Esperanza de Libertad, continued.

I’m back! In La Paz, that is…

I had a fabulous time at Esperanza de Libertad, in spite of the incessant insect bites, tropical heat and humidity, and constant cleaning of animal poo off of everything in sight.

This past week we did all kinds of work: we planted yucca, harvested rice, cleared a bunch more grass and weeds with machetes (not easy, especially since the first day our machetes were really dull- it made a world of difference when we sharpened them!), and I found myself furiously chopping firewood in 90-degree sun on more than one occasion, since there is no gas or electricity there and we need the lenas to cook with. But most importantly, we got a new monkey!

The newest member of the Esperanza clan was named Negrita (little black one), but I renamed her Paula since I figured that two nearly identical spider monkeys named “black one” was a bit much (the other one’s name is El Preto, which is Portuguese for black). She was living in an open yard behind someone’s house, tied to a tree almost all of the time. She’s smaller than Preto and a lot more shy; in fact, she was completely terrified when we came to get her, shrieking and backing away like we were trying to kill her. But she has acclimated really well, and is already holding her own against Preto, who can be something of a playful bully, and we let her off the cord after only 2 days because it was obvious that she felt more comfortable.

On her second day there, we discovered a super disgusting, gnarly wound on her finger that has apparently been festering there for a long time, because the whole tip is basically rotted off and when we squeezed it and cut away the dead part, there were tons and tons of microscopic eggs inside- ewwww!!! I’m not generally a squeamish person, but this was almost too much for me. Between the pus, the blood, the dead skin, the open wound and then the eggs, I have to admit I was kind of freaking out. But we got all the nasty stuff out eventually, and disinfected it with some super heavy duty animal wound cleaner, so hopefully it will heal up okay now. I was concerned because she kept gnawing at it, but it did look a lot better the next day so fingers crossed. If not, it’s time for the old antibiotics.

Ixiamas, the small town nearest to Esperanza, also turned out to be a really sweet little place. Franci knows just about everyone and so hanging out with her meant I got a warm reception. We went out to the “disco” on Saturday night and had a lot of fun dancing to music I would never normally dance to, with tons and tons of sweet boys I would never normally dance with! They were all really curious about me, both because I’m a foreigner and because of my tattoos , so I got to meet about half the town’s eligible male population, who all turned out to be very sweet. One thing that is really great about Latino guys is that they know how to dance and they’re not afraid to move their hips, which in the US just doesn’t really happen! I’m so used to seeing all these really fun girls dancing for all they’re worth with their male dancing partners just looking awkward or not really doing much, that it is super refreshing to be surrounded by young boys who are clearly very much enjoying wiggling their hips and shoulders to the music and doing lots of fancy footsteps that I can’t possibly keep up with!

The next day was when we went to go pick up Paula and do our shopping for the week, and then it was back to the farm. Franci had to leave for La Paz to take care of some document-related something or other on Tuesday, so it was just me, Inez, baby Marcos and the animals for the next few days, but it was really nice and calm, too.
Anyway, I have tons of great pictures of the various plants and animals and people that make up Esperanza, so I will try to put them up on this Picassa thing. I put up a few others already but it’s a little confusing how I’m actually supposed to use it, so yeah, I don’t know if there’s a link or what but I’ll figure it out…

So now, after a grueling 26-hour bus ride that took all of yesterday and last night over bumpy, dirt roads, through small rivers and streams, and yes, even a stretch on the infamous “Death Road” of Coroico, I am back in La Paz, and trying to have a mellow day while still making good use of my time. I’m back at the apartment of my German boys, Tobias and Martine, and let me tell you that taking a hot shower today was like heaven on earth! In the jungle it was just the opposite- I looked forward to the cold water showers so much I wound up washing two or three times per day on really hot days, but here in La Paz it is totally freezing! I think I’ll only be here a couple of days, and then head to Cuzco via Lake Titicaca, since the clock is really ticking now on when I have to head back to the states. It’s hard to believe I’ve only got 3 weeks left! But I’m super excited about Mo’s baby, which is due on the 10th of May… I’m really hoping the little guy holds out until I get there on the 6th to be born, since I want to be there to help out with the birth. I keep having all these visions of a tiny pink bundle sleeping in my arms, and carrying him around in a sling and generally playing the role of aunty to a newborn- my maternal instincts have kicked in big time now that I’m closing in on 30! I’m seriously considering figuring out a way to be a foster parent when I get settled down a little more, but I’m not really sure that it’s possible right now, especially since I want to go to school. We’ll see.

Anyway, I will keep ya’ll posted from here on out, and try to get those pix up asap. I hope you are all doing great, and if you want more info about Esperanza, please check out their website at www.esperanzadelibertad.org. They can really use any help you can give and are in the process of trying to figure out how to become more self-supporting. We’re thinking maybe cacao trees, to produce organic cocoa to be sold overseas… I have to do some research, but it seems viable. In the meantime, help ‘em out if you can! The animals will thank you!

xoxo, Pike

p.s. Okay, I have no idea if this will work, but try clicking here to see some pix:
http://picasaweb.google.com/veganpike/EsperanzaDeLibertad