We covered the rest of Central America by bus, stopping in Managua, Granada, and San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua; San Jose, Costa Rica; and Panama City. Since we had a set date for arrival in Ecuador, we didn't have too much time in each country. We really enjoyed Nicaragua and would have loved to spent more time there, as well as Costa Rica.
We flew from Panama City to Quito and spent a couple of days there before heading to Santa Martha, an animal rescue center in Tambillo, Ecuador. Quito is a cool city, and while we were there they were celebrating their 200th anniversary of independence. There were a lot of festivities, and we got to see some parades, live music, and dancing.
The next five weeks we lived at Santa Martha where we worked with all sorts of different wild animals. The animals at the center had been rescued from various places - the circus, people's homes, etc. Some of them are living at Santa Martha while waiting to be sent to rehab centers in hopes of returning to the wild someday. Others, because of health conditions or domestication, have no hope of going back to their native habitats, so they are permanent residents. We both really enjoyed our time there. The animals there included many types of birds, monkeys, turtles, large cats, and some we had never heard of until we got there (coatis and kinkajous). It was pretty crazy to fall asleep and wake up to squawking birds and lions roaring every day. The animals provided some very interesting experiences, as did the work we did. Our work included feeding the animals, cleaning, fixing enclosures, machete-ing lots of grass, digging a giant hole, and any other random tasks our supervisor came up with, such as butchering a horse (to feed to the carnivores, not just for fun). Here are a couple little stories that were highlights of our time there...
-Cheeky monkey. There are several capuchin monkeys at the center, and one particular fellow was quite a punk whenever you passed by his enclosure. He has a history of slapping or pulling out volunteers' hair if you get too close (including a big chunk of Catherine's). Crystal and him developed a very special relationship. During the first week, the saga began. When cleaning out the monkey enclosures, you have to trap the monkeys in one half while cleaning out the opposite side. Crystal had closed the gate between the two sides, and cheeky went ballistic. He was screaming at her, swatting at her arm, etc. She made it into a game and started grabbing at his hands and tail playfully, and the game continued basically every time she went past his enclosure after that.
-Percy the donkey. The center generally feeds chickens to all its carnivores, but a year or so ago there was some sort of sickness in the chicken population and the center had to buy donkeys to feed to the animals. Thrown in with a group of donkeys was Percy, a sickly little fellow that the vendor didn't want to keep. Percy never ended up getting fed to anyone, and he now just hangs out around the center, eating grass and terrorizing those that come close to him. At first he seems sweet, but turn your back and he will bite it. Hard. One day we had just got back to the house after evening cleaning, and as Catherine looked out the window, Percy walked past. Seeing as he is supposed to be tied to a fence quite a ways away, we immediately ran out of the house to try to catch him. It took 4 women, half an hour, and lots of running and being chased to finally get him tied to a fence nowhere close to where he was supposed to be. If you would have been an onlooker, it would have seemed to be a small rodeo and quite entertaining I'm sure.
-Pumas. There are three adult pumas at the center, and they are absolutely beautiful. Two of them are very friendly and come up to you to be petted. While it is not ideal for animals to be born in captivity, sometimes it happens. One of the females got pregnant and gave birth to two babies shortly before we left. They were adorable, but sadly, they both died shortly after birth. It was very sad, but it was a cool experience to see them while they were alive.
Here are a few pictures from Santa Martha; we will try and post some more in a few days... Enjoy!
Love,
C & C
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