Sanctuario Silvestre Update

Sorry I haven't been able to post in the past few days...well actually I'm still not able to post. :-( I'm writing this in a word document once again. Also a short heads up that I have A LOT to say and it might not come out in a completely orderly fashion. I also will not be able to include everything I'd like to or I might be sitting here for longer than I have.

I promise I'm not really this white. It is pretty bright right now although I am in the shade. And this webcam isn't the best. To my left is a semi-friend of mine. More-so an acquaintance. He hangs out in the cocina a lot and gets fed a fair share of sunflower seeds. He also gets a fair share of towels thrown at him because he can be a bit of a pest to the workers in the kitchen or he chews on something of which he is not supposed to. But he's pretty cool. This is the first time I've seen him up at my cabin. I actually haven't spent that much time up here besides at night. There is usually something going on or somebody to sit and talk to in the main building. I'm not work work working all the time, but quite often there is something or other to do. I just got back from going along on a tour with Carol and Earl who are the owners of Sanctuario Silvestre. The tour was for the owner of a large tour agency who is interested in offering tours of this rehabilitation operation. I had thought about going swimming, but I really need to recount the last few days and such before it gets even more jumbled in my head. Where I am is pretty much on the Pacific Coast. To be more specific it is on the Golfe Dulce, which is the body of water between mainland Costa Rica and the Osa Peninsula. So maybe 50 or 75 yards away from me is a little beach and beautiful water. I've only been swimming once. It was just about perfect though as long as I don't get conked in the head by a falling coconut or stung by an hilo de oro (strand of gold). I believe they are basically like jellyfish, but very small and like a single strand of gold string.

Alright. Lets start to recount more. I left Orosi on Friday. Already feels like ages ago. I flew on into Puerto Jimenez on a very small little plane. Maybe 25 seats? And these seats were tiny! Three per row and sure to cause back problems if used for extended periods of time.

The plane I flew in on. Nature Air.

Inside shot of the plane.

Saw a rainbow! Made a circle around the plane.

I was met by *music starts to play in background* a girl named Maria. She took me to a taxi and we went down the the marina which was about a 2 minute drive from the one runway, shack-like building which is labeled on the map as an airport. I was slightly confused as to what was all going on. No one spoke any english and all I knew was that I was being met and taken to the sanctuary by boat. I was instructed to get into a boat with three people of who I do not know nor have been introduced to and full of groceries. Groceries like crates of bananas and boxes of eggs. Maria says “Hasta Manana” and I'm thinking, “hmm, is she coming to the sanctuary tomorrow? Why not come now?, etc.”. The one person I have had any interaction with is now leaving me?! I learned later that evening that Maria was coming the next day. She had a conservation biology exam to take later that day. She is 24 and lives in San Jose. She frequently comes out here for a few days at a time. She just left this morning.

In general, this place is incredible. So full of color and life. There are animals pretty much every way you look. Look a little harder and you'll see even more.

Just got a yell from the kitchen stating “ALMUERZO!”

Hasta luego.

11/25/09

Good news.

Carol said earlier last night that she would like me to go into town on Friday with her to get a hang of the ropes so that I will be able to do that in the future. Going into town means that I will be able to get internet access somewhere or another. Score!

I think I'm going to just post one blog whenever I go into town with multiple days entries in a similar format to this post.

I was just reading yesterday's post and realized I forgot to mention the internet situation. So yes, obviously I don't have internet here. There used to be internet, but it no longer exists. I believe it was an experimental deal, but it provided great high-speed internet up until the modem fried. The word was that the phone company was going to come yesterday...they called yesterday afternoon and said that it would probably by at least another month until they could come out. So that explains my excitement about going into town.

So, as of now a regular day consists of:

Getting up in time to get ready and be at the kitchen by 6:00 am.

At 6 I'm doing one of two things. I'm either on the other side of the sanctuary helping the workers prepare breakfast for the animals, get it in dishes, and deliver it to them. The other thing is preparing breakfast for a select few animals in the main kitchen. Most of these breakfasts are like nutritional milk supplements, some with medicines and some without. These animals include two anteaters, an agouti, a spider monkey, another monkey (I'm embarrassed that I can't remember the type of the top of my head), and a baby hawk of some sort.

At 8:30 everyone convenes at the main kitchen and breakfast is served. Almost always consists of beans, rice, homemade tortillas, and to drink we have Tang (or as Carol calls it, Shitty Sugar).

At 9 everyone goes off again and so far I have tagged along for tours that Carol or Earl give. Tours are the largest source of income for this sanctuary. I get to look forward to giving tours at some point in the future. Lots to learn first!

At 12 the workers are off for lunch and Carol, Earl, and I usually make up something. We eat and play dominos. Then there is often some free time.

Workers return at 1 and evening meals are prepared. Very similar to the 6 am schedule.

At 3 workers are off for the rest of the day and Carol, Earl and I finish up for the day and have dinner.

Usually by 6 I'm up in the cabin because it is almost completely dark.

The bugs are also very bad at this time of year. It is just in the transition between the rainy season and the dry season. I've got my handy mosquito net in which I hide under except for the few nights that Maria was here and I would just use my Herbal Armor bug spray and we would sit out on the porch to play cards or talk. But I really dislike the feeling of laying in bed with bug spray on my skin.

Tear jerker time. The day I arrived or the day before I arrived, They had just gotten a baby sloth in. Maybe a week old and seemed to have been dropped by the mother. So being a baby, it needed to be fed quite often. After I completed a successful sloth enema on Saturday I was given the responsibility of this baby. I was to make his feeding schedule and such. I also had to keep him in my cabin Saturday and Sunday night...and wake up every three hours to give him his syringe of goat milk. I was able to talk Maria into switching off with me each shift of the night. Monday morning at about 9 Carol noticed him sort of wheezing when he inhaled. I sat around and kept and eye on him for the rest of the morning. Carol and I both figured it to be Aspiration Pneumonia. It fit the symptoms to the dot. At about 12:30ish I look up and notice he isn't breathing heavily. Upon closer examination, I find that he had died. Apparently three-toed sloths are hard to raise when babies. This is the 4^th one that hasn't made it.

Interesting little tid-bit: In Spanish sloths are called “perezosos”. This translates to Lazies.

List of animals that reside here that I can remember off the top of my head: Anteaters, Kinkajous (Martillas), Spider Monkeys, Howler Monkeys, hawk, Scarlet Macaws (Lapas), Tayra, Capuchos, Parrots (Loras), Parakeets, Two-toed and three-toed sloths, Agouti, Jaguarundis, various other felines, Javelina or Collared Peccary, Toucan, and probably a few others.

I think I'm going to stop here for today.

Hasta el proximo vez.

11/26/09

Feliz Dia de Gracias!

Yay! I'm quite excited for my morning on the town tomorrow. I have lots of pictures and I hope to have time to upload most of them to this blog. I'm also sure I'll have loads of e-mails to go through.

So a new task I've been assigned is to be in charge of the camera traps. They own 6 camera traps, but have never used them. The hope is to catch pictures of predators and released animals. I've been charging batteries for the past couple days and reading about the cameras. The cameras have a sensor that is triggered when an animal passes and it snaps a photo. Earl and I went out earlier and walked some trails to get some ideas of where to set them up. A big goal is to catch some pictures of a jaguar. Paw prints have been spotted multiple times.

Right. I'm back to cold as ice showers. They would feel great in the middle of the day, but I'm taking them after dark and it is quite bone-chilling. A very quick affair.

I really can't think of anything else terribly noteworthy at this moment. I'll add anything more I think of tomorrow.

Buenas Noches.

PICTURES!

Her name is Sweetie. She's got a nice sore on her leg from a spider bite. She loves to show it off.

Scarlett Macaws

This birds name is Abogado. It means 'lawer in spanish'. He used to fly into a bar and then scream "I want my lawer" or "Quiero mi abogado".

This is Goots. He is an Agouti.

Sunsets.

I must go now. We must head back to the sanctuary.

Pura Vida!