Thirty-Three Photos with Cyrus in the UTV

On Monday, March 23rd, Corina set out to tour the sanctuary in the UTV with Cyrus Bueche, a visitor who had come from the United States. The sky was clear, and the dirt paths carried the damp scent of vegetation in full bloom. They hadn't gone far when the chestnut-fronted macaws appeared — two Ara severus with wings outstretched, one of them banded with tag E101 — and then, further along, the ararauna in free flight, cleaving the blue air with that yellow that looks freshly painted. Along the way, a list took shape that no one had planned: four different raptors perched or in flight, a motmot with a russet breast watching from its branch, a rail slipping through the undergrowth, a woodpecker clinging to its tree, a green iridescent hummingbird suspended before a magenta flower. The Amazonian parrots — one wearing band B11 — pecked at cucumber and red bell pepper with a calm that made it seem as though the world held no further urgencies. On the paths, a reddish-brown horse walked unhurried toward the camera, and further on a donkey laden with sacks continued on its own way, unbothered. Corina stopped the UTV more than once to tend to the golden-coated dog that had accompanied them throughout the ride. Thirty-three photographs remained from that Monday: the memory of a sanctuary that needs no announcement to show what it holds.