Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary Day Four.

Day Four.

Keeping it short, followers. I have unfortunately come down with some Malarian-like-plague, diagnosed per my MPH MD PhD Sister. Fevers and chills and stuff, I’m a mess. Today was a really cool day, actually. Very low key.

Katie and I were able to spend some of the day with the Primatologist, Kelly. We shadowed him while he cleaned/fed the monkey cages. I learned that Lemurs are Old World Monkeys, or Prosimians. The rest of the monkeys we think about on a normal basis are just simians, or New World Monkeys. I felt really weird saying “monkey” around the primate guy, but I guess he also says monkeys so it was fine. A lemur named Nikki actually almost bit Kelly’s finger off, but the lemur named Precious was really snuggly. I also learned that these weird pacing monkeys do NOT like me, and grabbed me through the cage. That sucked.

Today I also cleaned the tortoise barn. It was literally a poop show. There are 5 cages to clean, with a total of 13 tortoises. The majority over 200 pounds, except for Tortellini the tortoise, who is a cute little guy. So any way, turtles don’t move when you want them too, lay on their poop, and then get pissed when you try to move them. So then when you finally get the cages cleaned, they have moved, uncovered more turtle poop, and pooped some more. It is quite the ordeal.

As elected treasurer, I obviously kept track of all of the funds very diligently. We had about 80 dollars left by today, so we splurged at Whole Foods. Including purchasing an entire tiramisu cake. So things are really great here at First United Methodist Church. We also purchased a lot of snacks for the drive home, including vegan fruit snacks. GET THESE AWAY FROM ME. – shit girls say

My team mates have started playing a lot of the game “hearts” via cards. I don’t know how to play, and everyone makes sure I know that I don’t know how to play. Which is fine. Because I snore really loudly in my sleep, so who is the real winner. We were able to reflect at dinner about our week, and it was very interesting to hear what everyone thought of our trip. We all had all different perspectives about the week, and why we came on the trip in the first place. I feel very very fortunate to have been able to come on this trip, and couldn’t imagine it with any other group of people. We have had so much fun, and I think that I’ve made friends in the University that I other wise wouldn’t have met, which I think is kind of what Alternative Breaks about.

I’m actually kind of sad that tomorrow is our last day. I am sad to leave, and ready to come home all at the same time. However, if some one could put school off for about 5 more days… that would be acceptable.

Later Days.

Kait Perry