WHERE HAVE THE BRIMBLES BEEN???

I know – WHERE HAVE THE BRIMBLES BEEN? Are they OK? Was Matt finally beaten by Roy the puma? Did Sarah get so bored of looking after sick students that she moved even deeper into the jungle to join a wild spider monkey colony? Sadly nothing quite so exotic has befallen the Brimbles and the boring truth is that the Brimbles have been busy. Plane, boring old western style ‘too busy to keep in touch’ kind of busy. Sorry. So, before we get to bore you all in person when we get back (less than 3 weeks!) with the details of what we have been up to since May (even more boring for us than for you), we will write it all here, so please don’t be offended if when you ask us we refer you back to the blog, entry of August 20^th, ‘Where have the Brimbles been?’.

We managed to get rid of most of the Quest students at the end of May, when I immediately sped the 36 hour bus journey from Cusco back to the park. Matt followed en suite, having still not quite managed to shrug off one of the students who followed him back. After 7 short days working and being in the park together, I returned to Cusco to meet up with Mr & Mrs C for the looooong planned Peru/Bolivia adventure , leaving Matt in the park. Mum and Dad’s ‘concerns’ about travelling in a 3^rd world country worked to my advantage as I swapped 2* ‘modest’ hostels for 4 & 5* luxury hotels, and travelling ‘local’ style (aka in a sardine can) for private cars and aeroplanes (not private ones, sadly). After a wonderful ten day tour of Peru (Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, Cusco & Lake Titikaka) and Bolivia (island of the sun and La Paz). We finished off in the park where we met Matt and his dad, Mike, who came out to volunteer for two weeks before a spot of travel with Matt. Despite having three parents around at the same time, which was about three too many (just joking oldies), it was very special to share our home and our lives with them and we really enjoyed having them here (yes, they are reading this). After a couple of days in the park Mum and Dad departed and Matt and his Dad set off to travel Sucre, Potosi, the salt flats and Santa Cruz, which I am lead to believe went very well (yes, I believe Mike is also reading this if he can figure out how to turn a computer on). This time it was my turn to be left in the park , not only managing 30 monkeys but also coordinating 50 + volunteers, managing accommodation and at times also in charge of all park income and expenditure.

Still not time for us to be in one place at one time together, Matt kindly stopped off to surprise me for 10 hours in the park after Mike left, before speeding on to La Paz to meet his next group. The four weeks after the ten hour reunion were pretty tough for both of us. I managed to get one day off from the 7 days a week 14 hours a day work, and Matt didn’t get a single day off as he was with his ‘group’ of two girls working in three different parks. One more tag team was played as Matt arrived with his group the day before his birthday, so fortunately we did get to spend his birthday together... until midnight when I got a bus to Santa Cruz to meet my friends Emma, Lucy and Caroline. Apart from Caroline’s bags being lost twice before she even got to the park, we had a great trip – a couple of days in the park followed by Sucre, Potosi, the salt flats and La Paz (original!) before Caroline left. After that the three of us trekked the three day Choro trail and then spent a couple of days on the island of the sun before finishing the trip with a couple more days in the park. Again, it really was very special having them come and visit and I really appreciated them giving up their summer holidays to come to Bolivia – not the most exotic of places (they’re reading this too :o)!

So, the Brimbles are finally back in the park together for two weeks until making our way up to Lima for our flight home. This is the part where we are probably supposed to write some deep thoughts and reflections on this year, but that all seems a bit final and I am tired just thinking about the last few months so we will leave it for now.

Big love to all, Matt & Sarah x