Sunday, December 31, 2006

Sasha B. Bard of Richmond is the latest contributor to our Your Vacation in Lights feature, in which we invite Travel section readers to share the dish about their recent trips. It's a big, confusing travel world out there, and you can help your fellow travelers navigate it. Your hot tip can be the next guy's day-maker; your rip-off restaurant, the next family's near miss. To file your own trip report -- and become eligible to win a digital camera -- see the fine print below.

THE TRIP: Volunteering at the Parque Machia wild animal refuge in Bolivia. The park houses and rehabilitates animals that were illegally poached and sold on the black market to private owners, hotels and circuses. I worked with monkeys, ocelots and pumas.

WHO WENT? Me and my younger sister, Tessa, whom I was finally able to persuade to join me on one of my crazy adventures abroad.

WHERE? Villa Tunari, Chapare, Bolivia

WHEN? September-November 2006

WHY? Who wouldn't want to play with monkeys all day?

GETTING THERE WAS . . . an adventure. We were coming from Peru and had to spend an unplanned four days in La Paz due to a nationwide transportation strike.

IT MADE IT ALL WORTH IT WHEN . . . I took two spider monkeys -- Guarayos, a baby, and Ramona, an adult female -- to sleep in the big cage for the first time. The two were being introduced into an established group of 28 monkeys, and both had trouble being accepted. The alpha females especially would harass and bully them. It was my job to help them integrate into the group. When they spent that first night in the big cage with the rest of the monkeys, well, mission accomplished!

BEST THING ABOUT OUR LODGING: We had a ceiling fan.

WORST THING ABOUT OUR LODGING: Not being able to flush toilet paper.

COOLEST JOB: Night watch. You get to camp out in a treehouse inside the park to scare off poachers. Waking up in the treetops of the rain forest with monkeys cuddled in your sleeping bag is priceless.

THING I COULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT: Cleaning cages. Not the nicest-smelling job, but part of the volunteer experience nonetheless.

CHEAPEST THRILL: Hard to choose, there were so many: swimming with a puma in the river, going into the park after hours to see the nocturnal honey bears, hunting alongside an ocelot, feeding milk to baby monkeys and working with volunteers from around the world.

DAILY STRUGGLE: Trying to be taken seriously when you have monkey poo, papaya or both smeared in your hair.

FAVORITE SOUVENIR: The scar on my arm, which I can honestly say is a puma scratch.

Inti Wara Yassi, a nonprofit nongovernmental organization, operates two refuges in Bolivia to house and rehabilitate abused wild animals. Volunteers must commit to a minimum of two weeks and are required to pay for their first 15 days in advance ($90 to $100). Details: http://www.intiwarayassi.org.

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Want to see your own vacation in lights? We'll highlight one report, along with a photo from the trip, on the last Sunday of the month.

To enter, use the categories above as a guide (use as many as you wish, or add your own; for a complete list, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/vacationinlights) and send your report to Your Vacation in Lights, Washington Post Travel Section, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071; fax it to 202- 912-3609; or e-mail vacationinlights@washpost.com.

Entries chosen for publication become eligible to receive a Canon PowerShot A610 (or equivalent) digital camera at the end of the year. Entries will be chosen on the basis of humor, originality and usefulness; are subject to editing for space and clarity; and become property of The Post, which may edit, publish, distribute or republish them in any form. Employees of The Post and their immediate families are not eligible. No purchase necessary.