Cuties and Sweeties
by Johnnie JungleGuts
Sea Lions off the Galapagos
Johnnie JungleGuts
watercolor pencil on paper
Spider Monkey Landscape
Johnnie JungleGuts
Spring 2010
Johnnie JungleGuts reads from his new zine.
Walking Sonko
Johnnie JungleGuts
2007
DO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT UNTIL THE HUMANS MAKE YOU STOP
This post is a compilation of blog entries written during my second visit to Parque Machia, an animal refuge located in the Chapare region of Bolivia and operating under the Inti Wara Yassi animal refuge network. Although I had been to the refuge before, my volunteer work on my first visit mostly consisted of caring for a young mountain lion named Sonko, so I was only peripherally aware of the capuchin monkeys who I cared for during this second visit. Although some of the entries have been altered slightly to fill in gaps of missing information, all the events depicted are true.
February 20th 2010
Yesterday, two male capuchins sucked each other off on my lap. Later that afternoon, two males (I’m pretty sure it was Nicholas and Populito) were sitting on my lap and Nicholas started to give Populito head. Populito did not reciprocate. Thinking this unfair, I gently nudged Populito face into Nicholas´ crotch and Populito eagerly began licking away.
March 3rd
for those of you who don’t know, I’m now working in the monkey quarantine with the capuchins. I love it. To clarify, monkeys in the quarantine aren’t sick; they’re simply waiting to be placed in other areas of the park where they will be eventually released.
FEMALE CAPUCHIN MATING BEHAVIOR
I took this while volunteering at Parque Machia, an animal refuge in Bolivia.
AXOLOTLS IN A PET STORE IN LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
I still don’t really know how I feel about making this. There was a dead white axolotl in the corner of the tank and I just felt so bad for them even though they sell them at pet stores all over the world. It might make me feel better to let you know that I sang one whole round of Christina before I busted out the camera and filmed myself doing it again. But I feel like I’m exploiting them a little bit by filming this interaction. St. Francis could speak to the animals but really I feel like all this does is make me look silly.
DURING MY LAST WEEK IN ECUADOR
I didn’t even get wet. Equilibrio Azul moved the boat for Sea turtle capture and census into the house since it had become too expensive to pay for it to be guarded from the pirates in the harbor. While some members of Equilbrio Azul shopped around for a smaller boat, we spent the week working on an ecological education project called Eco-Club with some of the kids in the town of Puerto Lopez.
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.
