I am sorry I haven't posted in awhile. The internet at the hotel was down, and since it was Semana Santa, no technician wanted to trade in their drunken holiday for a day at work. The internet was finally fixed today, and so, I jumped at the occasion to count you my tales.
Let me start you off with the bad news: the little possum and the little dove didn't make it. Through the night they both died. The rest of the animals are doing great. For that matter, the pescadora Eagle (Fisherman eagle), which Sandro had doubts about his longevity is still alive. We have to force feed him, but he is quite kicking and angry. He is truly a magnificent animal. His powerful stare twists my inside and his deadly looking claws could shred my face in a minute. If you couldn't tell, I am more terrified of an eagle than of Diavolino, who would be most likely to shred my face. For that matter, every time I walk by Diavolino's cage, you hear me act as if it was my kitten and call his name out as if he couldnt hurt me. Mind you, he comes to see me every morning and sprays his cage as to tell me to screw off, but I am sure he will learn to love me soon enough.
So for my day off, I was going to go the center for a little bit and take pictures. Nothing more, nothing less. I was ready to help out in the morning for a little bit, if they were short on volunteers. I arrived and stayed the entire day. Not only did I stay the entire day and assumed my usual duties (Feeding the baby sloths, working out with the squirrels, cleaning cages and helping out in general) but Encar surprised me with a tour. I had trained to be a tour guide, and was ready to give the tours, but I hadn't done it yet. Not only that, but the tour group was late, and the monkeys had to go to the forest to be rehabilitate into their natural habitat ASAP. Nervously walking around, I tried to distract myself with making sure all the baby sloths had leaves, all the animals are taking care of, and where I should start my tour. It wasn't until Encar came over and told me in a stern voice to walk over that I felt the knot in my stomach. She took me by the shoulder and started shaking me while going "Calm down. You are too nervous. You will do fine, you represent the center well, and if you don't then you won't do tours again." I remember my exercises and try to let my muscles relax, or at least my arm muscles. Encar smiled at me and reminded me that I wasn't tied to this responsibility in no way shape or form. I could stop tour guiding at any moment. The group showed up, and it was merely 12 people, looking at me. 12 older people who just wanted to enjoy the tour. I started the tour, my voice was shaking and I could feel how nervous I was. It wasn't until we got to the monkey enclosure that I started to relax. I started to realize then that those people knew nothing, and that I was in a position of power. Not that it sounds healthy but I relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the tour. I made a few jokes, I got a few laughter and I was glad it was over. I didn't feel like it was fair to ask for tips, mainly because it was my first tour and I hadn't given 115% to them. I had been nervous and unsure of myself. Even though, those people enjoyed themselves and the animals, it wasn't my best work. They left with some book marks and each thanked me. Once they were gone, my muscles had finally relaxed, and the aching was starting. My neck felt like I had shaken my head for the last hour and half and my jaw felt like I had chewed gum for the last hour and a half. I sat down in a chair and Sandro came over to congratulate me with a smile and open arms, Italian style. The man makes me giggle. I have seen him throw tantrums at people, and yet, he has made me smile more times than others. He saluted me the other day and told me I was the "jefe" (Chief) for the day. All the while, I had lost our prankster tucan, Tuki Tuki- who was hiding up on his cage and was expecting a good reprimand.
Today, my second group went quite well and even raved about me to Encar, which gave me all the confidence in the world to keep on doing this. My third group was a school group, aged 13-14. This one was right up my alley. Thank you teaching certification, Thank you years at Travel for Teens. the group in total was 40, and so Franzie and I split them up and each took 20. I have to say, I must have had the good group, as Franzie was telling me how disrespectful they were towards her, and how loud they were being during the tour. My group was mostly interested in pictures and in the animals. They were excited to see everything and anything. Even the frogs' eggs (which are actually pretty cool). They were able to recite to me the differences between a two-toe sloth and a three-toe sloth. They were respectful in the monkey enclosure, holding carefully the little sleepy ones.
I did ask for tips for my second group, and I was tipped enough to be able to eat dinner comfortably today. The school group wasn't a group to tip and so I didn't ask. All together, it was a good day for tours, and all my babies stayed healthy and are growing in their own way. Tyson and Dante (my two baby two-toe sloths) are more independent every day, "running" towards India (our old rescue sloth who was released) who then bites them to leave her alone. They still have quite a lot to learn, but a learning baby is a healthy baby.
Before I end this post, I wanted to remind everyone of the photo project that Anna was working on. Remember, I went on my free day and helped out take picture of her taking pictures...? Well, she had to go home a bit early to care for her sickly husband, but in the mean time, it means she has worked on some of the pictures. Here is her facebook page if you want to see some professional pictures of the animals - don't forget to like it! She also has a photo blog, so don't forget to check that out too!
Anyway, I must go now, as I jumped into the ocean today and I have become a block of black sand and salt.
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