First day with Millie, 15 April 2008

I had slept 10 hours the night before so was pretty refreshed when I woke up to the sound of birds. I prepared my first aid kit and added it to my ruck sack and went for my breakfast. It was drizzly all day but many lovely birds were still flying around the grounds. I went back to my room to grab my binoculars to enjoy them better.

They served me a very nice continental breakfast and then my driver came right on at 8:30am. The park is only 10mns drive away and when I turned up everybody else was having their breakfast. The food is really good at the sanctuary (all vegetarian too) and very cheap.

At 9am we first went to pick up some thick grass that Millie likes to eat... Whilst there we met a volunteer who was playing with her puma and we also met Baloo, the lovely spectacle bear that was also rescued from the black market. Baloo is an adorable bear, only a few months old, who is taken to the river every afternoon for a swim to cool down (as his fur is so thick). I did a couple of neat videos of the puma purring away, chewing on his volunteers´arm, and of Baloo fooling around, rolling on his back and all.... It doesn´t take 5 minutes here to see how happy the animals are with people. They have really made it as much fun as possible for them.

We then spent a good 40 minutes trekking to get to Millie. I never thought I´d get there. I would have never found it. I asked Vanessa why she was SO far away from the others but she explained that most cats are very territorial and ocelots, in particular are very solitary animals. They cannot stand to share their trails with another ocelots. They can get by with pumas, just... but it´s best to have some enclosures very far apart from one another so that the cats can spray the trails as their own.

We called out to Millie when we got nearer to her cage and she started to rub her head against the cage to greet us. She is a beautiful cat and her coat is as unique as a finger print. This is why so many get shot down by hunters. I let her sniff my hand so that she could lick it and get to know me. She likes to sit on people´s lap as soon as we sit down and sure enough, as soon as we got her out she tried to jump on me to grab my hand and suck my thumb. I let her do this for a little while just to gain her trust and increase our connection.

We then started to let her walk wherever she fancied and that meant some pretty hairy treks. Muddy slopes and steep drops could look pretty unnerving to say the least. These were the hardest jungle treks I´d EVER done with no safety net ! Thankfully, I had come prepared with some thick gardener´s gloves that proved invaluable as I tried to hold onto branches or roots of trees to regain my balance more than once. Some trees have got spikes coming out and so it´s great protection from those too... and from Millie´s claws and teeth.

We were just getting settled after 2 H and she had jumped and my lap and was suckling like a baby, and Vanessa suggested she takes a photo of me with her, and as I tried to move my hand into my waterproof jacket to give it to her, Millie didn´t take to this kindly and started attacking my hand quite viciously. At the time, I wasn´t wearing my glove as I was happy to give her my thumb, but as she became more and more agressive I really had to pull her away and open her jaws with my free hand. I didn´t freak out (due to previous training with the lion cubs who were also unpredicatable) but I let her understand that I was in charge and she could not just dig in her teeth and claws willy nilly - or Willy Millie... whichever. I had some antiseptic to clean my scratches and it hasn´t got infected it seems. No pain now but I have got quite a few scratches already.

The people who handle the pumas have got a MUCH tougher jobs though. These guys love to RUN and you´d better follow, wherever they want to go too... sometimes it means down a really slippery and rocky slopes where you could easily break your neck or legs (and indeed, some have broken legs on day 1). In such hairy paths they have what they call ´runners´ - wires where you can clip the leash on and so the cat can run ahead at full speed as you are taking a bit more time to try and catch up in a safer way. But everybody who works with pumas is covered in mud day in, day out... I haven´t seen a red puma yet, just a grey one (and I noticed instantly he had cataracts!) but I hope I can soon pass one along a trail.

As it drizzled all day, the paths today were pretty tough. Even the branches seem to rot easily. I had to really test every branch before I properly pulled on them to pull myself up some steep tracks. There are almost no stairs where we are going... it´s all Indiana Jones style, except that we don´t even have a machetee ! I know that most of you reading this would absolutely hate it... it is pretty scary... but the cat is so beautiful, it seems surreal to follow her on a leash. She´s really like a splash of beauty in the mud !

I could feel my knees and leg hurt quite a bit as the day went by... I am using lots of muscles I had forgotten I had (!!!).... I am just pleased that Millie is such a placid cat. She spends a lot of time sniffing around and not running much at all. Tigre, the other ocelot, runs ALL day I heard and most people are exhausted by 5pm. But Millie gives us time to adjust and not sweat too much. However, come 4pm it can get quite chilly, even in the jungle and this is when you start to wish she would move faster so you wouldn´t get cold. It´s really hard to find a balance... what to put in the rucksack. You don´t want it too heavy otherwise it is a huge hindrance when you try to climb up ... or down.

We had a picnic lunch, we had bought a sandwich before we set off. It´s best, as I didn´t fancy hiking back 40 mins to the camp to get a warm lunch. Even their sandwiches are delicious... and tonight they even treated us to a huge bowl of pop corn. Wow.

There are people from all over the world (Denmark, Netherlands, UK, Israel, Canada, 3 from France even, though I haven´t talked to them yet because they all chain smoke which I despise). But no cute guys, most of them can´t be bothered to shave as the work is so rough... so I will not find Mr Right Enough here -- should I be looking, but I am not even looking, as you know. I am just mentioning in case some of you hoped I would ! :)

I´d better call my driver now and go back to my hotel ... it´s 8pm and I have been typing for exactly 2 hours. Bolivia and Miami are on the same time zone, so it´s great as I´m only 5 hours behind from the UK, though I feel a lot further than when I was in San Francisco... such a massive change of scenery.

I do like Bolivia... I feel very safe here, though it´s the poorest country in South America. Yesterday for instance I went walking around the village with all my valuables in my money belt and I never once felt threatened... People seem very laid back and accepting of foreigners. I think that they know that the organisation brings a lot of revenue for the local community... we foreigners buy food, drinks, employ a lot of people (including my driver for instance), give business to local hostels and hotels, etc. So I think they are grateful. So far I have only had very pleasant experiences anyway... long may it last ! I just wish my Spanish would improve faster but since I´m speaking English with Vanessa all day, I guess it won´t... pity.

I am not sure when I will next log back on... maybe in a few days. I reckon that all days will be the same from now on. I just hope Millie will settle with me pretty quickly. Vanessa told me that I´d already done a lot better than she did. With her she groaned for 10 days... with me, she only groans on and off... But to be two volunteers works well with her temperament... I can use a toy and drag it in front of her to get her moving. She needs motivation as she can be quite lazy. So we are trying to be inventive to keep her healthy ! We also have to be inventive to give her her medication... Wish us luck...