Dear Friends,

I hope this letter finds you well. Once again, another month has passed, I have been here 5 months! As always, January seemed to have 50 days so it feels like an age since I wrote. 

The monkeys were caught shortly after my last letter, and a resemblance of peace returned to the centre. It’s been a busy month though, with the largest number of residents that RAREC has seen in over a year. We currently have 28 people here, which brings 28 people’s worth of problems. I am now the longest standing member of staff, with all my original friends having left, as the head vet left a few days ago. But there’s still a nice group of people here, a couple of which aren’t leaving for a while. We had a good leaving party, where the leftover supply of alcohol that has occupied the freezer since I, and even the vet arrived, was consumed to say goodbye.

After last month I really needed a break, so I took my days off in a nice hotel in the city. I had air con, room service and a bath (!), which was slightly green owing that it came from the river, but was very much needed and appreciated. I sat by the pool and read, ordered in “proper” italian pizza, had salad (twice!) and felt a lot more refreshed when I returned.

This time of year is carnival, but not carnival as you’re imagining in Rio… Here for the last 2 weeks of February, things get weird…

On my way to the hotel, in the combi (public minivan) we obviously had the windows open, and I saw a flash of white and suddenly I was soaking wet. Someone had thrown a bucket of water at the car, and typically it had bypassed the person sat next to the window and hit me full in the face, sitting behind him. But weird things happen here the whole time and nobody else in the car seemed perturbed so I mopped up my face and thought nothing more of it. A few days later I noticed multiple people dragging massive cut palm trees behind their motocars. I assumed it was something to do with lent and upcoming Easter. Following that, I saw what looked like a may pole up in the mall, a palm wrapped in material but covered with colourful plastic washing up bowls and plastic baskets. Then when taking the vet into the airport it all clicked into place when some kids threw water balloons at the car and we had to ride, slowly cooking ourselves, with the windows closed for quarter of an hour as people threw buckets of water and balloons at passing cars and motocars… Carnival! On the way back I saw people dressed in scary masks, and palms covered in plastic bowls, baskets, tupperware and buckets appeared in every community. So apparently, people cut down a palm, dig a hole and “plant” it. They decorate it with items, mostly plastic but sometimes clothing, and then the last Sunday in February they dance around it with machetes hitting it. A bit like a piñata, whoever knocks it down wins and there’s a mad scrabble to grab as many items as you can. Plus, the winner has to pay for all the prizes next year! I haven’t worked out why they throw water at cars yet though…. But it doesn’t stop there. We’re invited on the 24th of February to the local carnival where they throw flour and eggs at each other. Kind of like the origins of pancake day except without the pancakes, I guess. I’ve even seen someone covered head to toe in mud, who very drunkenly asked if I wanted a photo and proceeded to stumble down to the river and “drive” his little boat home. After I’d politely declined the photo, I was driving back and came across what looked like lots of trees milling around in the middle of the road… They were men, dressed up SAS style, head to toe in leaves and branches with their face covered with black material. I can only imagine what they were going to do, apart from give some poor motorist a heart attack.

Not much else has happened, I got a flat tyre while driving 2 volunteers back to the centre and just as we’re were getting the spare tyre out the boot a pickup stopped and a couple of guys did it all for me! My arm swelled up quite badly after a reaction to an insect bite. My work visa got approved, although needs to be extended in March, and finally, I went to a local pool for a couple of hours, drank a Cuba Libre, and try to relax (that was before the hotel mini break). A final little anecdote, like our saying “raining cats and dogs” when it’s very heavy rain, here they have a really cute expression – “the rain is coming with its grandma”

Miss you all.

Lots of love,

Joss xxx