Cuties and Sweeties
by Johnnie JungleGuts
LLORONA GROOMS ME WHILE I WATCH VIDEOS ON MY CAMERA
watercolor pencil on paper
by Johnnie JungleGuts
Cuties and Sweeties
narrated and edited by Johnnie JungleGuts
Walking Sonko
Johnnie JungleGuts
2007
Ailis, one of the girls who worked with me in the monkey quarantine at Parque Machia, showed up in Puerto Lopez a couple of days ago to Volunteer with Equilibrio Azul. Ailis was in quarantine for about a week after I left and she said that after I was gone they really cleaned out the enclosures of all the monkeys that were permanently caged and put in hammocks and logs and swings and ropes to give the monkeys a bit more to play on. They also started devoting more volunteers to quarantine and there were about eight when Ailis left. When I was there, four people was considered a good number to run the quarantine.
Ailis also told me that Megan, the volunteer coordinator at Parque Machia, said something about how sad it was that I wasn’t there to see how the quarantine had changed. I didn’t know that my voice meant so much to her and it makes me smile with my heart to know that they fixed up things a bit after I left. Bolivia is a complex and suffering thing and I never said that the people at the park weren’t trying their hardest. I guess my point is that I still believe in Inti Wara Yassi. Their magic is real.
EAT YOUR HEART OUT TLAZOLTEOTL!
This video is of Queenie, a Capuchin monkey who I cared for as a volunteer at Parque Machia, an animal refuge in Bolivia. Here we see Queenie having just gone into season and wanting me real bad.
The thing is, when Queenie went into heat she would spend her entire day masturbating with her leg while staring at me and screaming. If I let her climb on me she would never let go. She just clung to me and screamed. This would go on for three days non-stop until she went out of season. When I was in the kitchen cutting up the monkeys´ vegetables for their dinners she would come sit by the window, stare at me, scream, and masturbate.
THEORY OF MIND
Once again it´s me and Llorona at Parque Machia in Villa Tunari, Bolivia. Llorona is a Capuchin, a species of new world monkey native throughout the Amazon rain forest. She was accquired by Parque Machia from a zoo. She´s very old and she´s spent her whole life in captivity, but she will hopefully one day live free in the jungle.
I´M GOING TO ECUADOR
THREE DAYS AGO MY APPLICATION TO VOLUNTEER ON A SEA TURTLE CONSERVATION PROJECT IN ECUADOR AFFILIATED WITH THE ECO-VOLUNTEER UP FOUNDATION WAS ACCEPTED. IF I SURVIVE THE BUS TRIP THERE, (AND THAT´S A BIG ¨IF¨) THEN I´LL PRETTY MUCH BE SPENDING MY FINAL MONTH IN SOUTH AMERICA SCOURING THE BEACHES FOR SEA TURTLE MAMAS TO TAG.
I´M NOT LEAVING THE REFUGE BECAUSE I DON´T BELIEVE IN INTI WARA YASSI ANYMORE. EVEN THOUGH IT´S NOT THE MYTHICAL CULT THAT I ONCE THOUGHT IT WAS, I KNOW THAT THEY´RE DOING A GOOD THING AT THE END OF THE DAY. BUT YOUR ONLY IN SOUTH AMERICA ONCE OR TWICE, RIGHT? AND IF MY LITTLE MONKEY FRIENDS HAVE TAUGHT ME ANYTHING, IT´S THAT YOU SHOULD DO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT UNTIL THE HUMANS MAKE YOU STOP.
FREE MONKEYS
PUNKY HAD BEEN FREE FOR OVER A WEEK AND A HALF. SOMETIMES WHEN IT WAS RAINING SHE WOULD SNEAK INTO THE CAGE THAT SHE SHARES WITH FRANCA AT THE END OF THE DAY WHEN WE WERE PUTTING AWAY THE OTHER MONKEYS FOR BED TIME. BUT THE NEXT MORNING SHE WOULD ALWAYS JUST DART OUT OF THE CAGE BEFORE WE COULD GRAB HER BY THE TAIL AND PUT A CORD ON HER.
YESTERDAY MORNING I GOT HER. AS I CARRIED HER OUT OF THE QUARANTINE TO TAKE HER TO THE VETS FOR HER NEW BELT AND CORD, ALL THE MONKEYS WERE IN AN UPROAR. WERE THEY FURIOUS AT THE CAPTURE OF A FREE CAPUCHIN? JUST AS I WAS WALKING OUT OF THE ENTRANCE OF QUARANTINE, NATALIA LEAPT AT ME AND BIT ME HARD ON MY LEFT HAND. MONKEY TEETH ARE BLUNT. IT WASN´T A DEEP CUT BUT THERE WAS QUITE A BIT OF BLOOD.
THESE PROCEEDINGS AS WELL AS WATCHING AN ESCAPED MONKEY (CESAR) RISK HIS OWN CAPTURE TO LIBERATE VARIOUS MONKEYS ON CORD HAS MADE IT FAIRLY CLEAR TO ME THAT THESE ANIMALS DESIRE A FREEDOM FOR THEMSELVES AND EACH OTHER. I PROBABLY SHOULDN´T BE SAYING THIS, BUT PART OF ME SECRETLY WANTED PUNKY TO STAY FREE- AND ONE OF THE TIMES SHE ESCAPED WAS BECAUSE ANOTHER VOLUNTEER LET HER.
THIS REFUGE HAS BECOME TOO CRAMMED WITH MONKEYS. LONG TERM VOLUNTEERS CLAIM THAT IF SOME OF THESE MONKEYS WERE RELEASED THEY WOULD BE BRUTALIZED BY CAPUCHIN GROUPS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN FORMED. THEY´RE PROBABLY RIGHT. I READ PUNKY´S FILE. IT SAID THAT SHE USED TO BE A FREE MONKEY IN THE MIRADOR BUT SHE WAS GANG RAPED BY A GROUP OF LARGE MALES AND HER ANUS WAS RUPTURED. AH YES, ASS RAPE IS THE WAY OF CAPUCHINS. IN THE WORDS OF THE HEAD VET AT THE REFUGE, THEY´RE CABRONES (ASSHOLES IN SPANISH.) SO IS SHE BETTER OFF IN THE QUARANTINE ON A CORD? HOW CAN WE CHOOSE TO GIVE AN ANIMAL OUR HUMAN JUDGEMENT OF HAPPINESS OVER OUR HUMAN IDEA OF FREEDOM? IT´S ALL VERY TRICKY.
HALO WITH LLORONA
