My final weeks at "Inti Yara Wassi" were certainly less grueling and definitely more fun; a reminder that I was still a holidaying traveller despite not having my first ´official´ day off work until day 24.I had less blisters, bruises and bite marks after my assigned puma "Roy" finally grew accustomed to my company and it was satisfying to at last be given something back from him (ie. the occasional purr and meow at my approach, playful nudging with his head when passing by or social grooming my arms with his abrasive tongue during his short cat-naps).
I will certainly never forget when the puma lay his head in my lap for a snooze and a tickle one day, and I finally understood why volunteers working with the big cats were asked to stay a month minimum. In fact, day by day Roy´s playful personality became ever clearer and I started to feel increasingly sorry for this poor majestic animal whom would never be released into the wild after his domesticated human upbringing; doomed to walk the same trails daily and loose many of the carers he would grow attached too along the way. Despite being generally solitary hunters in the wild, such big cats living in captivity ´do´ suffer from separation anxiety when loosing their closer human playmates, but in my case 1 month would fortunately not be enough for this to happen.
Despite previously flopping into bed early for long nights of much needed rest, I eventually had more energy to attend the all too often social gatherings at the reserves affiliated hostels in nearby Villa Tunari. Daily stories of animal attacks or amusing incidences circulated around all areas of the park, providing constant topics of conversation amongst new and experienced volunteers alike, so it was easy to make good friends whilst staying here (ie. we bonded in our shared pain :)
I also took the opportunity during Roy´s jungle cat-naps to improve my phrasebook Spanish-speaking skills with the help of my fellow workmates Sam and Ben; of which the latter being Swiss was a language master compared to meek olé me. "Trebacha con Roy es mui duro pour´que el es mui feurte e rapido". (I probably spelt a few words wrong there).
Finally, before saying goodbye to continue my travels I visited other areas of the park to snap up some great photos of monkeys, birds, coatis and the hyperactive tyras, which is a "must have" activity for most before leaving. Unfortunately for the park´s coordinators, an obnoxious 6ft tall Israeli volunteer decided to enter restricted ´quarantine areas´ for sustained periods of time to harass the animals for his photos and consequently after an additional incident of abuse towards one of the older-Bolivian staff, was escorted by local police off the premises onto the first available bus out of there. Fortunately our photography efforts were in different directions that day, else I may have been involved for just being in his proximity with a camera too.*whew*
