Bárbara's experience in Bolivia: "I would repeat a thousand times".

Personally, I have been able to meet a wonderful "cat", an ocelot called Lazy Cat, who did nothing but die of delight and purr for every caress he received, for every song you sang to him, for every mimit you gave him, for every bit of meat he ate, and for every branch he rubbed against or for every cleft tree in the path he jumped over. With some ailments already due to her long age, but still full of life and desire to continue nagging and affection to many volunteers that she still has to meet.

On the other hand, my work there has also consisted of take care of four wonderful howler monkeys; On the one hand, to the younger ones: Sabrina, Lucho and Luis, to whom I have had the pleasure of giving them dinner, accompanying them until the sunlight disappeared and giving them all my love.

Sabrina: a super special little monkey, defender of justice and opposed to any type of abuse that Luis received from Lucho (the alpha male of the family). Lucho, a crazy gamer, a tireless friend and companion, gluttonous, protector of his own, as long as he was not negligent (injections, anti-fungal creams, anti-lice treatments). Finally, Luis: he is the maximum representation of tenderness, defenselessness, even dependence. He constantly requests love, he needs your warmth and your caresses more than breathing, and that is not entirely good. He still has to grow up, become strong and prove that despite having an alpha male like Lucho, he is strong and competent on his own. 

On the other hand, we have Bitón: he lives in a separate cage because he has a tendency to be very aggressive towards other monkeys. However, with people he "dissolves", although sometimes it is difficult for him to suppress his strong and instinctive character. I have spent a lot of time with him, although much more time has been spent following him, either because I took him for a walk and did not want to return at dinner time, or because he broke the roof of his cage and escaped. . I have put a lot of effort on my part to earn their trust and I feel full knowing that I have achieved it. In short, it is a very special animal, about which I currently have very good news: it has managed to establish a cordial relationship with a family of howler monkeys that it has found in the jungle that surrounds the park and that fills me with pride and joy. .

In addition, I was not aware of certain abilities that I had to exploit in Bolivia by force: who would say to me that I would be able to help put out a fire in the jungle, like a firefighter; or to rake and machete all the brush that covered the firebreak that surrounds the park.

This experience has allowed me to test myself, it has allowed me to know that I can go beyond the limits that I unconsciously set myself, knowing that I am powerful and that I can give a lot of myself, much more of myself than I think I can offer. It has made me improve myself and value myself more as a person. 

It has helped me to accept myself as I am, and all this has been, for the most part, thanks to the confidence that devoting your time to preserve nature gives you, sharing your life with wild animals, which can still hurt you ( by the nature of their instinct) they do not, because they innately have a broader sense of respect for other species than the renowned human reason. 

Also, thanks to the extreme situations that you have to deal with there, to the people who teach you how to deal with these situations and, above all and indispensably, thanks to yourself, who puts your grain of sand: all your effort and determination to give the best of you, all your will to build together with incredible people a border, a barrier or a limit that prevents the destruction of the wonderful world that already is, the one that little by little (actually, on a large scale) we are demolishing , and that thanks to organizations like this and to all the people who exponentially join these types of causes, we can begin to protect it, even if it is, initially, around a few hectares of land.

I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to dedicate my time to something so important.. As important as protecting an irrevocable right, the most universal and immovable of all: the right to a life of well-being, happiness and freedom for all living beings, regardless of their species»

Barbara's Post, Tumaini traveler in rescued fauna center (Bolivia), July 2016