We arrive just outside of La Paz to get our bus to La Senda Verde. We wait 45mins for the mini bus to become full before we can set off. We are a little tense as we are unsure of the route the driver will take, one of 2 options is Death Road. At the top of the pass where we started are death road cycle the mini bus driver touches his forehead, chest and then each shoulder. We look at each other immediately. The driver repeats this gesture a few more times. Oh heck!

At the turn off for death road the driver doesn't turn off, phew. The new road is pretty good for the most part however landslides have damaged it in places. We get dropped off outside the animal refuge and ring the bell at the bridge pleased for an uneventful journey.

We meet the owners, operators and all the volunteers, are shown to our accomodation and grab an early night still trying to recover from the exhaustion of Huayna Potosi.

Our first day working and we're up for a fairly meargre breakfast, we're given our volunteer shirts which look like they used to be cream and we take a tour of the refuge with Tomas. We meet the birds, tortoises, monkeys, coatis, snake, caiman and the bear.

As its our first day we're on special projects which can be anything. In our case we were required to help create a tortoise enclosure in the quarantine area. The tortoise is pretty big and we're told they're good escape artists and can climb better than you think. We set about the task which requires us to build a wall and dig a hole for a pond. The materials available for the wall are rocks from the river. Its hard work and my first days labour for well over a decade. Its hot and the sandflies are already making their annoying presence felt. Odin in the morning and Charles in the afternoon provide welcome assistance as we finish the majority of the enclosure. Lunch had also been less than we expected and dinner was not much different. The food is good but I can't help feel it isn't enough to maintain the level of work put in on our first day. We were knackered!

The next day we're assigned to birds and with the guidance of Adi we clean out and feed the birds. There's blue and yellow macaws, red macaws, parakeets, cardinals and a very clever toucan. Between feeds we have spare time to provide enrichment for the animals or help out with special projects. That evening there is a leaving party for some of the volunteers. Wine, beer, rum and tequila are on the menu and everyone gets suitably trashed.

There are some sore heads the next day and we're on birds again. Three day rotation.

Our third day working with the birds and the rain arrives. It's the end of the rain season but today feels anything but the start of the dry season

After our stint on the birds we're back on special projects for three days. I build a feeding platform for the birds and add a branch network to a new bird shelter and add baffles to help discourage the flightless birds who inhabit the shelter from climbing down and also to discourage any wildlife from trying to get at the birds.

Helena spends the next few days coming up with ideas for animal enrichment and trying them out. Finally put that degree to some use.

We'd been at La Senda for a week and we're greeted with heavy rain in the morning. I finish off a prototype bird refuge made from chicken wire and cement turns out pretty well. That evening we all go to Coroico, the local town, for Bens birthday. We have a Mexican meal and a few drinks.

By this time Gavin, volunteering in the kitchen, had left and the quality and also quantity of the food improved dramatically, thanks to Pablo and Louisa!

The next day provides a shift change. I'm on miscelleneous and Helena is on monkeys. Miscellaneous includes the dogs, tortoises, squirrel monkeys, fox and Aruma the andean spectacled bear. Under the expert tutorlidge(?) of Reza, Mimi and I are shown what to do. The obvious highlight being Aruma. With his own enclosure at the back on a steep hillside. Aruma is a pretty chilled out bear who only gets spooked if you and he is shocked by the electric fence around his area. Hand feeding a 7ft, 150kg bear peanuts is pretty cool, until you shock yourself on the fence and think Aruma is going to flip. Not such a great scenery when some one is in his enclosure cleaning.

Helena is on monkeys (capuchins) for the first time and learning which monkeys she can and can't approach. The alpha male Ciruelo is a no,no for everybody and for the ladies the one-eyed Mirka and the super intelligent Martin are also no go areas. Mirka and Martin do not like female humans as it is suspected they were abused by women in the past. Helena also has a run in with Naranja. A female capuchin who is tethered away from the rest and a little skittish when it comes to humans. She took a dislike to Helena and jumped at Helena's face on their first meeting. She managed to bite Helena's finger as she protected her face. Ouch! Blood and everything.

Over the next few days I also got to meet the night monkey couscous. He would hang around Aruma's enclosure and also had a thing for the ladies. He reminded me of a possum and on the occasions he was around Mimi had to leave Aruma to Reza and I. Couscous had already jumped on and bitten a women a few days previously.

On our last shift change Helena and I swap duties. I'm on monkeys and Helena miscellaneous When I wasn't feeding monkeys I helped Ben convert an old enclosure to house a squirrel monkey.

Helena used her spare time to put together her thoughts on enrichment into a folder.

On our second to last night we hand a few beers and rums to celebrate our leaving. The drinking games were flowing and I was really quite drunk by the end.

Our last day had come and we were on special projects. I have to admit to not pulling my weight that day as I nursed my hangover. With an early night we got up, had breakfast, said our goodbyes and caught a taxi to Coroico.