Bill's searches for the Wawa Grande (Ecuador's Bigfoot)

[Valerie Villars]

Don't beat yourself up. Mara knows you love her and we all make dumb decisions from time to time. I'm sure you thought you were doing a kind thing for her, by taking her out as she loves it so much.

I will be thinking kindly of her all day.

Much love to you both.

[Praxis]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Valerie Villars (here)
I really came here to find out how Mara is doing. An update would be nice. She's such a lovely creature.

Thank you for the kind thought!

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Valerie Villars (here)
Will she still be able to be Queen of the World and climb in safety? Will she be able to adjust her depth perception to accommodate the loss of the vision in the one eye?

I'm aware I'll need to do a little careful experimentation to see if she really can gauge distances well when she's jumping from rock to rock. It might be something that she has to re-learn to do, so we'll definitely take it easy for a while on steep ground with lots of big boulders.

Well, last weekend I had what I thought was a bright idea to take her for a hike up the local river valley. We've been there many times before, and she always loves it. She's a real water baby, and it's not a strenuous high mountain expedition.

After a mile or two, it turns into a steeply forested gorge, with a lot of rocks to jump around on as we both wade upstream. That's the only way to progress, as the forest is so thick.

But it was a huge mistake, OMG. A real error of judgment. At one point Mara was on the other side of the river from me, and she was a little intimidated. I'd discovered she didn't have the depth perception she had, and she was slipping around quite a lot.

It was all safe — the water is only a couple feet deep at the most — but it's fast flowing and very loud with all the waterfalls, and I think she was just unsure what to do at that point.

I had to negotiate some rocks myself, and by the time I looked up again, I couldn't see her. In itself that wasn't a problem, but then I still couldn't see her. And after a couple minutes calling for her, I realized she'd just vanished. I'd lost her completely.

I spent the best part of a very long hour wading up and down the river, yelling for her at the top of my voice above all the noise. I had no idea where she was, but I knew what had happened: she'd climbed UP the steely forested walls, and then, like a cat up a tree, couldn't get down again. I took a 10 second video of where I lost her, to mark the spot, and you can see the problem.

• http://projectavalon.net/Where_I_lost_Mara.mov

In the end, I found her... or rather, she found me, having somehow made her way back down to the river, looking very traumatized. And she'd injured her eye again in the forest, the blind one. Aaargh.



So she had to have an operation, and that was yesterday. The vet, who's the highest quality person, told me that it was successful, and he'd extracted 'a tiny piece of wood' from her eye.

I'm going in to see her right after this, and I'll get the story of whether he thinks this was from her first injury, or the new one. But she must have been in a lot of pain for a while.

I learned my lesson: that was so very dumb for me to take her anywhere near the thick forest. Jeez. I can't believe I did that, never thinking what might happen.

So from now on, it's the open mountains only. And today, I collect the UV doggles that I'd ordered a while back... redundant now, of course, as we now know UV wasn't the cause of all this. But I can probably adapt them into a protective eyepatch for her, which she's likely to need. A fun photo will surely follow.

Your poor puppy. I hope she gets better fast

Dont be too hard yourself Bill, there is no way you could have known.

I look forward to seeing Pirate Captain Mara.

[Pam]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Valerie Villars (here)
I really came here to find out how Mara is doing. An update would be nice. She's such a lovely creature.

Thank you for the kind thought!

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Valerie Villars (here)
Will she still be able to be Queen of the World and climb in safety? Will she be able to adjust her depth perception to accommodate the loss of the vision in the one eye?

I'm aware I'll need to do a little careful experimentation to see if she really can gauge distances well when she's jumping from rock to rock. It might be something that she has to re-learn to do, so we'll definitely take it easy for a while on steep ground with lots of big boulders.

Well, last weekend I had what I thought was a bright idea to take her for a hike up the local river valley. We've been there many times before, and she always loves it. She's a real water baby, and it's not a strenuous high mountain expedition.

After a mile or two, it turns into a steeply forested gorge, with a lot of rocks to jump around on as we both wade upstream. That's the only way to progress, as the forest is so thick.

But it was a huge mistake, OMG. A real error of judgment. At one point Mara was on the other side of the river from me, and she was a little intimidated. I'd discovered she didn't have the depth perception she had, and she was slipping around quite a lot.

It was all safe — the water is only a couple feet deep at the most — but it's fast flowing and very loud with all the waterfalls, and I think she was just unsure what to do at that point.

I had to negotiate some rocks myself, and by the time I looked up again, I couldn't see her. In itself that wasn't a problem, but then I still couldn't see her. And after a couple minutes calling for her, I realized she'd just vanished. I'd lost her completely.

I spent the best part of a very long hour wading up and down the river, yelling for her at the top of my voice above all the noise. I had no idea where she was, but I knew what had happened: she'd climbed UP the steely forested walls, and then, like a cat up a tree, couldn't get down again. I took a 10 second video of where I lost her, to mark the spot, and you can see the problem.

• http://projectavalon.net/Where_I_lost_Mara.mov

In the end, I found her... or rather, she found me, having somehow made her way back down to the river, looking very traumatized. And she'd injured her eye again in the forest, the blind one. Aaargh.



So she had to have an operation, and that was yesterday. The vet, who's the highest quality person, told me that it was successful, and he'd extracted 'a tiny piece of wood' from her eye.

I'm going in to see her right after this, and I'll get the story of whether he thinks this was from her first injury, or the new one. But she must have been in a lot of pain for a while.

I learned my lesson: that was so very dumb for me to take her anywhere near the thick forest. Jeez. I can't believe I did that, never thinking what might happen.

So from now on, it's the open mountains only. And today, I collect the UV doggles that I'd ordered a while back... redundant now, of course, as we now know UV wasn't the cause of all this. But I can probably adapt them into a protective eyepatch for her, which she's likely to need. A fun photo will surely follow.

I'm so sorry about her injury. I lost the hearing in one ear as an adult. It happened in a split second. I can no longer determine where sound comes from. The reason I share this is because the body and senses will eventually adapt to a great degree. What at first seemed very severe and depressing adapted to a minor inconvenience. She will learn the tricks of dealing with her disability. I imagine she will do this much faster than a human would, as animals respect their instincts and survival mechanisms. There is hope that she will be able to adapt to many terrains, but the open areas sound like a really good start.

[Valerie Villars]

Bill, how is Mara? Please tell me she is recovering nicely. Give her a big hug from me. The darling.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Valerie Villars (here)
Bill, how is Mara? Please tell me she is recovering nicely. Give her a big hug from me. The darling.

Hey, my thanks to everyone for their inquiries and very kind thoughts.

She's recovering, but it's a struggle. She came home after her operation, but after a couple of days her eye looked like this (ugh) and she was in such discomfort that she couldn't eat.



I sent the vet the photo, and he really didn't like that at all. So she's been back in the vet hospital this last week under observation. I go to see her today, and just possibly might be able to bring her back home again. We're both missing our mountain hikes!

[Flyswim]

Excuse me for dropping this link from the Daily Mail (UK Tabloid) but it reminded me of your climbing / hiking adventures with Mara, Bill. I hope that she is now recovered and on the up? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rmy-owner.html

[Rosemarie]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Valerie Villars (here)
Bill, how is Mara? Please tell me she is recovering nicely. Give her a big hug from me. The darling.

Hey, my thanks to everyone for their inquiries and very kind thoughts.

She's recovering, but it's a struggle. She came home after her operation, but after a couple of days her eye looked like this (ugh) and she was in such discomfort that she couldn't eat.



I sent the vet the photo, and he really didn't like that at all. So she's been back in the vet hospital this last week under observation. I go to see her today, and just possibly might be able to bring her back home again. We're both missing our mountain hikes!

Bill. Hello. How is Mara doing ? Just saw this post yesterday. Are you happy with the treatment the vet is giving Mara ?

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Rosemarie (here)

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Valerie Villars (here)
Bill, how is Mara? Please tell me she is recovering nicely. Give her a big hug from me. The darling.

Hey, my thanks to everyone for their inquiries and very kind thoughts.

She's recovering, but it's a struggle. She came home after her operation, but after a couple of days her eye looked like this (ugh) and she was in such discomfort that she couldn't eat.



I sent the vet the photo, and he really didn't like that at all. So she's been back in the vet hospital this last week under observation. I go to see her today, and just possibly might be able to bring her back home again. We're both missing our mountain hikes!

Bill. Hello. How is Mara doing ? Just saw this post yesterday. Are you happy with the treatment the vet is giving Mara ?

Hey, thanks. It's still a bit of a struggle.

Last week, in the dark, she ran headlong into something sharp on her blind side and stumbled back to the house screaming and trembling. She came within half an inch of poking her blind eye out. There was blood all over. This photo is of the new injury.



The vet (Dr Gustavo Mora) is a remarkable, exceptional man. The very highest quality human being. He and I are going to go on some high mountain hikes when Mara's ready again, and I'll look forward to that.

Mara will recover fully... we just have to make sure she's safe up there, whatever she does.

[Eva2]

Sending lots of healing vibes to the beautiful Mara - hope she is over the worst and will soon join her "person" on another climbing adventure. No doubt, it is very difficult to watch something so important suffer.

[Bill Ryan]

Well, another update. (And my thanks to everyone for all your good wishes and inquiries. )

The workmen who've now started to tear the roof off my house (see the Black Mold thread!) can't come tomorrow, so even though the weather is cold, wet and foul I think Mara and I will head for the high mountains to stress-test how she's doing in body, mind, spirit and sight.

I'm confident she'll be fine now: she's healed a great deal the last few weeks. I'll be wearing full battledress (because of the rain), but she's an all-weather dog, so she won't even notice. I might have a few misty, damp photos to share tomorrow.


Edit to add:

It won't be tomorrow (Friday) after all.... the work team have to change their plans and continue on the roof because it'll be raining hard. The forecast is pretty awful, and they're concerned for the house (which is kind of like an open tent right now ). So the wet-weather mountain trip will be the weekend, or Monday.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
even though the weather is cold, wet and foul I think Mara and I will head for the high mountains to stress-test how she's doing in body, mind, spirit and sight.

Stress-test results:


—> http://projectavalon.net/Mara_in_the_rain.mp4 (37 seconds, 25 Mb, recommended )

[Rosemarie]

I guess she passed the test with flying colors ! So happy for you two. Why is it still raining ?? I thought you had the same timeline regarding the seasons as Gye !

[Forest Denizen]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
even though the weather is cold, wet and foul I think Mara and I will head for the high mountains to stress-test how she's doing in body, mind, spirit and sight.

Stress-test results:


—> http://projectavalon.net/Mara_in_the_rain.mp4 (37 seconds, 25 Mb, recommended )

Haha!!! Lovely video, Bill! Mara is clearly SO happy to be there with you. Warms my heart

[Mike]

she's the same master of the mountains she's always been, just a little more heroic now.

great to see

[Constance]

Yay for Mara! You both look well and happy

I could have sworn those were fairy lights at the end of those conifer branches surrounding Mara!

[Sadieblue]

Ahh seeing her run around happy as can be, just made me so
happy. Glad she is feeling good. YOu both look great.

[James Newell]

She definitely showed us all she's still "Got it"!

[Dennis Leahy]

Mara belongs on the canine version of the cover of a "Wheaties" box! What an amazing spirit to have bounced back to that level of vibrancy after losing sight in one eye. What an inspiration! Mara, thank you! You are personally inspiring and motivating me!

p.s. Bill, just in case Mara has trouble reading that, please read it to her for me.

[Bill Ryan]

Mara, the one-eyed wonder dog:


(large image: http://projectavalon.net/Mara_mist_p...ly_2019_lg.jpg)



Taken yesterday at 14,250 ft, on a peak we'd never been to before. She had exactly zero trouble.

The next test will probably be this weekend, when we'll venture out to tackle a high ridge, where we have been before, featuring a bunch of large rocks which will require a bit of jumping and balancing. (For us both! )

[Bill Ryan]

A general recap here, as anyone new to this thread might (justifiably!) think it's all about my dog.


But it didn't start out that way. The thread title is all about Ecuador's Bigfoot, called the Wawa Grande (= "Big Baby" ). I set out — with my dog — to track it down.

There had been several sightings — including one impressive, dramatic physical encounter, in which a hiker was hospitalized with deep scratches after an actual one-on-one fight with the thing. And as always, the indigenous people know all about it, hence the local name.

All that is on this thread:

• Bigfoot in my back yard in Ecuador (well, pretty close)

To cut the long story short (and the long story is documented in this thread), I've now explored this area near and far, over many trips into very remote and wild back country, never seeing another hiker. And I probably now know it as well as any gringo ever has.

The problem is that there's just not enough for it to live on, unless it can somehow outrun the wild deer, llamas and alpacas. This isn't a dense, rich forest habitat like Northern California. It's a high, rocky, grassy, open alpine area, most of it above the treeline, with few places to hide from sometimes seriously nasty weather or create any kind of shelter — though those do exist: there are some high forested areas, and many large boulders where shelter could be found.

But I've never seen the tiniest trace of the thing. Including no prints in muddy areas near lakes and rivers, where one might presume it would drink.

However, there was one instance, documented here, where my dog Mara was seriously frightened and on high alert about something which I could NOT see. It was all a very weird experience, and left me wondering whether this Bigfoot-like thing might not be entirely flesh-and-blood physical.

So I've abandoned trying to hunt it down... and I'm seriously reluctant to return to The Haunted Lakes (where Mara was so scared, and I got uncharacteristically disoriented) — because whatever's there, physical or otherwise, I don't think it means well.

Planned, though, for sometime in the next month or so (with a couple of young Ecuadorian guides who have become friends), is an expedition to a very remote mountain called Diablococha. These guys have never been to the summit. I was honored when they invited me to accompany them.

It'd be a strenuous two-day trip, and the area is super-beautiful, with condors not too far away. But one wonders how the mountain got its name.

Dave Paulides (see this thread) has often remarked how the mysterious, inexplicable disappearances he's researched and reported frequently take place near some feature that was named The Devil's something-or-other. Diablococha, of course, is just
one of those.