Kahlia had us bus 18 hours across Honduras and Guatemala so we could volunteer a week at an Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation project, ARCAS. Whilst a lot more work than the turtle project we did, ARCAS provides a much more interactive environment with the animals. Our primary jobs being to feed them, wash and clean their cages or enclosures.

If you can commit to longer (and your female or they are desperate) you could be a monkey mother. Which means you carry and feed the babies all day, and if you get the Howler monkeys you also get to play with them! (They die with out contact).

We were responsible for feeding and cleaning the parrot cages for the first half of our stay. The job is pretty repetitive, but the parrots make it interesting. Volunteers work in quarantine were new animals are put indefinitely to learn to socialise and become less dependant on human contact. Some of the parrots have bee abused at the hands of humans and some are just angry at being ignored. So being in the cage you always have to be on the look out for rogue birds. In one instance my wedding ring being the only reason I still have a finger!

Our other problem in the parrot cages was Toucan Sam (above). It turns out Toucans are carnivores and territorial. If we didn’t feed it first or do what it wanted it would follow us around tapping us on the head and making noises like the Velociraptor in Jurassic Park. At the end of the week we were put on adult Howler Monkeys. They left us entirely alone, so the job was easier but less fun.

The place is full of Tarantulas, snakes and scorpions (which we think is cool), as well as biting insects. On the last night I had my first ever allergic reaction. Whether it was insects or wearing the same clothes for a week and being covered in animal germs, I broke out in hives everywhere! Kahlia was skeptical initially (I can be a little hypochondriac, apparently) but when I couldn’t handle it anymore we turned on the lights, uh oh. Luckily Kahlia was carrying anti-allergics… for horses it seems, I couldn’t feel my tongue for hours.

ARACAS is really cool if you like animals and don’t mind being dirty (ie them crapping on you). Besides Monkeys and Parrots they have cats (Jaguar, Ocelots, Margay’s), pigs, Micoleon (a cute possum thing), crocs and other random jungle animals.

Photos are here.

On our last day during our surface interval we motored around off the island like always looking for whale sharks. Everyone had been saying they had left and I had even forgotten why we were driving around. Then the captained swung the boat around and headed for a flock of birds feeding. Disappointment set in again after a few minutes of nothing but congregating birds and we turned towards home. Just as we swung around some yelled out, the water was boiling with fish movements. As the boat changed course yet again a great fin emerged from the water.

We all waited eagerly at the boats rear, snorkels and fins one, ready to dive in. The captain slowed the boat and we began to see a gigantic shadow emerging from the depths. We had to wait for a positive id, previously people have jumped in with a gigantic man-eating shark instead of the friendly giant they were hoping for. Ours was id as a whale shark and we hopped in.

This Whale Shark was a female of approximately 12-14 metres, 2 metres longer than the boat. Upon entering the water the shark turned to us to investigate… and kept coming and kept coming. It’s uncomfortable, to say the least, having a mouth, even without teeth, longer than you are heading towards you. In my hurry to move out of it’s path my fin came of and rested on it’s head! I plucked it off as it swam by and had to fight not to get swamped by the tail. (I tried to follow the “Whale Shark Encounter” guidelines but it seems no one told the whale shark about them.

It circled us twice before diving back to the depths giving us about 3-4 minutes to view it. The excitement and adrenalin of being in the water with such a huge creature prevented us from really taking it all in. Rather than sating our desire to see them it has only made it stronger. It’s one of my greatest animal encounters yet!

  Linnea took us hiking in her home town of Index. We had an awesome hike up Mount Index to Lake Serene. Last winter Washington had a 100 year snow fall. Our previous hike was thwarted by an as of yet unmelted avalanche (1 week before summer!). The lake was still frozen and covered in snow safe for a tiny patch of thaw. We got a bit of unexpected entertainment when a guy fell into the lake trying to retrieve his dog. But the real show was Snake V Salamander!!