A Month, Really?

Okay, in all honesty it took me about two weeks to feel at home at Santa Martha Animal Rescue Center. However, the last two weeks went by all too quickly. Yesterday morning I waved goodbye to Santa Martha and headed back to Quito with the rest of the volunteers. I don´t feel like there was much closure before my departure. I volunteered to clean the house in the morning, so I could finish packing as well. That meant no last minute animal encounters, which, thinking back, is kind of sad. The beauty of being in Ecuador for four months is that I can always return for a day-trip.

I´m going to dedicate this entry to my thoughts about and photos of Santa Martha. It will be sort of geared towards future volunteers. The hardest part about volunteering at Santa Martha was the fact that it took a while for me to fit-in with the group. Volunteers are always coming and going. Sometimes cliques form between people, especially when they are from the same country. Totally understandable-everyone wants to find a piece of home away from home. After two weeks, when some volunteers had gone and new volunteers had arrived, the dynamics changed a lot for the better. Don´t get me wrong, people were never intentionally mean. I had to carve out my niche, that´s all.

Baby Kestral

The work at Santa Martha is demanding, especially during the first week when you are inundated with numerous tasks and struggling with the lack of air due to a high altitude. If you go with the mindset that you want to get into shape, the transition from city life to Santa Martha will be easier. The hills are numerous, and you often carry water, chickens, food, or building materials when walking them. During the rainy season (now), the sky lets lose almost every afternoon. There are no raindates for cleaning and feeding because the animals must have their basic needs met. Rain gear is a necessity. The rain might wash away some of the animal poo (good thing), but it makes food soggy and pathways muddy (bad things).

Our ferocious Jaguar, Brenda (she´s actually yawning here, not showing her anger)

My favorite type of job was rehabing animal enclosures. It required creativity, machetes, heavy lifting, hammering and cutting grass. At first, I balked at cutting grass by hand. However, I came to find it quite relaxing. During my time at Santa Martha I was able to upgrade the rabbit, porcupine and bear enclosures. Due to a recent influx of animals from Guayabamba Zoo, I also helped build a new enclosure for our capuchin monkeys.

Just finished one side of the capuchin monkey enclosure!

One of our new capuchin monkeys (Bonnie or Clyde??)

My least favorite jobs included disinfecting the squirrel monkey enclosure to make room for squirrels (I know the fact that we received squirrels as exotic animals sounds weird, but they aren´t like US squirrels-much cuter!) and taking long-expired chickens to the chicken pit.

Squirrel monkeys searching my pockets.

The volunteer houses are basic, but they definitely fit everyone´s truest needs-bunkbeds, oven (two houses), stove, dishes, dvd-tv (two houses), table, chairs and shelving for clothes etc. The best ammenity is the hot water for showers. After a long, tiring and sometimes chilly day, a hot shower feels like a million bucks. There is also a shared filtered tap for water, which we all took for granted. Plans are in the works to extend the third house, which will be nice.

Leo, one of Santa Martha´s pumas

Dalma, the coordinator of the project in Tambillo, is surely passionate about the animals and dedicated to her job. She is a friend to the volunteers but has a level of superiority too. Dalma always has a long to-do list and is constantly balancing her time between tasks, but she is consistently available for the volunteers and works alongside them when time permits.

Meal time!

I guess I´ll close this entry with a few thoughts about what to bring, just in case a future volunteer reads this. Before arriving, go to a corner store or grocery and get some food. You may move in with other people who can spot you food for a day, or you may not. I moved into an empty house and had to eat plain lentils and rice the first night (thankfully left by previous volunteers). The houses have sheets, blankets and towels to some extent, but I was glad to have my own sleeping bag and travel towel. Working gloves are a must, and it´s also helpful to have a pair of rubber gloves when working with water (you can buy them in Tambillo). Santa Martha has plenty of rubber boots at the moment, so you can probably find a pair to suit you. That´s what I did; much easier than toting boots from oversees. If the sun is out and the wind is blowing, washed clothes can dry in a day. If the rains are bad, it may take three days for clothes to dry completely. Bring clothes that you don´t mind getting stained and sweaty. It´s helpful to have clothes that dry quickly as well-thin shirts and a pair of quick dry pants are perfect.

Well, that´s all for now. I´m taking a break in Mindo right now. It seems to be a very lazy town in the cloud forest region. Surprisingly enough, the Internet here is the fastest I´ve found for uploading photos.

Hasta Luego,

Becky