General info

Last week has been a special one, a film crew from the Dutch television was here for the program ´Floortje naar het einde van de wereld´ (Floortje to the end of the world). This program is about people who decided to leave their country, following their passion and live ´at the end of the word´. The main focus for the program was the family; their life here, how they live and work here at the project. They were very enthusiastic and it was nice having them here. It was of course also very intensive, with a big camera following you for some days. During their stay they took several interviews and made many shots of the family, the animals and the work and went to the school with Kayla and Marlon. Of course they interviewed the family. With the donation of the program (VARA), we can now start with the building of a new cage for the parakeets. Thank you!
The program will be broadcasted in between October 2015 and February 2016. We believe the program will have a positive influence for Esperanza Verde.
This rainy season, and it has taken longer than earlier years, has been the most wet one so far. It has never been so muddy at Esperanza Verde as now. But the sun is showing up more and we hope it will get dryer soon. The way from Curimana to us has become very bad as well, so travel time is a bit prolonged.

Monkeys

The monkeys are doing fine. The small monkeys, Leo (young male squirrel monkey) and Kiru (young tamarin) moved from the office an outside cage.  This way they could have more space, get used to the surroundings and start interacting with the outside monkeys, who often hang out around their cage.  Kiru also ´talks´ with the wild group, which is a good sign, hopefully he can join them. It is the plan to release both Leo and Kiru next week. Both of them have gained some weight and they eat more solid food as before (although Kiru still loves his strawberry milk).
Mica (female brown capuchin) had a crush on Josh, our long term volunteer. She followed him everywhere and Josh got a bit annoyed after a few days, hearing the constant high sound Mica made. Luckily for Josh it stopped when he went to Curimana on his day off.
Camila is doing fine, as far as we know she had only one epileptic attack which didn´t harm her. The monkeys around her screamed a lot, which was good, because the volunteers took a look to see what was happening.

Other Mammals

Quintisha finally could move from the reptile enclosure to her new cage, the Xena cage, which has been finished recently (see construction). She seems to be happy in there, exploring the area.

Birds

After quite some parakeets (from the big group which arrived one month ago) died, it seems that the ones who survived are doing fine; we still had some casualties, most likely to do with the overcrowded cages. We hope to build an extra cage for them soon, to solve part of the problem. Then it just a matter of time to let their feathers grow, to so they can get released.
In the aviary one white eyed parakeet was discovered to be missing. He probably died, and as it was probably some time ago, we have not been able to find his body anymore. The others are doing fine.

Tupak (toucan) is doing fine as well. To some volunteers he is seems a bit aggressive, but luckily he can´t bite that hard yet. He is still growing and the change for him that he can get released in the centre is quite good.
Unfortunately two of four orange winged amazons (arrived together with the big group of parakeets a month ago) died. The two which are left have some skin problems, and we hope that we can set up a treatment with the help of our veterinary team, supporting us from Switzerland.
The parakeets in the office, which had some injuries or health problems when they arrived, were all doing fine, so they moved one of the outside cages, and joined the parakeets there.
Pichu, (the white eyed parakeet), which was brought to the aviary about a month ago, is back in the office. His old wound on his breast is open again, and he has a wound on one of his legs. We will have to treat him again and keep him in a smaller enclosure till all his feathers have changed so he will be able to fly again.

Reptiles

The five tortoises (Momo and Co) finished their iodine treatment, since their fungus has been gone. Five other tortoises were still awaiting a bigger enclosure after their quarantine period. When Quintisha was moved, the reptile enclosure was made ready for all these tortoises.
Unfortunately Pothos (one of the five) got injured at his head, and is now in the office under treatment. He got stuck in the fence and lost one eye because of this. With the help of two veterinary students his wounds are treated daily and we have good hopes for his recovery.
All others were moved to the reptile enclosure, where they enjoy the space. They share the enclosure with the yellow-footed river turtles (about 40 of the babies we received in November 2014 from the ministry and 6 older ones).

We decided to leave Pepito (our oldest tortoise, approx. 15 years) with Rincay, our tapir. He has been with Rincay since he arrived here, about 3 years ago, and follows him around. It seems to harsh to separate the two, as also Rincay seems to enjoy his company.
A special thanks goes here to the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde for another donation, to help us take care of all reptiles.

Construction

Machico and Geiler (who has been working here now for a year) got the new peccary cage (named Xena) ready. It was a job that went in between other jobs, so it took a bit of time, but they did a great job, and Quintisha is enjoying her new area.
After a small break (because of the delay in arrival of the roof plates and bricks, the work on the clinic is going well again, at the moment we are busy with the floor.  A lot of the bricks, sand and cement have been carried all the way up to the clinic, a really tough job as there is no other way then to carry them by hand.
Next to these jobs a lot has been done in general maintenance. The house, kitchen and bodega got a big cleanup, and lots of rocks have been put on the path, making walking now much more comfortable. The aviary got a lot of new branches and the spider monkey cage got a big clean up.

Volunteers

Last week the volunteers went to the Regalia, the big waterfall. The first time they went it started to rain a lot on the way to the waterfall, about an hour by boat. After a small discussion they made the choice to go back. That had been the right one because the next week the wetter was beautiful and sunny. All the volunteers had a great day.
There are quite some volunteers (11 at the moment) which means that a lot of work can be done. Also there have been more campfires recently, which all the volunteers and the family enjoy a lot.

General info

The rainy season seems to drag on. During those last weeks we still had to endure some storms events, which caused a branch to crash down on one of the solar panels next to the office.

Monkeys

On the 12th of April we received a massive arrival of animals, mainly birds (she further) and a young male tamarin monkey which we named Kiru (meaning for gold). He is in a small cage in the office where he receives strawberry milk five times a day as well as some fruit. He asks for a lot of attention and loves jumping on people’s shoulder.
Since the 25th of April, he shares his cage with the young Leo, a squirrel monkey brought by Elena from Bello Horizonte where he was someone’s pet.
They both seem to get along pretty well.
We still receive regularly visits of the wild groups of squirrel monkeys and wild tamarins which come to share some fruit with the resident monkeys from time to time.
Mica (female capuchin) and Louie (young male squirrel monkey) like to hang out on top of one of the cages or in the trees accompanied by the three woolly monkeys and sometimes Shambito (young male tamarin), which spend now all his time outside.

Willow the male woolly monkey still tries by every means to catch people’s attention and now Nagoya (female woolly) seems to follow his path by trying to interact more and more with the volunteers.

Nikita, the young capuchin female, still receives milk three times per day, but seems to become more and more independent.
Camila, our female squirrel monkey, has had several episodes of what seems like epileptic attacks. She had a bad fall from a tree once. We closed her in for observation, but after 1,5 week without any sign of an attack, we let her go. She gets crazy in a cage, so we decided to take the risk, but are keeping a close eye on her. The last episode was almost a month ago.

Birds

At the end of March, the Esperanza Verde family welcomed a young male toucan, Tupak. He was handed over to Olivia by a woman in Curimana. He stays in the cage near Douwe and Olivia’s house (the release cage for parakeets) where he can enjoy a some space. He is a very greedy bird, always waiting for a new plate with fresh papayas and other fruit.

On the 12th of April 280 parakeets (all white-winged parakeets) and 4 oranged winged amazon parrots arrived. They were all confiscate in transport, going from Pucallpa direction Lima. The ministry of Fauna and Flora brought them all to us.
Most of the birds were in more or less a good shape (meaning better than the last time!).  Although all had part of their feathers pulled out, the good thing is that most have newly growing feathers and will be able to fly again in some months. They are pretty wild, in behavior, so we have high hopes for their release.
We had to make important arrangements among the cages and, unfortunately, had no other options than to put a large amount of birds in each cage.
We expected some deaths in the first week-maybe weeks, as often these animals have been lacking proper food and care for some time. And yes almost every day we found some, but now after 1,5 week it seems to have stopped. So far we have 24 parakeets died and 1 amazon parrot. We hope we have the situation under control now, as having such full cages does not give the best conditions to feed them and provide them with proper medicine.

But with all the extra care of our volunteers, feeding 3 times a day, in the beginning even 4 times and giving them enough leaves in the cages they seem to have calmed down.
Over in the Aviary, the birds have now the company of Pichu (white-eyed parakeet). He was for some time with the parakeets in the release cage, till they (as they could fly) left and Pichu was on his own. Pichu seems to adapt properly to his new environment and his new friends. Unfortunately Ruiz (the green winged macaw) started to pull his feathers out again. but he seems to befriend some of the other macaws now so we hope he will stop again.

Residents

The five tortoises (Momo and Co), which are still separated for iodine cleaning in order to avoid further fungus problems, are almost cured.
Splinter the Mata-Mata turtle had some nails and shell damages because of his pond made of cement. As there is no release site in this area, we decided to move him to the reptilepond of the reptile cage (at the moment our peccary Quintisha is also in there). That way he has more space and more chances of getting his own food.

Construction

Thanks to the large rains of those last days, the high river and some strong arms, an important amount of material (mainly bricks, large pieces of wood and metal sheets) could find its way to the clinic building area. It took some time, as the road from Curimana to Bello Horizonte was closed for big trucks, as a bridge was about to fall apart.
Now the pillars are supporting the roof and only fresh cement is missing in order to carry on the construction of the clinic.
The stone project (providing all paths with stones) is still going on, but some of the freshly built pathways have been drowned by the heavy rains of those last days. Anyway, volunteers keep working on their maintenance and hopefully the dry season will finally show up and keep everyone safe from the muddy and slippery pathways.
A newly handmade sign with Esperanza Verde is now welcoming the visitors at the port.

Volunteers

In the current of April, we went from a totally full guesthouse to a half empty due to the leaving of five of the volunteers at the same time.
Despites this massive departure the house is still full of positive energy and the ‘late’ evenings around a nice fire camp are getting more and more common.

General info

It seems we spoke a little too soon about the end of the rainy season! Some big storms and PLENTY of rain- steps turning into waterfalls and footpaths getting a little swampy. Changing weather and changing times; after the sad departure of long term volunteers Iain and Lauren there are many new faces. They will both be pleased to hear that all the new volunteers are doing a great job during this period of transition- there is a really positive work ethic and atmosphere of learning at EV and good vibes all round. The family is settling in at the new place, which looks fantastic and already feels like a home.

Monkeys

We are very happy to report that Louie the young male squirrel monkey is still doing great since being released from his cage; there has been no trouble with the wild group of squirrel monkeys who like to visit from time to time and his climbing skills are getting better and better. He is very much part of our resident troupe now and under the careful protection of Mica (adult female capuchin) he is progressing well, and spends every night outside of the cage. Shambito the young male tamarin is doing fine and spending fewer and fewer nights in his cage. The wild group of tamarins that occasionally swing by for lunch aren´t very friendly to him unfortunately, but it is possible he could one day start a new group with Alessi the female tamarin, a previous resident has not shown up anymore at Esperanza Verde.

Willow the juvenile male woolly monkey continues his campaign of mischief- pulling washing from the line, trying to steal milk from the younger monkeys, leg grabbing, face licking, basically any way he can get attention. Sadly he is a lot more interested in what the humans are up to; having lost his mother to hunters at a very young age and then been raised by humans, reintegration into the wild is a huge challenge for him. His behavior is not such a problem yet, but as he reaches maturity and develops his canine teeth, he may become too dangerous to have roaming around. This would result in having to go into a cage; if he attempted to integrate into a wild group he would certainly be killed. Our best hope is that one day EV can provide an adequate release site, away from danger.

Nikita the young female capuchin is very happy with the troupe. Though still young enough receive milk three times per day, she is developing well and getting along great with the other monkeys. Her climbing skills still have quite a way to go, but her confidence is certainly growing!

Birds

The parakeet release cage is getting emptier and emptier! This is very positive- at least half of the 16 that were ready have departed for a new life in the forest, but can still be heard not too far away. Tiliku the dusky headed parakeet, who the cage was named after, has also made his way out of the cage and into the trees. The cage name will stay the same in memory of him though!

Unfortunately last week one of our parakeet cages was not properly closed, and the monkeys were able to open the door. Thankfully this was spotted very quickly, and after a lot of squawking and pecked fingers we got the birds back inside. As many of the birds had several feathers of their wings cut before they were ready for sale on the black market, outside of our protection they would not have lasted long on the forest floor. In fact it seems one of the escapees got past us without our realizing and turned up dead just the next day. Over in the Aviary the Parrots and Macaws are mostly doing great, except for Ruiz, the large red Macaw. Unfortunately he is ripping his feathers out again (a sign of stress), although he has been seen eating well and socializing with the other birds. We are hopeful that he will settle down, as there have recently been signs of improvement. He is certainly still much healthier than when he first arrived!

Benny and the Jets (three parakeets which were separated for different health issues) have finally moved out of quarantine (in the office) and into a much larger cage, where they look a lot happier and will get to stretch their wings a bit more. The quarantine cages are already full again though; from the large parakeet cage (around 40 birds) we are beginning the process of putting the birds through a stay in quarantine, where after being weighed and examined will receive medicine to remove any parasites and keep the birds healthy. With so many birds in one cage it is important to go through this process to make sure the birds are in the best possible condition until they are ready for release.

Residents

Rincay the tapir and his good friend Pepito the tortoise are doing great, no complaints from either of them about the rainy weather. In other reptilian news, Momo and Co (five other resident tortoises) have had trouble with fungus growing on their shells, but after regular cleaning with iodine the problem is much better, and they are eating well. Watching the tortoise feeding frenzy is ever popular with the volunteers! Splinter the Mata-Mata (definitely the strangest looking turtle you will ever see) was recently removed from his pond for a checkup and we are glad to see all is well. Too much handling and human contact has caused great stress on him in the past, resulting in loss of appetite for some time, so now he is being disturbed as little as possible and happily he is already settled and eating well again after his examination.

Missing: Ruben, Tortoise. Last seen in cage. Likes lettuce and cabbage. Have you seen this Animal? These reptiles are known to dig holes and hide; in fact the daily locating of other Tortoises Houdini and Pepito can take a lot of time if they don’t want to be found. However after a thorough search of his enclosure Ruben (a tortoise brought in recently by the Ministry) is definitely gone. Later we discovered that the gate, whilst seeming secure, could actually be pushed open enough from the inside to allow a very determined Tortoise to slip through. Tortoises are highly prized for their meat among the locals, who don´t see a protected animal, but a delicious snack. The local population of Tapirs and Peccaries has also all but vanished or fled the area due to hunting, as their meat fetches a high price in Pucallpa.

In Sloth news, Elmo is all good. He was absent for a little longer than usual recently, but that’s not so surprising considering his speed ranges from slow to very slow. Enjoying his green beans and sweet potatoes as always.

Construction

Now that the house for the managers just needs a few finishing touches, work at the clinic has been progressing well- the pillars are up and after a lot of sweat and splinters the breams for the frame are going up too. EV is hosting more volunteers than ever now, so smaller projects like making new stools and bed tables, as well as preparing future bedrooms, have also been going on. With the recent downpours, the pathway in front of the Bodega is gradually turning into an impenetrable bog, so a new drainage system has been put in place which will hopefully prevent the same problem happening when the next rainy season comes around. Pathway maintenance has also been essential with the wet conditions, and the volunteers have had a wonderful time collecting and carrying fresh rocks from the river for this purpose!

Volunteers

As mentioned above, we had to say a very fond farewell to English long term volunteers Iain and Lauren. The time, care and love they put into their stay here is immediately missed. Not just because of their valuable experience in taking care of the animals (and other volunteers!) but their fantastic attitude and warm hearts. Lauren has put together a wonderful video for EV including interviews, volunteers in action and some great shots of the animals. It should be uploaded in the near future (watch this space!). EV wishes them all the best and hopes to see them again in the future.

Thankfully Tobi from Germany, as the next most experienced, has picked up the slack admirably; teaching, helping and encouraging the newcomers. We are very grateful to him for doing so well during this time of change.

The good news is that our two new long term volunteers have arrived! A very warm welcome to Josh from Texas, USA and Iris from the Netherlands. Josh is studying Environmental Science and has come here seeking voluntary experience in the field, and Iris is here to complete the practical side of her Wildlife Management course. They are both settling in really well and we hope they find everything they are looking for here. Good luck to them both.

For future volunteers, whether you have organized your stay here yet or are still planning, we look forward to meeting you. Any luxury items (your definition of luxury will change shortly on arrival!) like chocolate, spices, magazines etc. are hugely appreciated. Watching Iain´s face light up at the sight of Cumin sent from home was quite special!

GENERAL INFORMATION

As the raining season is slowly coming to an end now, the weather is changing from gloomy and long rain showers to sunnier days week after week. This is not only bringing a smile to the face of the people at Esperanza Verde but also the animals seem to enjoy taking a sunbath during the day.

ANIMALS

 
• Monkeys

After a time of observation and deworming in a small cage, the new young male squirrel monkey Louie was transferred to a bigger cage outside. For the first time he could establish some contact with the other monkeys, which all were pretty curious about the new member of the family and spent a lot of time around his cage.

After 3 weeks Louie could be let out and could finally explore the outside world and join the other monkeys hanging around in the trees. The release went really well, Mica (our oldest female capuchin monkey) took care of Louie and carried him around on her back the whole day. In the evening Louie returned to his cage and spent the night inside. The next morning he was let out again and is since staying with either Mica or Camila, our female resident squirrel monkey.
The two tamarins Alessi (adult female) and Shambito (young male) were sleeping on and off in their cage at night. They started  to spend several days and nights outside in the jungle on their own.
At some point Alessi disappeared and didn’t return. One of the workers  spotted her in the jungle recently. She looked healthy and happy and did not want to follow him back home. For now she has been missing for more than a week. It might be she finally found a place in a wild group, as a volunteer noticed a second wild group while walking in the forest. Shambito was calling for her in the first day, but she never responded, and he now hangs out mainly with the woolly monkeys.

 
• Other mammals

After the passing away of Xena, the older female peccary Quintisha seems to get used again to being by herself again.
After some problems with vomiting, Rincay the tapir, seems as happy as always again and is enjoying life together with his old friend Pepito the tortoise.
Also Elmo (sloth) is doing fine and hanging around his sleeping box most of the days. If he’s around during feeding time the volunteers always enjoy feeding him a tasty carrot chip by hand.

 
• Birds

The parakeets which were able to fly and were brought to a release cage finally found the opening in the cage. At first one got out, and as he was staying on the cage, we put him inside again after several hours. Then at some point more went out, and they seemed to have found the trees in the surrounding, and maybe even some already joined the wild groups. There is a lot of fruit and seeds in the forest at the moment so it is a good time for them to get accustomed to living in the wild again.
The new parakeets (a group of originally 46) maintained their big appetite and seem pretty happy in their enclosure. Because most of them had their feathers cut on one wing it will take a lot more time till they will be able to fly again properly and hopefully eventually can be released. One died in the first days, and 3 are still under observation.

FOREST

The planting of all the last seedlings (1200) has finished now and a volunteer is going with Machico to take all the coordinates of their location to be able to put them into the databank. Like this we can easily find them again and check how the new trees are growing from time to time.

CONSTRUCTION

The construction of the new manager’s house is finally finished! Everyone has been very busy in the last few weeks with finishing last jobs, as painting the walls, attaching the mosquito wire, sandpapering, varnishing the wood etc. In the meantime the family has already started to pack their stuff and move all the things from their old rooms in the volunteer house to their new home. Many things need to get finished still, like shelves, some mosquito mesh for the windows, tables etc., but the family had to make room for volunteers, so decided to move in already.
To inaugurate their new house the family gave a dinner to which all the volunteers and also the workers together with their family were invited.
Now that the new house is finished, the work at the construction of the new clinic can be continued again with fresh motivation.

VOLUNTEERS

Life at Esperanza Verde is really busy, as new volunteers are arriving almost every week, which is not only exciting for the monkeys but also for all the volunteers and the family.
As always there are a lot of activities going on. The volunteers are enjoying their free time here with playing card games in the evening, fishing and bathing in the river and spotting wild animals and tasting jungle fruit on walks through the forest guided by Machico, one of the workers.
As one of the highlights the volunteers went together on a trip upstream to the big waterfall Regalia.
Last Friday a big party took place at the volunteers house. Before dinner all got ready for the party and dressed up nicely, the ladies even put on some makeup for once. There was good music, tasty cocktails, everyone chatted and danced until late in the evening and had a really fun time.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The weather is mostly gloomy recently. Rainy season seems to have finally lived up to its name. Frequent showers and thunderstorms also bring up the population of the mosquitoes. While humans suffer, the animals cheer, as it is now also the prime time of fruit ripening in the jungle. Increased animal activity has been witnessed everywhere. From the last forest walk alone the volunteers have spotted howler monkeys, white and brown capuchin monkeys and some others.

ANIMALS

• Monkeys

To our pleasant surprise, the severely injured leg of Camila, one of our female squirrel monkeys, has greatly improved. After several weeks in a cage, she was recovered enough to be released again. Despite the fact that the leg is not functioning the same as it used to and probably never will, it doesn’t seem to bother Camila much. During the day, she is still jumping around in the trees and catching grasshopper snacks. As before, at night she snuggles up together with the capuchin monkeys (Mica and Jordi) in the gutter of the volunteer house to sleep.

Alessi, the female tamarin, completely recovered from her minor injury and was released again. One night recently she, together with Shambito the young male, decided not to return to their cage to sleep and instead spent the night in the monkey house (which we built almost a year ago to keep monkeys out of the guttering of the house!). It was their first night out and a remarkable progress for their release.

A new baby monkey joined the family in these recent weeks, together with 46 white winged parakeets, and 1 tortoise, who were all confiscated by the police and brought to us by the Ministry of Fauna and Flora. The young squirrel monkey, named Louie, is estimated to be 3 to 4 months old. At first we had him quarantined in a cage in the office, but after his first deworming treatment we could place him in one of the outside cages. He is an active little guy and seems eager to get out and have contact with the rest of the monkey group.  However this will not be for another week or so, when his quarantine period is over.

• Other mammals

There are joyful moments and there are tears. To our grief, the young female peccary, Xena, has died of acute internal bleeding possibly caused by the burst of an ulcer near a major blood vessel in her intestines. The morning before she was active, eating and all seemed fine. After her autopsy, she was buried in the forest. Quintisha needed some extra attention as she did not seem to be her normal self. She is fine now, but of course lonely for a group animal.

Our beloved kinkajou, Cushna, has disappeared. She was at the kitchen window as usual one night and gone the next. Sadly we have not seen her since. We would love to believe she is fine and happy, but in this case, with her being fairly tame, we fear for the worst. After a week of opening her cage at night and putting food out, we had to give up. We of course still hope that she might be alive somewhere out there in the rainforest.

• Reptiles

The newly arrived tortoise has some infection caused by fungus on its shell.  It will be quarantined and treated until it is fine to join the other tortoises or to be released.

• Birds

We decided that the parakeets by the managers house were ready for release. Therefore a small window was opened on their cage. It is designed so that only the birds which can fly can go through the opening. Yet the birds seem to lack interest in freedom, as so far to our knowledge only one parakeet has ventured outside the cage.  Maybe more of them will become curious in time and find their way out to join the wild group which often is seen flying by.

Since they have been in there, we have had to take several out due to injuries, some with broken legs. All these birds were the ones who still had cut or newly growing feathers, so could not fly. We decided to take all of these birds out again and separate them in a different cage, except for Pichu, the white-eyed parakeet (aratinga). He can’t fly but he might be the cause of the injuries. At the moment 6 parakeets are still recovering in a cage in the office.

The baby bird, Supay, determined as a shiny cowbird, is now living in a cage next to the volunteer house. There he has more space and is jumping around all day taking his first lessons in flying. He is getting better and better at killing grasshoppers and starts to pick up food from his bowl by himself. His feathers are getting much like an adult bird now.

The newly arrived 46 parakeets were weighed, checked and then all brought to an enclosure outside. All are not able to fly due to cut feathers, mostly only on their left wing. After some time in the new cage, we took 3 out, which seemed to be weaker than the rest and placed them in a small cage in the office, for special treatment. The rest all seemed to be really hungry in their first days at Esperanza Verde, devouring every single piece of food we were providing. This we see very often with new arrivals. It seems that they were deprived of food and water for some days before.

FOREST

After some heavy rainfalls, the seeds are sprouting all over the forest. Machico found a lot of Ceder seedlings under a single mother tree (apparently there was no wind to take them further). Ceder is a species which through logging has disappeared out of most of the region.  Machico and Geiler (our permanent staff) placed around 1200 in bags to be able to plant them on better spots (old clearings and former plantations). When the seedlings are planted, their coordinates will be taken and put into the reforestation database.

CONSTRUCTION

The manager’s house is really close to completion now. The inside walls are being painted and all that remains is to install the fine wire mesh against the mosquitos before the family can move in. Of course there will still be a lot of work to be done in the house, like shelves, tables, more painting etc., but as more beds are needed in the volunteer house, the family will move in in the coming weeks.

At the same time the construction of the clinic has started. The first posts of cement have been set, and bricks are on their way. The arrival of the bricks has been somewhat slowed by a damaged bridge on the way from Curimana to us; until it is fixed trucks are unable to get to our remote location. However the wood for the roof construction has arrived and we hope the river will grow again so we can move it closer by boat. If not it will take some effort of all to carry them from the port to the clinic site on foot.

VOLUNTEERS

On one evening recently the stream in front of the volunteer house rose to a height not often seen. We started to get a bit worried, as when it happened in the past the water eventually rose so high that it eventually came into the house. After dinner the water had almost approached the base of the house. We store wood for construction under the house so we decide it was best to move it to a higher location. Everybody took part in rescuing the wood.  Our flashlights lit the way and booming music kept everyone awake and in high spirits. However the evening did not end with the labor and sweat. Beers were fetched from the local village and the laughter and music echoed through the jungle into the night. Luckily the water started to withdraw around midnight so there was no need to evacuate the house that night. Although the water stayed high the next day (the canoe could be driven directly to the back of the volunteer house) it never got close to the house again.

The supplies and cooking ingredients can be limited in such an isolated rescue center in the rainforest, but with the high creativity of the volunteers we are still being spoiled. We have had many desserts lately: apple crumbles, banana cake, carrot cake, short bread, flapjack, rice pudding, and chocolate cake. One fantastic meal is followed by another. It seems that jungle life is also a good opportunity to improve one’s culinary skills.

Life is never boring at Esperanza Verde, especially with the growing population of mosquitoes lately. Killing mosquitoes has become one of our additional daily activities here — next to being harassed by the monkeys, catching grasshoppers for Supay, throwing the cat out of the kitchen, and hearing Yara, the dog, barking in the early morning. Annoying as it seems, it does not hinder the fun at Esperanza Verde one bit. Playing cards, hosting movie nights with homemade popcorn, relaxing with cocktails, gazing at countless stars in the clear sky, bathing at the waterfall, fishing in the muddy jungle river, working with our amazing animals, and encountering endless new wild animals, life is as ever delightful and fascinating. The chattering of the animals and endless greenery constantly surrounds us.

Christmas at Esperanza Verde

And as a gift to you  : the december 2014’s newsletter !

Click here to read it !