Even two weeks isn't enough to explore the wildlife sanctuary and get to know all of the animals. By get to know, I mean become accustom to their temperamental moods. You never know when they are going to turn- when what you thought was a furry friend becomes a sharp-toothed psycho. I seem to be the only one who refuses to learn this lesson. Every time I come screaming out of a cage saying "Guuuys, I got a new bite," my empathy seeking is always shut down with "You asked for it." Luciano, one of the founders of the sanctuary, preaches that "Humans are the only species that attack without reason." If this is true then I must give off a threatening scent or something. Working alongside the staff is the best part of every day. Despite the ongoing language barrier, We seem to be breaking some other important barriers and starting to understand each of their routines. It feels like Hugo's arrival was a big breakthrough. When he turned up with his fluffy long blonde hair, baggy shirts, beaten up sneakers and his guitar in hand, suddenly the staff had a whole lot more to talk about. One staff member, Allen, finds it particularly hilarious that he wears shorts around the sanctuary despite the freezing weather. The day after Hugo arrived, Allen vented to Lucas that he though Hugo was "louco", which means "crazy." Lucas understands the word "louco" and so an immediate connection was made.
We were all a bit nervous leading up to day of Hugo's 19th birthday, because we wanted to make it a day to remember. We felt restless because we couldn't get out of the padlocked gates to buy him a birthday cake and make a little surprise. Little did we know that every Curitibian that we knew outside of the padlocked gates were bringing birthday cakes to us. We had a lot of cake that day. We still wanted to do something special from us, so we got inventive and took inspiration from what treasures were inside the gates. We looked up to the sky, where many answers come from, and found the perfect spot for a sunset picnic; The sanctuary lookout. To sass things up a bit we decided to blindfold him until the destination. I was the person guiding him to the tower climb, and since I was so excited about him seeing the beautiful view I forgot to tell him about the 20 ft hole in front of him. Oh, and also about the bit where you have to duck your head before you get to the top. 'Happy Birthday Hugo, enjoy the bruises.' Needless to say he immediately forgot about that trauma when he was unblindfolded and saw an amazing view and a giant watermelon with five spoons in front of him. Watermelon is his favourite fruit and is provided in the sanctuary kitchen, which was a great convenience. If you want a bit of a laugh, imagine an innocent blonde-haired girl (Angela) attempting to smuggle a giant watermelon under her shirt from the kitchen to our lodge without getting noticed.
Hugo's birthday celebrations didn't end there. On that Friday night we took a trip into Curitiba city for a night on the town. Luckily, Rafaela introduced us to a very generous Brazilian boy called Felipe, who was happy to show us around and take us where we wanted to go. We all loved the idea of a Samba bar, so that's where he took us. Going to the Samba bar made me wish that Australia had its own traditional dance style along these lines. I would count clap sticking and campfire ceremonies, but I have never heard of a club with this kind of music. I am ever so envious of the way the Brazilian girls move. They were extremely eager to help us, but no matter what it feels like the hip movements will always be a little forced and awkward for us Australians.
After the Samba club us toughnut Australians still hadn't had enough. We expressed interest in a club that plays electro music mixed with some familiar tunes. So Felipe took us there. It supposedly was a quiet night for that particular club, but this didn't faze us at all. It gave us more room to arm swing, headbang, and basically dance like people who are on the other side world with no one familiar around. We went from headbang, to headache and then home. It really did feel like coming home after a weekend away. We have very comfortable beds, generous amounts of food and many movies, which we took advantage of before we were to wake up very early the next day.
Luciano and Chris proposed the idea of a 10 hour mountain climb up the Peak of Parana some time during the first week. We eagerly accepted the challenge and picked the date for the Sunday of Hugo's birthday. At 5.30 AM of that Sunday Luciano turned up on our veranda wearing his bird watching hat and his outfit that had him ready for any type of weather. We thought 'great, he's ready to go.' To our dismay we soon discovered that the mountain would be too wet and dangerous to climb. We hope to reattempt this idea on the last Saturday that we are here.
We often sit around and reflect on how lucky we are to be on this program. It's almost unbelievable how much Luciano, Cris and Rafaela support us. Today Cris and Luciano even let us use their 50m pool, which was a great treat. Almost as good as the sun that finally decided to come out! We are constantly getting food deliveries, which is enabling us to take turns in cooking. We never have to fight about it, because there is always someone to volunteer. There seems to be some sort of unspoken system going on, which is really nice. However, as we all learn, perfect is impossible. So don't worry, we haven't all discovered a perfect happy family away from home. Speaking of family, Mum, I have had a thought and I think the jaguars will make a great addition to ours. They could just bunk in with Gypsy, it would be the perfect souvenir!
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