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What did you do yesterday?
Well, for me it had a pretty normal day, for a volunteer in Park Machia.
In the morning I helped construction work, expanding the turtles fenced area from 5X8 meters to 10X13 meters. We even built a pool for them! Then I helped the girls working at the birds quarantine to scare off a loose monkey who tried to get into the cages and harm some birds or steal food.
After that I picked up a machate and chopped coconuts off some trees in the jungle, for halloween decoration, and then I helped making a lot of tricky treats (wrapping 2 small dried fish in 4 sticks and lots of leaves) for the Tejons, funny little creatures with sharp teeth. After that I just helped chopping vegetables and fruit for the birds, helped locking the Tucan´s cage (¨Captain Jack¨), watched the bear wrestle with his friends as about a dozen free monkeys were jumping from one branch to another on the trees around me.
In the evening we had a crazy halloween party and I dressed up as a sexy girl.
All in all - a nice day... oh, and it was raining for about half of it.
So, what did YOU do yesterday?
Ok, let me just start from the beginning and tell you what happened to me in the past few days.
I arrived at Villa Tunari 2 days ago, after a long ride in the bus. If you remember my last entry - I wasn´t sure about my bus heading to the right place... Well, After being told it should take 2 hours, I was surprised then the 4th hour went by and we didn´t get there yet. I was convinced I´ll end up in Cochabamba. 12 hours from Santa Cruz. Lucky for me - Bolivian time is not a thing to trust, but the bus drivers are. So after about 6 hours of riding in the smelly bus, around midnight, someone came to the back of the bus and told me that the driver wants me to more forward as we´re approaching Villa Tunary. I hopped over 3 old ladies, 2 kids and 2 babies who were all sleeping in the bus aisle, and reached the bus driver. We chatted a bit about Israel´s political state, the weather and what not. I tought him how to say ¨Good morning¨ in hebrew while he was chewing on a handful of Coca leaves. Fun...
He dropped me off in the middle of the village, and i had to find a place to stay for the night. Lucky for me there was a ¨Taxi¨station nearby, and by that I mean a pack of men with motorcycles. One of them took me to ¨Las Vegas hostel¨ and charged me 2Bol (about 0.4$).
The hostel, as well as 2 more I tried were closed and asleep... With help from some friends off the street I ended up in hostel America which was lovely!
The next day I reached Machia park and had a tour and a chat with some of the volunteers. There are people from all over the worlds: England, Australia, Finland, Germany, Spain and one Israeli girl as well. The park has 1 bear, 4 Pumas, 3 Ocelots (and one blind baby), 27 Tejons, hundreds of birds and a few dozens of monkeys.
Unfortunately - All the Pumas have volunteers, so I decided to leave with 2 girls I met here and head on to Sucre and the Sallar. I´ll be back in 2 weeks and my place working with a puma is secure.
I just spent the next day helping around, as you read in the beginning - there´s a lot to do here even if you´re not a full time volunteer...
In the evening we had a great halloween party, crazy costumes as you can see... one of the guys dressed up as a girl and looked just like Vera De Milo (if you don´t know here - here´s a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH0Tdxybvic )
So I´m about to leave Villa Tunary but will definately come back on the 14th!
Adios for now...
Gilad.
P.S. - I didn´t take any pictures of the park as they ask you not to do it until the end of your first week. will put pictures the next time I´m here...
- comments
veredm You look hot shutafi! did something different with your hair?:)
veredm wtf?!? i would die if i saw this live
giladhiz All natural...
giladhiz It´s just a harmless butterfly...You should see the spiders and the snakes.
Yael Love the dress Gilad! First time to read the blog properly now back in London - seems like great fun and adventure!Looking forward to the park photos when you are a 'veteran' and allowed to take them!xx
giladhiz Thanks! I love the dress either... :)Keep in touch!
lilach ben hamo Hey...How r u?I see you're having fun Keep it up ... Dresses suits you Here all as usual ... Will update when something new happens Kisses& HugsHave a great Christmas and a Happy New YearLilach