Ups and Downs

Today concludes my first full week at Tacugama and it was all over the place. There have been a few days that I’ve felt up to crutching to the other side of the sanctuary where there is an office overlooking a few of these enclosures. I could sit there watching and taking pictures for hours. Something about them is just hypnotizing. They’re so clever and funny and nimble. Sometimes I’ll be sitting at the desk inside doing some work, and when I look up there’s a chimp sitting on top of the pole staring intently at me. They’re kind of fascinated by me too. The path to the office goes along the side of one of the enclosures, so each time I go the chimps walk along side me. They always look confused and I can practically see them thinking “What is this strange human doing with those big metal poles? Why doesn’t she just walk like the rest of them?” Safe to say we provide entertainment for each other.

On a sadder note, yesterday was pretty rough around here because we had two chimps pass away. One had been sick for awhile, the other died suddenly. It was very, very obvious how much everyone here cared based on how they grieved. For me, that was a bright spot in the sadness of yesterday. For me, yesterday really reinforced that being in a group with other people who also care deeply about animals and give so much to help and protect them was is very powerful.

I’m still reliant on crutches for the most part. Today I did manage to take a few steps without them for the first time, so look out world! My skills on crutches have gotten pretty good, especially since I have to crutch “off road” in order to go anywhere. I’ve gotten quite a few compliments on how quickly and adeptly I can get around, which I think just means I’ve had wayyyy too much practice on crutches. I’m really, really hoping to get off of them soon. It’s getting more frustrating that I haven’t even been able to take the sanctuary tour to see all of the enclosures. I love being here and seeing and hearing the chimps that I’ve been able to, but some days I haven’t even been up to leaving the house. Next week I’m hoping to at least make it out for a beach with other volunteers. On the bright side, if I had to get injured this would be the time to do it. The conservation manager is out of the office, so I wouldn’t have really been able to get started on my project anyway. Plus I still have a massive stack of articles to read and this is giving me lots of uninterrupted time to get caught up.

I think the only other things are that we currently have a rat the size of a small dog regularly come and steal food and I taught a group of Europeans the time-honored American tradition of TP-ing peoples’ houses. Ya know, normal stuff.