Meghan is a Bad Blogger

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I know it has been awhile since I blogged but I hadn´t realised until now just how long...I am sorry to those of you who have been waiting for new posts. After spending the day working with a Puma and completing my cat coordinator duties I am much more interesting in relaxing or foraging for food than in fighting the crowds and slow connections at the Villa Tunari internet cafe. Updates might be scarce until I leave.

I have been at Parque Machia in Villa Tunari for almost six weeks now. In that time, I have gone from being a newbie to being one of the most senior volunteers in the park (there is a fast turn over here. Out of the 45 odd non-permanent volunteers in the park only 5 were there when I arrived).
I am still working with Gato. I thought I would get bored walking the same trails every day but everyday there is some small drama to keep it interesting. After Callie left I worked with a Swedish girl named Daniella for two weeks. We had a very good time together but unfortunately an old knee injury was aggravated by a stumble she took and she had to make the decision to leave. From the day that Daniella left to this moment I have not had a volunteer that has come with me for more than 3 days. Sometimes this was because they were only temps and others because they could not do the job physically. The monkies have done a good job scaring off my new volunteers. One in particular, who always likes to cuddle me, decided it would be fun to bite any new person I brought with me! I now have a guy named Colin lined up for the job but I have been sick and in Cochabamba renewing my visa so I haven´t worked with him yet.

There has been quite a bit of drama in the park. There have been several attempts during the night to steal some of the animals (one morning our spectacled bear wandered down to the cafe to join us for breakfast after his cage door had been kicked in). There have also been quite a few landslides, one of which completely crushed the cage of one of the ocelots. We spent several depressing afternoons digging the debris out from her cage trying to determine if she was alive or dead but she was found alive wandering in the jungle by another ocelot volunteer.

I would like to write more but I have a serious mission of procurring personal stashes of peanut butter and other such goodies not available in our small town.