Christmas in the Jungle

Heather:
A few days before Christmas we were invited to the childrens party at the local school which proved to be a sight worth seeing. The phrase "Health and Safety Nightmare" springs to mind. They had a game where all the kids had to run over to a big bowl of water at the same time, suck up as much as they could, run across the room and spit in into a bottle. The first to fill their bottle was the winner! That left the floor good and slippery for musical chairs of death, before they brought out the pinatas made of clay which fired sharp pieces all over the room. We then went outside to watch the kids attempt to climb a huge greased pole with presents at the top. The winning tactic seemed to involve standing on each others faces! The adults weren't left out either as there were drinking games and a blow dart competition.

It was at this event that we were all finally forced to partake of the local alcoholic drink, as to refuse is to deeply offend. Not such a bad thing you say? So how would you feel about drinking a big bowl of fermented root vegetable that has been repeatedly chewed up and spat out by old ladies? I kid you not! The chicha of these parts is still made that way. After the second drink with more on the way Ben and I actually ran away!!

Christmas day itself started out like any other day at the centre as we cleaned and fed all the animals. After that though we ate too much, drank too much and spent the day wearing santa hats. There was turkey and party games and it was good to be among friends. I had to keep looking around to remind myself that we were actually in the jungle after all! The night ended particularly early for Glen who was a victim of his own drinking game and we were sent to sleep to the sounds of his retching!

So apart from the brief Christmas interlude life at the centre goes on... highlights include; seeing the tortoises lounging in the sun, watching the baby woolly monkey climb her first tall tree, finding hamster remains at the bottom of the owl's cage proving she can hunt, introducing the tyras to their new enclosure, going for a jungle walk and seeing Glen fall in the river, eating the fish that Sarah caught and cooked for us and having Vanessa have the puss squeezed out of her hugely swollen hand after getting it bitten by a coati! But I get the feeling that you probably had to be there :0)