Back on the road

31 Aug 2013

Bueno mundo, bueno natxo,

Heme aquí en la gaugua de camino al aeropuerto. Un juggler está haciendo tricks en la carretera bajo el incipiente y raramente ya familiar sol veraniego, con la 88 (que termina en Camden town) esperando pacientemente  a que el semáforo torne verde. 

Se me queda un nudo en la barriga, que asciende destino corazón, cuando me despido. “Cuanto antes me despida, antes me olvidaré de ti”. Me dicen que no es una frase romántica pero yo solo puedo ver amor en cada una de esas letras.

Pero no nos distraigamos, pues yo quiero hablaros de mí, para mí, por mí. Quiero recordarme, en un futuro, cómo me cambió otro más de mis viajes, de mis vueltas de hojas, de mis mudas de piel.

Marcho a Dubai, durante mis vacaciones del PDSA (mi currito en Lnd) para hacer un internado de 4 semanas en un hospital de halcones. Verdaderamente, no tengo muy claro qué es lo que voy a hacer. Lo que sé es que los halcones son demasiado caros para andar jugando con ellos, voy a poder hacer endonscopias y fracture repairs en cadáveres, y tomaré decisiones a la hora de tratar colecciones privadas de fauna salvaje del mandamás-figura autoritaria de Dubai, Rashid Al Maktoum. Sé que el centro forma parte de un programa de rehabilitación de especies en peligro tales como ciertos antílopes y una especie de guepardo procedente del norte de África, pero no sé hasta qué modo estaré envuelta en esto.

Después de Dubai, marcho a Turquía por una semana, pues una muy buena amiga se me casa (dos veces en una semana!). Estaré rondando por entre Bodrum y Ankara.

Soy consciente de que he estado bastante tiempo sin dar noticias, pero esto de disfrutar la vida al máximo tiene el turndown de que no te deja mucho tiempo libre, y el que te queda, lo quieres usar para ti (.Para mí). Sin embargo, y como ya bien sabéis después de todos estos años, este mail os llega porque se os quiere y pienso a menudo en vosotros.

Voy a escribir en el blog (http://ekukia.blogspot.ae/) e ir saltando del inglés al español, así más o menos tendréis todos (los que queráis) una idea generalizada de lo que ocurre.

02.Sept.2013

Dearest beloved ones,

I’m going to try to satisfy your thirst of knowledge about my whereabouts as good as possible. It is, as you should already know, much easier for me to write in Spanish than in English. However, I’m going to give it a try. Only under one condition: Once in a while I need one of you to correct some of the terribly written sentences posted in this blog. Like that, not only me, but all the other Spanish readers (hopefully a bunch of good friends) will learn from my mistakes and your altruist generosity.

Having said so, let’s start some writing…

I got to Dubai 2 days ago, ready to start a 4 weeks internship at a Falcon Hospital where I’ll be working with falcons and private wildlife collections. Of course, there is a small moral issue here, but the desire of learning, traveling and to experience a different culture have driven me here. Besides, I’ve only heard good things about this internship, so why shouldn’t I try.

I find it ironic that these are my holidays: when in London I have a 2days/week contract (although it is known that I always work a bit more than that!), whereas here I’m going to be working full time! Do not worry, though: at the end of this month I’ll start a lovely journey through Turkey alongside my dearest and engaged friend Damla.  Can’t wait.

Back to right here, right now (sorry, I know I repeat myself). The falcons we treat at the hospital are property of or are sponsored by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai. Therefore, HE pays for all the expenses, meaning that we do not have to deal with money (kind of a PDSA, but for rich and well positioned people).  Today Sarah, the nurse, had to go to the palace to have a talk with him and was thinking of taking me along, however, “our (big) boss” was busy with mysterious duties and we finally couldn’t go. Next time, maybe.

I’m still waiting for Conor, my future mentor, to arrive. Till that moment, I’m working only at the falcon hospital, where the day carries on as follows: We start at 8am, when clients arrive with their falcons and fill in some basic paperwork. Most of the falcons arriving these days are new acquisitions (from anywhere in the world: USA, Germany, UK…) or former champions from last year falconry exhibitions that require a general check up. This grossly includes: PE, weight, blood sample (HTC, smear, WBC manual count), crop swab, faeces sample (direct microscopy), xray, endoscopy and biopsy of lesions when necessary. Así que entran y salen como chorizos. One thing to bear in mind, the pace is way slower than at the PDSA: case by case, never dealing with two animals at a time (qué decir de 3 ó 4!), no stress present (so far). Lovely. I have the impression that working with Indian people plays a role here, which I’m really thankful for (they are so polite and gentle!). So far we have had peregrine falcons, gyr falcons, barn owls, desert eagle owls and a Harris’s hawk (cool!). This morning we also had a one-month old Speke’s gazelle with a distal metatarsal fracture, quite nasty and close to the joint :S. A. made a phone call and recommended to turn it into cheetah food, but someone at the palace wanted us to try... so we did. Poor little 2.5kg baby, cute as only an innocent toddler gazelle can be. Such eyes can melt anyone’s heart. Will come back next week for a check up.

As I was saying, Connor will come tomorrow and I’ll learn a bit more about my duties. Ah! On Thurs Neil Forbes is coming to give a talk and we’re all invited :).

I’ll try to post pics and update the with different topics a few times per week (sometimes in Spanish, sometimes in English), but can’t promise. Also, the internet connection in my little house is quite crap and I have to get outside to upload anything (meaning leaving the a/c behind and adventure myself into the melting reality of the dustiest and hottest place ever – I think my laptop is just about to catch fire :S).

I haven’t explored the city so far as I’m still settling down (and getting used to the heat!). 

Soon, my children.