Not-so-wild life

So no comments today, I guess you guys all have lives... oh well! Maybe tomorrow :-)

So last night was a bit out of our regular routine (if you can call 2 nights a routine). Two americans who are part of a huge research project going on all over the Rupununi region ended up here for the night. And they have a truck! And they invited us out for with them to have a couple drinks! Yay! So rather than go hide in our mosquito nets as soon as the bugs get out, they took us to the Oasis which is a sort of little restaurant type thing. Not only was it nice to get out and be a little social for once, but we also learned a lot about where we are. The guy that we were with has been on this project full time for a whole year and a half and had lots of advice for us about what we should see before we leave and how to survive in the middle of nowhere. Before talking to them we had sort of decided it wasn't worth trying to get all the way to Boa Vista in Brazil because it would be too much of a hassle. But after talking to Jeff, it sounds like it would be worth it. Especially since it only takes a couple of hours once you get to Lethem, which sounds like it will be the most difficult part. Boa Vista isn't anything special, but it is in Brazil and it is the closest thing to a city that exists in these parts. He even gave us a suggestion for a hotel that has a pool and a restaurant that has pizza! We might have some adventures seeing as neither of us speak portuguese, but we've been told that if we really get into trouble we can go to the dentist because there is a Guyanese woman that works there who speaks English.

As great as it was to meet some more people (and we're probably going to get to see them some more because Bina Hill is sort of their homebase for the North Rupununi region), one of my favorite moments of the night was on the way home. I was in the back of the truck just enjoying the view of the millions of stars and the lightning far off in the distance every once in a while. I had forgotton how many stars you can see when there is no semblance of civilization! AND I learned that dusk is actually the worst time for the bugs and they die down a little once it actually gets dark so I may go out and try to enjoy the stars some more in the future.

And now for the fun part of the day: Pictures!! Today rather than give you some pictures of some places that I went I decided to make a collection of the mostly amazing (and mostly) pets that I have met along the way.

These are two of the 3/4 dogs at the Hotel Interamericano where I stayed in Turriabla (3 were actually pets there and there was one stray that was a friend who hung out all the time). The Golden retreiver was Allison's favorite because he was very calm and affectionate, but I like the black one because he was nuts... in a good way of course! He LOVED to play fetch so much that if his ball wasn't actually around, he would find anything he could and bring it to you to throw for him. This varied from a leaf, to a little twig to sometimes something that was too small for me to figure out what he wanted to throw. It didn't matter to him that it only went about 2 feet when you threw it.
This is Pelusa who belonged to Pete of Gringo Pete's in La Fortuna. She was the sweetest dog I've ever met and just sort of hung out all day at the hostel. I pretty much couldn't walk by without either playing a little fetch or giving a little love. She was awesome!

There were a couple cute little dogs at the Hostel Vista Serena in Manuel Antonio, but they didn't like hanging out with guests as much so I didn't get any pictures of them.


Meet Lassie and Lucy. Two of the three dogs at Zopilote surf camp. The whole week I had trouble telling the two of them apart. Only just now did Stacey inform me that one of them is wearing a collar, the other isn't... I'm pretty observant :-P The third dog was a husky and was beautiful but I don't know how she handled the Costa Rica weather with such thick fur!

And this is the horse that lived at the surf camp. He just sort of grazed all day like this, but sometimes he got a little rowdy. Definitely the most personality I've ever experienced in a horse! Side story: Our first night at surf camp when we had arrived at about 11pm and went straight to bed, I thought I heard the horse. When I said something along those lines to Stacey, her response was "It was probably just someone snoring" Little did we know, there actually WAS a horse!
And finally, here at Bina Hill. There are a bunch of dogs and one cat that just sort of hang out. I don't think they belong to anyone or are even fed by anyone (although they did let me give them my bones from the chicken we had at lunch yesterday). The american PhD that is based out of here has somewhat adopted her and her sister and mother. Her name is Iris, she is about 8 weeks old and she is just adorable. But I try to make sure to wash my hands after playing with her because she recently had worms lay eggs in her skin... who knows what other diseases she could be carrying.

I think that's it for the pets. Not quite the wildlife I showed before (and probably will show in the future), but I love them, and it just makes me miss Elly!

That's it for today, I hope you enjoyed!
Kaila