The Girls

The only girl kitten who had a name was Princessa, she hung with the boys and wandered off at 1 month old. I did find her, but she took off again, so its just been the two "girls".  At one point I had them with colored embroidery thread around their necks, so I knew who had been bottle fed. Princessa was light pink, there was a rose pink, and a purple. For a brief second I called them Rosie and Mora, but I wasnt getting attached. These two girls were spoken for,  so I was just holding them til the new parents were ready.

The big boys were tolerating them more and more. Wanting to play, but being a little rough. But being really good sports.

They were now everywhere, I tried to barricade the door, but they always managed away over. So, I had to let them have the run of the house when I wanted the doors open. Did finally have to move the furniture so they would stop getting on the counter and stove top.

No denying they are cute, and super fun to watch these days. But, I keep promising Perry, life will return to normal...one of these days, so stay tuned, the adventure continues. 

#notmykittens

So, the running joke with Toby was #notmydog  and well, now we have #notmykittens.  They slept thru the night, as long as nobody was moving around. Daytime too, they ate and slept. The two boys were trouble makers and one in particular did not sleep well and would wake up the rest. I named him Gritón,  loudmouth in spanish.

They quickly started climbing out of the box, and were wobbling around. Perry and Toby kept themselves out of the way, spending a lot of time outside. Bottle feeding was a big job,  it took about an hour to get everyone full and then they would sleep an hour or so and it would start over again. ( I even had to take them to a party, as I was helping set up and was going to be gone many hours)

I couldn't wait for them to be able to feed themself, so as soon as I realized they were getting teeth I tried...it was a miserable failure. Another week or so of bottle feeding, grrr.

Eventually they were pottying on their own, and climbing around. Mostly on me. A couple times I thought of throwing them in the ocean, what little patience I have, was certainly tested! 

I made a litter box, and was amazed they knew how to use it, doesn't mean they did use it everytime,  but I was impressed. Finally too they started eating soggy kitten kibble with tuna oil,  I had had them maybe 3 weeks. 

Whew, that made feeding time a whole lot different. (I had had to put colored string on the girls, because all three of them were tiger striped and I couldnt tell who had been bottle fed) Now we were spending time outdoors,  and since they had no mom to wash them (I drew the line at tongue baths) they were oily and looked like urchins! So bathtime it was...not too bad, and drying in the sun

Not long after the bath, the three trouble makers disappeared,  I had moved them to the porch (house was just too small for litterbox) and one day I came home and they were gone.  My heart was broken. I went looking for them, but never did find the boys. I did hear the girl crying the next day and found her, but she only stayed another week then left again.

I figure they were old enough, and in good shape, hopefully someone picked them up. Usually the wild kittens aren't socialized, but these definitely wanted to be with people, so fingers crossed Gritón,  JerkO and Princessa are alive and well. Stay tuned, the adventure continues. 

You never know what you might find

One night early last month I woke just after midnight and heard kittens crying. As the morning wore on, everytime I turned over, I heard those kittens, so when I got up for the bread man at 6:30 I looked to see if I could find them. It did not take long, and I could tell they had been abandoned by people.

I took them home and looked around for something to put them in,  Toby (Perry's BFF) helped.

A quick Google search and I realized they were around 7-10 days old, and I was going to have a LOT of work ahead of me. I made a quick emergency formula of cows milk and egg yolk (per Google) and at least got them something in their belly. 

I needed milk replacement powder and I knew I would not find that in town, so I had to get the bus to Charapoto. I got there and back within an hour and they were fast asleep...of course not for long. I purchased a bottle with the milk powder, but it was not very helpful, the nipple too big and these guys were tiny. 

A friend in San Clemente lives near a popular dumping site, and has fostered numerous motherless litters so he offered to bring me the bottle they found works best. He gave me a crash course on how to feed, and instigate elimination (wow, who knew?) And their sexes.  I had already pretty much figured out who was what by watching them all day. Two boys, and 3 girls...

Feeding time, which was every couple hours, for five!! Was a chore, the new bottle was a dream, but they would only suck for a minute, then in another couple minutes would want more,  but of course I had moved on to feeding another one...ugh! I was NOT CUT OUT FOR THIS! 

Perry's face says it all...this was a lot of work, and we have very little patience...so stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Last day in the jungle

Bittersweet leaving the jungle, the friends who went with us were an absolute joy to travel with, so enthusiastic about everything and fun folks. Our guides, both driver and boat guide were very interesting people and loved to hear their stories. The last day we awoke to sprinkle and it stayed thruout the morning. We finally had to wear our rain ponchos on the boat trip back to the van. 

The little porch on the "matrimonio" cottage,  where we spent a lot of time in the evening.

Beautiful little setting,  could have spent more time, but we were all ready to head back to the beach.

The trip, which included driver from Quito, lodging along the way, and the three days in the jungle was around $500 per person, what an amazing adventure. Thanks Mom!

Wildlife we saw on the way home.  We stopped at a hotspring on our way back to Quito, much needed for our tired bodies. And saw such beautiful scenery as we went back up thru rain forest and cloud forest and then back down again into the valley of Quito. This little countey never ceases to amaze me...so stay tuned, the adventure continues!

River trip part 2

Wow, first sorry for the massive delay...

So, we awoke for breakfast,  and got right on the river. We did not really get to see much in the way of animals or birds, not sure why but the weather was great!.

One time the guide stopped it was to show us a tiny monkey...

We didnt see him, but saw where they make tiny holes in the tree trunk and suck the sap out. The pygmi monkey. We also did not see the sloth... but yall know what sloths look like,  to us, he was curled up in a ball in the tree limbs. One we did see a lot of was the stinky turkey. 

And when the people went for the sunset cruise and night walk they saw the pink river dolphins.  I was not ready to get back in the boat after only a quick pit stop, so opted to stay back and have happy hour with friends, choices...

We went to a local village and saw a Shaman (by canoe of course) He gave us demonstrations of healing/cleansing rituals and told of life deep in the jungle.  Years of training on medicinal plants and bringing up apprentices, bartering and trading and taking care of ones neighbor.

Also saw a local woman harvest yucca and make yucca flour and then cooked us a tortilla with it...one thing that surprised me, they said yucca was not native to Ecuador, hmmm. 

No spices, no oil just the heat bound the starch together, could have been better, and such a lot of work.

I mentioned great weather, it was beautiful and had been raining 10 days straight before we got there. Good thing we had boots.

One more night then we head out,  not looking forward to the loooong ride, but worth the trip. Stay tuned, the adventure continues. 

Mom's annual visit

My mom comes from California every year, and we do something different.  This year a friend of mine mentioned a cool Amazon river trip, so we asked a couple other friends and made it happen. Four of us left from San Jacinto by bus to Quito...wow, 8 hours later we finally arrived. Beautiful scenery but a looooong day.

Next day after early coffee,  our tour guide and two other ladies picked us up and off we went. We had a full day of travel by van, ugh...sure wish we hadn't spent all day the day before on the bus. The area we were traveling had had some serious land and rock slides due to rain, so we got to see some really horrific sights, of course that meant some wonderful waterfalls too. The road was closed to trucks, so the usual stop for lunch was closed, so we pressed on til about 4:30 where we stopped for the night.

After a good nights sleep and breakfast we again took off East. Finally we got to the boat launch...where we waited...and waited,  and waited. 

We were waiting for a couple more people for our canoe, finally we were loaded and ready for...a couple hour boat ride, yippee!

We did see an Anaconda, very small and maybe some birds, but it was an uneventful long boat ride, and we were all very ready to not be sitting down!

The Eco lodge we stayed in had several little cabins, solar panels for some electricity and hot water, but for the most part off the grid! Everything came in by canoe. We had no wi fi, and could only charge our devices from 6-10pm when it was lights out! And wow, was it dark!! So, after what seemed like weeks getting there, we were finally in the Amazon (but it really wasnt, hahaa) 

More to come, so stay tuned...the adventure continued!