| Esperanza
de Libertad Update #10--Meet the Family
Well,
I have been back on Esperanza de Libertad's land for
two months now. I want to thank everyone who helped
at the benefit. It was very successful and was a lot
of fun for me. It felt like a going away party with
lots of friends and family who have been supporting
the project and helping it grow over the years. Here
is what the money has been going to.
 Stella,
Franci, Tami, Ines, Juan, and baby Marcos on the recently-made
trail around our land (pictured at right). Inez, Juan,
and Marcos (one year old) are the family we have hired
to live on the land. Because of them we are able to
have people on the land 24 hours a day and were able
to begin accepting animals. They are very sweet and
after about four months living here they are starting
to get used to life in the jungle (they are from La
Paz). Juan guards the land from illegal hunters and
loggers by taking regular walks on the land. They
have committed to a year with us and I hope they stay
longer.
Preto
(meaning black in Portuguese) is a young
male spider monkey. He is so calm and sweet and loving
and runs to me and grabs my hand and gives me a hug
every time i arrive at the land. It is hard to believe
how loving he is after being so mistreated. Before
he arrived here he was hit and tied up in the sun
and rain all the time.
Martina
is a young black spider monkey. She arrived
about two months ago. Her "owner" heard about Esperanza
de Libertad and asked if we could take her. Her stomach
is somewhat deformed (big and puffy) because the cord
she had previously lived on had been wrapped around
her stomach. She is very quiet and I have never touched
her. She sometimes grabs my leg and makes a playful
noise and runs away, but that is the most contact.
One of her games is getting on the roof of Chicatita
(the car) and sliding down the window--it is hilarious
to watch. The spider monkey happy laugh is one of
the sweetest things I have ever heard, and she makes
it often.
Tami (once known as Tomi) is a capuchin monkey.
Tami is a handful. She and Preto arrived at the same
time. Before Martina came, Preto used to follow Tami
around like a mom, but once Martina arrived Preto
and Martina became best friends. Because of this,
Tami attacks (luckily without too much force) Martina
all the time. She is so smart that her games consist
of finding out how to get into the house. She eats
our windows (made of netting) and makes it into our
room often. We are constantly re-fixing the windows.
If she knows you don't want her to do something, she
makes it a mission to do it. Tami loves to hunt for
larvae and insects in the trees. We walk with her
in the jungle often. The only problem is she does
not like to eat alone. Once she finds her disgusting
things, she runs to my neck to show it off and eat
with company--she even tries to feed me sometimes--so
sweet. She also climbs up trees and lands on my neck
covered with biting ants. Tami is a handful, but she
definately makes everything more exciting.
After
we all wake up and they eat a bit (usually bananas),
they wander to the nearby trees on their own and stay
there till lunchtime. On the occasions that they don't,
Ines is amazing--she yells at them and chases them
until they run into the trees. It seems cruel but
it is much better for them to be in the trees then
lounging around the house sliding down the car window.
Our
garden has grown so much since I last saw it. We have
been cooking with fresh peanuts (the monkeys love
them), frying green bananas from our trees, pulling
up yucca from the garden, and eating lots of spicy
"locoto" peppers with our meals fresh from our seven
bushes.
The
first week I was back, we hired someone with GPS and
two people with machetes and we marked our whole plot
of land. That consisted of following the guy with
GPS while machete-ing and putting sticks marking the
trail every ten feet or so. It took close to a week
of 7 am to 9 pm work. Once we got lost in the jungle
at night--a fun thing to look back on but pretty scary
at the time. Marking our territory is important to
make sure that hunters do not enter our property,
and it will make it easier to guard. It also serves
as a beautiful trail (though a bit rustic--you have
too cross over lots of river and climb over fallen
trees) that volunteers and tourists can use to actually
go into the jungle. We saw animals and hundreds of
animal tracks (including huge puma tracks!) every
time we went in. We have been walking on it as much
as possible to keep it open, to make sure there are
no hunters, and just to do it because it is beautiful
and cool on the hot days.
On
one of our walks we ran into a group of 20 wild lion
monkeys. Some of them were coming closer to check
us out. It was amazing. We also have found a tree
not too far from the house that a group of wild capuchin
monkeys hang out in.
 We
still have alot of work to do. This is a picture (left)
of a cooked spider monkey being sold for food in Ixiamas.
We see things like this on a daily basis. We also
see about ten logging trucks a day passing Esperanza
de Libertadīs land. The only way to stay strong while
witnessing all this is thinking of Tami, Preto, and
Martina and doing our best to be able to accept more
animals.
Stella
Sythe Esperanza de Libertad Project Coordinator USA
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