Estoy en casa... ¿y porque nadie entiende español?

By popular demand (well, one person asked for them once, anyway), here are some photos of around home - dredged up from my Dad's computer using Picasa, so they're not new, but things don't change very fast around here :)


The farm.


New Zealand native bush.


Sheep... (for those of you who, like one of the customers in the cheese shop this morning, might confuse them with goats).


Our farm again.


My mother, Sharon, and my niece (Ruth's daughter), Rosa.

My sister Ruth.

My sister Marion, and my grandmother, Pearl.


Marion and my brother, David, hiking ("tramping" is the New Zealand word).

David at the family bach (holiday home), which is where Ruth and her husband Kieren are living at the moment.

Near the bach.

Near the bach (the girls are relatives of Kieren).


Mmmm.... cheese.

Neudorf Dairy cheeses, for sale at the local market.


Dad, with the official Neudorf Dairy van.



Way down South (Stewart Island 50km).

The Most Dangerous Road Home - La Paz to Machu Picchu to New Zealand

After leaving the refuge, I headed out to Santa Cruz for some good food, Christmas shopping, and to finally do my washing. Very nice city. Another overnight bus trip later, I arrived in La Paz, highest capital city in the world (pictured).

... and from here I descended the Most Dangerous Road in the World on mountain bike, from La Paz to Choroico. It's 3600m of vertical descent over a one day ride - that's the equivalent of mountain biking down Mt Cook. It's kind of nice, because as the day goes by you get more and more oxygen, so you feel more and more energetic instead of more tired.



After La Paz, I took the bus to Lake Titicaca, and then the boat to Isla del Sol.


Young sheperds on the island.


Incan sacrificial altar


View from the island at twilight

Sunset.

From Lake Titicaca, I took another long bus ride up to Cusco, and then by complicated means managed to get to Aguas Callientes (view from my hostal is pictured).

Machu Picchu was a short bus ride away, early the next morning (pictured). The ruins are extensive and interesting, and deserve their status as South America's biggest tourist destination.

Llama.

Walking near Machu Picchu

View of the main ruins, from the ruins of the city's watchtowers.

Ruins at Pisac, near Cusco.

Leaving Cusco, I took a 52 hour bus journey down to the trendy beachside resort of Vina del Mar, near Santiago de Chile, where I recovered for a couple of days and did some wine shopping, before catching my plane home for Christmas.

Other Jungle Creatures - Parque Ambue Ari

Faustino, and some strange jungle creature

Junior and a stick insect

Wild mountain cat explores our base camp

Little frog... these were everywhere after the rain

Camoflauge frog

Evil clown spider and web (across our jungle path)

Tarantula - these were really common - & Ocito

Hungry spider

In the bathroom

In the dorm room

Yama yama - weird, ugly, and very poisionous

Butterflies are much cuter...

Another butterfly

Pios

Toucan

Swamp deer

Little snake - there were much bigger ones around, but usually you only saw them slithering away

Jaguarupi

Working with a Puma in the Jungle - Parque Ambue Ari

I was paired with a puma named Yuma and, for a couple of days, Jo, an Australian girl. After Yuma took a running leap at Jo, our co-ordinator Noemi decided they weren't getting along and switched her with Laurel, who worked with me for the rest of the month.

Yuma

Yuma sleeping...

My, what big teeth you have...

The aim of the refuge was originally to rehabilitate maltreated or unwanted animals and return them to the wild. This sometimes proved possible with the monkeys, birds, and ocelots, but not with the big cats, which pose too much threat to villagers and livestock. Thus, we tried to give them as natural and enjoyable lives as possible within the bounds of captivity. Yuma had a cage deep in the jungle, about a quarter hour's walk from our living quarters and isolated from the other animals, since keeping unrelated big cats together distresses them, and the presence of big cats distresses most other animals. During the day, Yuma's time was split between a runner, which was what prevented her from making contact with Jo, and being walked on a lead. The runner was a length of rope about 100m long connected to her cage at one end and a tree at the other, and to Yuma via another rope. It gave her the chance to run, jump, play with her ball practice hiding and then trying to sneak up us, or just sleep in the sun.

Walking the cat was the most interesting part of the job. Yuma had a reputation for being a bit unpredictable and in particular for disliking women. According to her log book, she'd recently done enough damage to a couple of volunteers, in separate incidents, that they'd become unwilling to walk her. Flinching back or handling the cat roughly when it tries to "jump" you only makes the behaviour worse, so it was important to always remain really calm while around Yuma.

Walking Wara, one of triplets

Yuma crosses a bridge

Get out of the way, Carl...

Fortunately, Yuma settled quickly with me and adjusted well to my presence. After a few days, and a couple of practices with Noemi's backup, I was able to take the lead and we started walking her every day. Although sometimes she would dive or swat a paw at me if I got in her way or in her personal space, she never inflicted pain or left any major marks. She was much more aggressive towards Laurel, sometimes trying to dive past my legs to attack her with teeth and claws. Laurel was very good at remaining calm and suppressing the instinct to recoil, and within two weeks she was able to take Yuma's lead. Soon, we started walking Yuma twice daily, Laurel on lead in the morning and myself in the afternoon. Yuma's path terminated at the river, and we were able to encourage her to briefly swim, something she had done before, but not for a while. We set up a runner by the riverbank so that we could both swim with her. I finally became convinced that Yuma liked me when she would follow me in and out of the water, swimming against the strong current and often staying in the water for over an hour.

Laurel gets jumped...


Swimming

Another swimming photo

Laurel swimming with Yuma

After swimming

Yuma was a good hunter, and thus sometimes a good wildlife guide, detecting many jungle creatures that we couldn't see. Once we found an unlucky rat dead in her cage. Another time, she caught and devoured a mouse while being walked on her lead. A third time, also on her lead, she caught an armadillo, but was unable to pierce its shell. The animal slipped into its burrow, which Yuma tore up and then guarded, spending nearly an hour in a fruitless effort to recover her prey. Another time, we saw a snake in a long battle with an eagle, which we had to restrain Yuma from joining. Often, she would spot monkeys, which she would always watch intently although of course she was never permitted to climb trees to chase them.

Yuma with the armadillo