Holy Fortin Toledo!

Hey everybody, Last week I had the amazing opportunity to visit a private reserve in the Paraguayan Gran Chaco called Fortin Toledo. The name “Gran Chaco” comes from Quechua for the land of great hunting. Its Guarani name translates to something resembling the “Green Hell.” And let me tell you that it certainly lives up to both names. On the bus trip alone up we saw countless birds, including raptors and herons; we also saw caiman and desert hares. The panoramic views from out the window showed huge expanses of the wet savannah plains expanding all the way to the horizon. We passed through the humid Chaco that consisted of palm trees and Quebracho trees surrounded by tall tropical grasses growing out of swamped plains. It looked like a place that even Bear Grylls couldn’t survive in. This habitat is a transitional area between the humid Pantanal and the Dry or Alto Chaco savannah to the north-west. A few hours after leaving Asuncion, we passed out of the Humid Chaco and entered the Alto Chaco. The Alto Chaco is hotter and dryer than the Humid Chaco, and the habitat reflects it. The trees are shorter and spinier, cactuses are more prevalent, and there are sand dunes and small hills from which you can see the desert spreading out around you. The Alto Chaco is also home to a number of large mammals such as peccary, puma and jaguar but due to the increase of agricultural pressures, their numbers are steadily falling. While the trip on the bus was a great introduction to the environment I was going to see at the reserve, it also showed the huge threat to the area: Cattle Ranching! The majority of the Alto Chaco is contained within the Boquerón Department of Paraguay, which is Paraguay’s largest geographic department. Up until recently, due to the lack of infrastructure and the unrelenting heat, it was also a sparsely inhabited department. However, thanks to the completion of the Trans-Chaco highway and an increase in technology it has flourished in the past few decades. It now produces over 65% of the country’s milk and meat due to the fertile soil and ease of clearing land for ranching in the flat savannah. Boquerón is also currently experiencing the country's greatest rate of population increase, about 12.4% annually. The fate of the beautiful Alto Chaco habitat is under grave threat! Once I arrived at the Reserva Privada Fortin Toledo, I was amazed at what I could see. Turning off the main road and onto the reserve, the forest sprung up around me. The near constant sight of herds of cattle disappeared behind us and a new type of fauna surrounded me. Before getting out the car, I’d seen a snake, a tinamou, two buff necked ibises and a Brazilian cotton-tail. The two days I spent there was an amazing experience, especially the evening frog hunt after a heavy rain. We saw 6 species of frog and 2 different snakes on a short walk about the reserve. Truly amazing. The reserve is also home to the Centro Chaqueno de Conservaccion y Investigacion (CCCI) and the site of the Proyecto Tagua. As I mentioned above, all the large mammals are feeling the effects of agricultural expansion but the Chaco Peccary (Catagonus wagneri) or Tagua was thought to have gone extinct over 200 years ago due to poaching and was rediscovered in 1972. The Tagua is one of the few large mammals to be discovered by science since 1900. Proyecto Tagua is a rehabilitation project focusing on the breeding of the Chaco peccary and releasing family groups into pristine environments all throughout the department. The project is over 20 years old and seeing over a one hundred critically endangered peccaries in one place was a great experience. Especially knowing that they were destined to be released back into the wild! For more information on the Chaco peccary and how you can help, please visit CCCIpy.org. Fortin Toledo had one more surprise in store for me. “Fortin” in Spanish means Fort and the site has a number of small bunkers and two graveyards built after a large battle in the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay. It was amazing to see the cultural heritage hidden within a beautiful nature reserve. I was also impressed by a giant Palo Boracho tree trunk that had been hollowed out by a sniper to use as cover. The tree trunk was at least a meter and a half wide and had plenty of space for a full grown man to hide within. The whole experience gave a real sense of the inhospitality of the habitat that was only enhanced by the brutal war that took place within it. While I only had enough time to spend two days on the reserve and at least five of those hours I was trapped inside by a torrential rain storm, Fortin Toledo still blew my mind. The mix of passive and active conservation combined with the cultural heritage of the area was enough to make your jaw drop. While I can’t claim to be an expert on the area in such a short time, however I can assure you of one thing: it is a place worth visiting! Even if you have to brave the 40° heat . Until next time, Joseph

Lights, Camera, Action!

It’s been all go at PLT in the last couple of weeks. The whole reserve received a big spring (or autumn as it is here) clean, the house was gutted, the Atlantic Forest trails were cleared and the area around the house was given what was probably its biggest ever clean!! Everything looked shiny and brand new. The reason: the arrival of a camera crew from Rolex to make a short film about Karina and the work of Para la Tierra. Sara (the director) and Mike (the cameraman) arrived on Sunday night and work began first thing Monday morning. We had spent the previous week collecting small mammals, reptiles and insects in pitfall and Sherman traps and all of these had their moment in the limelight as they were filmed being released and scurrying back into the forest. As the sun fell it was the turn of our flagship species – the white-winged nightjar – to smile for the camera. The next day my first monkey volunteer, Vicki, arrived in the midst of all the filming madness. At night Mark gave an interesting presentation about his time as a PLT volunteer, particularly about his work on beginning a butterfly inventory. After his presentation there was a flurry of activity as Helen and Karina went frogging, Joe, Kevin and Jorge fought with the bat mist net and Vicki and I worked the moth light. On Wednesday the staff and volunteers headed out on mass to be filmed checking the pitfall traps in the Transitional Forest. We found a selection of scorpions, centipedes, spiders and lizards. When we returned it was time to say goodbye to Mark as his 6 weeks came to a close and he headed back to England. Thursday morning found the film crew, Karina, Joe, myself, Sean, Vicki and the Forest Guards in the Atlantic Forest being filmed walking up and down Trail 1 for a couple of hours. The monkeys had been seen that morning in the North Forest but they decided to be divas and not show up for filming in the South!! On Thursday night we all got a special treat! We had a delicious asado and three local men came to play traditional Paraguayan songs for us. It was a fantastic experience and everyone thoroughly the entire night. At 6am Friday morning Mike decided to come on a monkey hunt with Vicki and me. Just for good measure Mike brought his camera. Our thoughts were “now that the camera is here, the monkeys won’t be!” but we couldn’t have been more wrong. As we crept through the forest I looked up…and there they were; all 8 monkeys crossing the path right above our heads. In true capuchin form they shot by so fast that Mike wasn’t able to get film. We decided to call it a day as Mike was leaving and then luck really was on our side. As we walked out towards the edge of the forest a rustle in the bushes beside me alerted me to the spy. Mike whipped out his camera and got a great bit of footage of two of the monkeys rushing through the trees!! Look out for the video on the Rolex Awards website early in June, but if you can't wait to see what we are up to, check out the current video at http://www.rolexawards.com/profiles/young_laureates/karina_atkinson !! Until next time! Becca

Where’s the Snow and Cold Weather?

On December 29, 2012, I was at the peak of mountain waiting to drop in on the slope with my snowboard. There was low visibility due to the blowing snow and the air temperature was approximately -20°C. Despite this, I inched forward over the edge and began my downhill ride. Fast forward six days and I found myself waiting at the bus terminal in Asuncion, Paraguay, sweating and having a hard time coping with the 35°C weather. Leaving the cold, Canadian winter and arriving in the humid, Paraguayan summer can be a difficult transition for a Canadian. However, I was still ambitious to see my new home at Laguna Blanca. The Para La Tierra staff and the local people working at the nearby resort greeted me with a warm welcome despite that I did not understand any Spanish and Guarani, which is the local dialect. For the next two months at Laguna Blanca, I unknowingly would have one of the best experiences in my life. By being a volunteer for Para La Tierra, I got to participate in many different projects occurring throughout the three different habitats: the cerrado, transitional forest, and Atlantic forest; which are all situated within the reserve boundaries. However, most of my time here was spent in the transitional forest setting up trail cameras deep within the understory to get photographs of the elusive little spotted cat and other rare mammalian species. Most of the camera images I retrieved were of shrubs moving in the wind, agoutis, armadillos, and cottontails. Despite this on-going disappointment and hoping for some rare animal, the trail cameras finally captured some breaking images. Three white-collared peccaries got their photographs taken. This was exciting because this particular species has not been seen in the reserve since 2005 and were believed to be extirpated from the area. Besides the camera trapping, I had many other highlights. The one morning, the primatologist and I were fortunate enough to see the local group of Capuchin monkeys within minutes of entering the South Atlantic forest. It was amazing to see the monkeys jumping from one tree to the next, and we also witnessed an infant holding onto its mother’s back. The museum curator and I got to catch small opossums in the transitional forest using Sherman traps, capture lizards using pitfall traps, and collect insects that were attracted to a spotlight. I also joined three marine biology students on the lake, and assisted with the capture of some fish using gillnets. In particular, I got to remove snapping piranhas tangled in a gill net. However, my favourite highlight at Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca was holding a white-winged nightjar in my hands. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to have a critically-endangered species sitting there in front of you. Although, I am sure that the nightjar was not feeling the same enjoyment as I was. When I was off the reserve, I got to celebrate a Paraguayan girl’s 15th birthday party. It was fun drinking with the staff, interns, and other volunteers at the party. Particularly, it was funny to witness the local men attempting to buy a dance with the female staff members by persuading the guys at Para La Tierra with beer. Secondly, everyone from Para La Tierra, including myself, had the opportunity to see Carnival in Encarnacion, Paraguay. It was a great time seeing the women in the parade, and having numerous spray foam fights in the VIP booth. Carnival is a must-see event if you visit Paraguay during January and February. If you plan to volunteer or become an intern for Para La Tierra, I would like to recommend a few things. First, participate in every Para La Tierra project and join the local people in some of the Paraguayan customs. Try something new and out of your element. You are guaranteed to acquire a wide range of valuable field skills and to maximize your Paraguayan experience if you do. Secondly, keep a journal. Your friends and family would like to hear about your Paraguayan adventure. Lastly, have some fun and make some new friends. I met people from different parts of the world, and I had a fun time hanging out with each individual. Even though this blog was a brief summary of my Paraguayan experience, I am sure whoever joins Para La Tierra will also have a great time! Adam Moltzahn – Canada 2013 Para La Tierra Volunteer

What happens at Carnaval...

This month the staff and interns at Laguna Blanca were given a pretty big treat, four days in Encarnaciόn for Carnival!!! After two weeks of the excitement building after hearing about how awesome Carnival was from Karina and Joe the big day finally arrived and Helen, Mark, Sean and myself began what turned out to be the three day camel hike from Laguna Blanca to Encarnaciόn. Adam, Sam and Dan would follow the following day. We left the house at 5:30am, all more awake than I know I have ever been at that silly hour of the morning thanks to the adrenaline and anticipation for the nonsense ahead!! This wore off slightly as we sat at the bottom of the soy field waiting for the bus. I was still dark and I actually started to feel cold for the first time since leaving Edinburgh!! This feeling would not last long. The bus arrived at 6:30am and we were finally on our way! The first bus trip was two hours, and sometimes nail bitingly terrifying as the incredibly rickety bus edged over pretty terrifying wooden bridges!! Of course, we made it to Santa Rosa safe and sound and even had time to grab some empanadas before jumping on a much fancier bus, with air con(!!), for the five hour trip to Asunciόn. The early start catching up on everybody we all feel asleep pretty much straight away!! When we arrived in Asunciόn bus terminal it was straight to the coffee shop for some much needed caffination. We got our tickets for the final six hour trip and waited. The final bus was hilarious. The fierce Paraguayan sun was now out with a vengeance and much to our horror we got on the bus, sat down and quickly realised that this bus did not have air conditioning!! The next six hours were spent feeling very much like we were being cooked like Christmas turkeys but as we pulled in to Encarnaciόn and the excitement started to build the misery of the bus trip was quickly forgotten. One quick taxi ride to our lovely guest house to drop off our stuff and then we quickly made our way to the beach and the bars!! Friday was spent in a blur of beach bars and beers until Adam, Sam and Dan finally joined us about 9:30pm. The night flew by with far too many Cuba Libres and pretty dreadful Paraguayan music. Everybody got a good laugh as I was dragged in front of the whole bar for being the only blonde girl there and made to spin “The Wheel of Fortune”. Extremely embarrassing, especially as my Spanish is….questionable and I had had enough alcohol to attempt to answer the questions I thought he was asking me, not what he was actually asking me!! Worth it though as I won us all free drinks! Saturday came round with a haze of headaches and hangovers but that didn’t matter. It was finally Carnival day!!! For those whose hangovers would allow the night began with tequila shots before we even went out! Hyper and with pockets and bags full of fake snow we headed to the parade. It was absolutely fantastic! Six hours of girls in bikinis, glitter and feathers and guys doing backflips alongside elaborate sparkly floats with latin music loud enough to make your ears bleed. Combine that with fake snow fights breaking out every few minutes, first between the PLT crew and soon spreading to full blown, good humoured gang warfare with the Paraguayans, and it’s a guaranteed recipe for an incredible, once in a lifetime experience. So even though Carnival is over, next year can’t come quickly enough!! Becca

Introducing Becca

Hello!!! My name is Becca Smith. I am originally from Edinburgh, Scotland and I have recently moved to Paraguay to join the Para la Tierra team as the Primate Project Leader. I have been fascinated by wildlife my entire life and decided very early on that all I wanted to do was work with animals. In 2010 I finished my undergraduate degree in Zoology and after spending the majority of 2011 working in Namibia in a wildlife sanctuary I discovered that working with primates was my true calling and returned to university to take a Masters of Research in Primate Biology, Behaviour and Conservation. After graduating in September 2012 I travelled to Panama for an internship rehabilitating rescued mantled howler monkeys. I am very excited to be working in such a beautiful place and I think there are endless possibilities for the direction that the primate project can go in. I have spent most of my time so far being shown the ropes and the amazing work that has already been done in beginning to habituate the monkeys and organise the trail system by Amber and Brett. To begin with I aim to fully habituate and identify the monkeys so that behaviour studies can be carried out. I am hoping to possibly extend the trail system into the parts of the reserve that, at present, have no trails or the trails are extremely overgrown. My more long term goals are to attempt to establish whether or the capuchins at Laguna Blanca are a distinct sub-species and also create a definite map of their home range and determine whether there are other troops in the area that they are breeding with. Right now I am just excited to be part of the very welcoming team at Para la Tierra and hope I can contribute to the project during my time here!! So if your into science, monkeys or just working in the sunshine in a beautiful setting why don’t you come down and join me!!! Becca

The epic saga of Berendan Wasp slayer

I left Melbourne, Australia on the 3rd of November. Saying goodbye to my family and heading off into the unknown of South America where no Slade had ever been before. The trip was an epic one leaving at 11 in the morning and arriving in Los Angeles at 9 in the morning of the same day. Wait what? A fourteen hour plane trip and I had gone back three hours in time. I spent all day at LA airport and then headed off another plane trip to Panama City, Panama. I spent another five hours reading before setting off on the last plane leg to Asuncion, Paraguay arriving at 2 am on the 5th of November. This plane was novel as the primary language spoken on board was not English but Spanish, something I had never encountered before. Luckily everything was repeated in English and the headset could also be adjusted to Spanish. Leaving the airport I was very excited and intrigued to see the city. The route from the airport to bus station was not particularly impressive though with many cars and motorbikes squashed in and a general disregard for road rules. I was very glad I was not the one driving although I was concerned about the lack of seatbelts. Using my limited Spanish I managed to buy a bus ticket to Santa Rosa and jumped on. Bus travel in Paraguay is definitely an unusual experience. For one thing the bus had air conditioning, TV, two levels, reclining seats and cost half the price as at home. The other thing was that people continually got on the bus and sold fruit, water and sunglasses. One guy even gave some sort of speech although I have no idea what it was about. I quickly fell asleep. I awoke terrified that I had missed my stop and having no way to work out if I had or not as Paraguayans don't seem to believe in road signs. After a tense hour we did arrive in Santa Rosa and I was much relieved. I waited at the terminal clutching my bags and feeling out of place among sell these dark skinned, dark haired, short, Spanish speakers who occasionally started rambling at me in rapid incomprehensible Spanish which I could only reply with 'no comprehend, yo soy Australia'. When Helen turned up to pick me up I was again much relieved. I had managed to get to Laguna Blanca without any issues. Laguna Blanca is an amazing place. Think of an ideal tropical beach. Laguna Blanca is a lot like that despite Paraguay being a land locked country. It is a large crystal clear freshwater lake with a beach of pure white sand. The house I am to be staying in for the next three months has four bedrooms, each with a bathroom, and a communal dining area. My bedroom has 7 beds but never more than 4 are occupied and at present I am the only one. Each bed is surrounded by a veil of mosquito netting which makes me feel oddly safe. There is also a fan but unfortunately it is no real substitute for an air conditioner. We aren't here for luxury and it helps you to appreciate good plumbing. After arriving in the evening I went to sleep for almost 24 hours straight and the bed never feels this comfortable again. Upon waking I am introduced to the other volunteers, interns and staff. There is Helen, Jacqui, Georgia and Jonny from England, Joe and Tom from America, Monique and Fionne from the Netherlands, Ruby from New Zealand and Dave from South Africa. Rarely before did I meet such a group of friendly and interesting people and I really hope we can all stay in contact once I go home. Primarily I was to be searching for Capuchin monkeys. At Laguna Blanca there is a troop of 9 monkeys which reside in the dense Atlantic Forest. We were hoping to habituate the monkeys so that their behaviour could be better observed and studied. The Atlantic forest is unlike any forest I have been in before. You enter the forest on a tiny little path barely more than an animal track. On either side is dense vegetation which is continually trying to grow back over the path. There are a few key plants which you quickly learn about. The most irritating is a fairly small one with little green leaves and tiny branches which looks perfectly harmless however it is covered in small thorns which gleefully attach to your clothes, making you unable to move. They are also a nightmare to cut down as the thin branches merely bounce off the machete. The next plant has huge flat green leaves about the size of dinner plates and if you touch them you will feel a sharp burning and within a minute an itchy rash. You quickly learn to avoid these and fortunately they are very easy to cut down and doing so gives you immense satisfaction. The next plant is bamboo. Bamboo is not much of a threat but grows very quickly so often needs to be cut down to prevent the path disappearing. There are than ferns which are as tall as me with huge, lush leaves, just after it rains these will leave you soaking wet. Then there are the vines, these grow from the canopy down to the ground and are somehow impervious to being cut they are also a letdown in that you cannot swing on them. Between climbing under and over and between all these plants you scour the tree line for monkeys. Unlike you they can move very fast through the forest jumping from tree to tree like acrobats. I quickly become very jealous. Generally you will hear them before you see them and I was quite surprised to find they sound a lot like a bird chirping, but staccato. Suddenly you will emerge from between trees and see them sitting in the branches and staring at you. It's hard to say who is more surprised usually. They will start moving off through the trees, usually one of the males will try to distract you off in another direction and then they are gone, leaving you staring in wonder with a few blurry shots on your camera. So far I have seen the monkeys eight times, three of them at night under a full moon. Each time is just as exciting as the first and spurs me on to further slogs through the vines and thorns. There are also a lot of other creatures in the forest. The two most concerning are spiders and wasps. For reasons known only to them both these groups like to set up their webs and nests in the middle of the path. There are also many "friendly" creatures. Giant Stick Insects pretending to be twigs, Giant butterflies flapping lazily around, their wings vibrant yellow, blue and red. Giant praying mantis sit around looking awesome deadly but rarely actually moving. Giant ants climb up and down logs. Giant, yes everything in Paraguay is at least twice as big as at home. Giant grasshoppers leap around flashing bright orange as if they are trying to be butterflies and then turning back into leaves. Giant cicadas burst from the undergrowth shrieking madly and flying into you for unknown reasons. Giant moths lie camouflaged on trees. Lizards lay basking on the ground ready to shoot off if you get too close. Birds of every colour and shape call and fly around and generally try to pretend they are monkeys giving you false hope. If you are really lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it you might even see a snake slither across the path. When not monkey hunting i have also been helping out with some of the other projects. I have set up mist nets to catch bats with Ruby. A mist net is basically a large net strung between poles several metres apart. The bats fly into the net and get tangled up. This sounds easy however unfortunately the nets also like to get tangled up and each one must first be untangled. I let Ruby stay out overnight to actually take the bats out of the net but I was able to hold them while she photographed them in the morning. I also helped Jacqui in bird netting which is basically the same thing but with birds and thus can be done in the early morning rather than overnight. By early morning I mean we got up at 4am so we could be out there before dawn. If a bird was caught we would take them out photograph them, measure their head, wings and legs and then let them go. We got a surprising variety of wrens, wood creepers, thrushes, doves and flycatchers. Even though their beaks look sharp they can't break your skin and thus aren't too dangerous to hold except for one species which Jacqui nonchalantly informed me may try to peck my eyes out. I also have helped out with some pitfall traps. These involve a line of plastic over a group of buckets. Animals can't get through the plastic and fall into the holes. Although looking at you would think even an idiot wouldn't fall for this trap we actually caught a reasonable number of lizards, scorpions, spiders, ants, beetles, centipedes and millipedes. Of these the scorpions were the coolest and most dangerous. The final project I have helped with was Monique and Fionne's opossum trapping. They placed 245 small mammal traps throughout the Atlantic forest, transitional forest and the cerrado. A small mammal trap is basically a steel box with a lever so when an animal enters the door shuts behind it. On my trip we found two opossums. These guys are about the same size as mice but are marsupials. They are also one of the most aggressive species I have ever seen. They had their mouths wide open showing all their teeth and glaring and hissing at Fionne. We took their weight and gave them a microchip so we could recognize them if caught again. Whenever I finished field work the first thing I would do is jump in the lake. Unlike at home where the water is always freezing here it is just right and you can just sit with it coming just up to your chin and forget all the heat and sweat and insects. The lake has little fish which swim around you curiously and occasionally nip you harmlessly. The water is so clear you can see the bottom even when it is two metres deep. The whole lake is quite large and in the middle it is apparently 8 metres deep. We took out the kayaks once and paddled around it and this took a few hours. After swimming it was usually almost time for lunch. Food at Laguna Blanca varies a lot. It is usually cooked by Gricelda, one of the locals and she does a pretty good job with what's available. The meals generally include spaghetti carbonara, spaghetti with tomato sauce, rice with lentils, pumpkin soup and bread, pizza, boiled eggs with salad, meat/vegetable pie, roast chicken, empanadas, deep fried schnitzel, fruit salad, cabbage salad, cereal, roast potatoes and even chocolate cake. After lunch it's often time for another swim or just chilling, some people take a siesta, read, make use of the wifi internet to skype or even play cards. Anything to stay out of the heat which is always over 30 and sometimes up to 40. Sometimes in the evening we will get together for a volleyball game with the Paraguayans. As most of the volunteers can't speak Spanish and the Paraguayans can't speak English things can at times get confusing but it is a lot of fun. There have been several other things which have happened which I feel need mentioning. One day we found an armadillo and I even got a chance to hold it! It was immensely cute with a very tough shell and long sharp digging claws. Once we placed it on the ground it vanished within a minute. We have also had a couple of volunteers try the delicacy of fried cicada. I wouldn't recommend it myself but they said it was ok. We went for a horse ride western style on a very placid bay horse. I have seen 6 snakes which have all taken the opportunity to slither away as fast as possible however these guys are also the most lethal animals at Laguna Blanca. Occasionally we have an asado which is basically a bbq and is quite delicious although for some reason the Paraguayans don't start eating till after 10 and then keep chatting till the small hours which is not ideal when you need to be up at 4. Paraguay has regular spectacular thunderstorms and swimming in the middle of them is also a lot of fun. We made a Blair witch project styled home video which possibly only we will fully appreciate and cannot stop laughing the whole time. Overall Para La Tierra is an amazing group mainly because it is filled with amazing people. The work is often tough with very early starts, overwhelming heat and a plethora of interesting plants and animals. However it is also very rewarding when you do succeed in finding your target species and this more than makes up for it. My time here is going by incredibly quickly with only just over a month left and I am still hopeful of hitting the jackpot and seeing a jagarundi, maned wolf and of course more Capuchins. Brendan Slade - Australia Para La Tierra Volunteer 2012/13

The Butterfly Effect by Monique Brok

People say that every choice you make influences the rest of your life. That the main road you eventually walk on during your life depends on the short sidepaths you took. Everyone takes decisions in life based on what they feel and/or think. Some were good while others were bad, but even though each choice creates doubt and confuse us by thinking about what could have been, in some cases there is no doubt about it. That ''that choice'' was one of the best you made. I feel and know that for me, going to Para la Tierra was one of them. Living in a tropical fantasy world is the best way to describe staying in Laguna Blanca at Para La Tierra. Loads of sunshine that brightens up every single day, a white beach and the clear blue lake are alike those you see in travel magazines and the soft chirping of birds create peace of mind throughout the day. But there is more, much more to be amazed by. One of the first things that caught my eye since my arrival was the gathering of numberous butterflies. They were dancing in the sky, flying around in circles and eventually creating a patch, sitting side by side. I was possessed by this occurrance, it took my breath away. From this point, I felt like I was in paradise. It made me wonder what other treasures this place would hold, what other beauties lay ahead of me. Many more, I can tell you... One day, I was sitting on the porch, doing nothing significant in particular. The sound of leaves moving drew my attention. I looked up and was paralized for a moment. I saw an Armadillo, walking just in front of me in the middle of the day. These animals are nocturnal and live underneath the ground, so that it was there was a little miracle! After the severe shock passed, I called Tom and Fionne to come and with the three of us we followed it for 15 to 20 minutes. The Armadillo wasn't scared at all, it even had a look at us back from a distance of maybe 1,5 meters before it disappeared into the bushes. Some time had passed and another Armadillo, the Naked Tail Armadillo, was found at the tourist area. All interns and volunteers jumped into the back of the car and drove to the Cerrado for its release. We all got to hold the cute animal for a little bit and afterwards released it. Within seconds, the only sign of the Armadillo was a small mound of dug up sand. It was an amazing thing to withness and I cherish the memory! What intrigered me as well were the out of proportion and weird looking insects that one way or another are beauty to the eye and occur on site, such as the Longhorned beetle which can reach the size comparable to the hand of an adult person, Cicadas that look like big mutant flies with African-like paintings on their bodies and making an alarm sound during warmer nights, the Rhino beetles that have similar head figuration as real rhino's and other insects that I previously could have only imagined to exist in the real world. Walking through the forest was one of the many things I loved during my stay at Para la Tierra. To see the beautiful sunrise in the early morning, see the forest come to life with lizards running around all over the place, woodpeckers and hummingbirds flying around, hearing the calls of the insects and all creatures settling on their place. Sometimes I was lucky and saw animals that you don't so often, such as the Black Tegu. I saw two of them and couldn't believe it in the first place. If you don't know them, look them up and you will understand perfectly what I'm talking about. I just can't describe what the experience was to see them, up close, just in front of me. You have to see them and imagine them for yourself. Both times I saw them was while conducting my research. The research I was on, together with my study buddy Fionne Kiggen, was on two Opossum species; the Gracilinanus Agilis and the Marmosa Constantae. We had 225 traps in total, scattered over the 3 beautiful habitats: the Atlantic forest, the Cerrado and the Transitional forest. We went out 6 days in a row of which the first day contained opening and baiting the traps, then four days of baiting and checking the traps for the adorable little cartoonlike animals and the last day comprised checking and closing the traps. We didn't just find the Opossum species we focussed on of course! Lizards, the white eared Opossum and cute little forest rats visited the peanutbutter-vanilla melanged traps occasionally and a lot of the big bugs sped up our heart rates countless times. In my last week, I went out to the forest because I still had to do some forest structure studies for our research. So I went to the Atlantic forest and did what I had to do. A black beautiful butterfly flew up to me and sat on me for more than 1,5 hours. After it flew off again, I felt as if it given me direction to just follow my instincts and go into the forest a little deeper. I did what my gut feelings told me and went on an adventure. After walking around for a while I found a field, where I had never been before. I just walked and walked and all of a sudden, it was there. A skull of an Armadillo. I took it with me, thinking it might be something useful for Para la Tierra. It was more than that. It was a whole new species for the reserve! This was amazing! Mindblowing! I was living on a cloud and I coulnd't have wished for a more ''fairytail-like'' ending of my stay. This was more than I have wished for! This place is not just where people and animals come close together, this place is magical. It brings out the best in you, makes you wonder where you've been and what you've been doing all your life. It makes you realize there is a world that you need to see, need to taste, to feel. For me, personally, it changed my persective on life in general, on who I am, what I want to be, what I want for my time to come. I started my own little butterfly effect just by coming here. Monique Brok Para La Tierra Intern 2012-2013 The Netherlands