I´m here (www.sendaverde.com) and it is beautiful.
Imagine waking up in semi rainforest at the bottom of a gorgeous valley every morning to Mackaws and then spending your day, feeding and playing with the animals. It is pretty special.
I never thought that I would be in such close proximity to some of these animals. I never thought that I would have a spider monkey climb up into my lap and curl into me and fall asleep at dusk just as he is getting cold. I never thought that I would be feeding peanuts to an Andean spectacled bear or being groomed by a capuchin monkey.
It´s great here. You wake up early and give the animals their first feed of the day. There are 5 species of monkeys,some mackaws, parrots and a host of other birds, coatis, a bear, a boa, turtles, rabbits, along with a wild cat, domestic cats, and some of the most beautiful dogs I have ever come across. All of the animals generally have been rescued from abused situations.
After feeding the animals, we feed ourselves, and then it´s time to clean the animals and at midday feed them lunch. There is so much space here that it is great that most of the animals have as much space as they like to wander about(the bear has an enclosure of 3000square metres for example). Some do have more space than others, but it is a well designed place, and always being improved upon.
A bike group always comes down every day to see the animals, so we always look after them and then we feed the animals their last feed of the day.
After that feed, most of us generally decide that it is monkey playtime and we go up to cuddle the spider monkeys, the howler monkey or the baby capuchins. It´s pretty sweet here, and it feels so disconnected from the often crazy world that is South America. It is so far removed and this is the first (and probably only time while I am staying at the refuge) time that I have come up to the main town 20 minutes drive away to use the internet.
I don´t know how long I´ll stay here, but this experience is sure to remain with me for a very long time. (Photos will follow once I am at a faster speed internet but until then just have a wee look at the website to get a bit of an idea of where I am).
Until next time...
