One that has daily cleaning damnit!
To be honest I felt a bit useless today even though Dianne claims that I saved her at least 2 weeks of work. I wish I could have gone and done more trails today or something else, but I am unable to walk much right now. I woke up a few times during the night feeling shooting pains up and down my leg from my hip to my toes. And when I woke up my ankle was pretty swollen. Looks like a pretty good sprain but I hope it is nothing more than that. Throughout the day today I had some trouble concentrating because of the pain. Good thing it is our last day of work!
I am sad to leave but am very ready. The bug bites are so itchy and we smell like mold all the time. When we get to Sucre I would like to spend a whole day watching movies :)
I hope to come back to Inti Wara Yassi someday, but I think I will stay in a hostel in town. One that has daily cleaning damnit!