After the debacle that was us getting to Potosi, we reacquainted ourselves with our packs, crammed in a quick tour of the silver mine (what Potosi is famous for, apart from being really high +4000m) and we left.
We arrived in Sucre and discovered how nice Bolivian cities can be to chill out in. It was Bella's birthday so we splashed out in a nice hotel for a couple of nights (for all of 150 Bolivianos a night, 25 aussie). Then we proceeded to basically eat our way around Sucre. From gringo packed restaurants serving Satay, Japanese and Mexican to nice local haunts for a burger and fries. The highlight however had to be the markets. Typically massive with fruits and meats, but the real treasure was the fruit salad for breakfast. A big bowl of tropical fruits covered in yogurt and muesli for 3.50 Bs (50c aussie). They also do really good smoothies. The list of good food goes on and on: good coffee, strawberries, chocolate, tomales, salteñas, etc, etc. After 5 days we eventually forced ourselves to leave.
We only made it as far as Cochabamba and proceeded to discover more eating and drinking. A saying in Cochabamba is you eat after you eat and drink after you drink. We did this. We had a local connection with a guy, Ale, who did an exchange for a year to Australia at Bella's sister's school. He showed us where to eat and how to drink. It's a university town so there is plenty of both.
From there, it was time to get back to nature and do our bit of volunteering. We decided on a animal refuge organisation called Inti Wara Yassi (
http://www.intiwarayassi.org/). We decided we would just do the minimum two weeks at Parque Machia, although we did have enough time on our visas to last a month. We arrived at the park and shortly found out they were desparate for cat people and that requires a commitment of one month, to give the cats some consistency. It didn't take much persuading once they offered Bella a chance to work with an ocelot and me with a puma. So, we were now in the same spot for a month and are working with cats.
The drive from Cochabamba to Villa Tunari was great. We came down from 2500m to 250m in about 2 hours. We arrived to some great sunshine, warm weather and no altitude. No pleasant relief. We were happy to be sweating again. The park itself is untouched jungle on the edge of the Amazon Basin. The park has 7 pumas, 3 ocelots, a whole heap of monkeys and some crazy small bity creatures. We work with our cats and pretty much do nothing else.
Sonko
Rico
My day starts about 9am with one other person. We go up to the cage, let him out onto his runner (a rope setup just outside his cage), clean the cage. We take him for two walks during the day through the jungle, taking anywhere between 1 hour and 3 hours, depending on which trail we do and how much sleeping he does. Then feed him and lock him up at about 4:30pm. My puma name is Sonko. He is about 4 years old and has been at the park since he was about 6 months. He was a pet but they gave him up for logical reasons.
Me walking Sonko. This is his favourite sleeping spot.
Bella's day is a little different. She does all the same stuff but is on her own for the whole day with Rico, the ocelot.
Bella and Rico
The work is best described as challenging. Although they are not wild, they are not pets either. Each day brings new challenges and difficulties. But the rewards are there. Being able to pat a puma (when he is in a good mood) and hearing him purr is something you don't get to experience unless you take up these opportunities. We are here for another 2 weeks so I am sure we'll have a lot more experiences by the end of it.
