Many Monkeys
Quepos, Costa Rica
Nov. 28, 2006
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We had come to Costa Rica for the sites, to see the rain forest and a volcano, and
to ride the zip lines -- of course, all that. But most of all, we had come to see monkeys. And
six days into our trip, we had seen scarce signs of them-- the dark shadows of one or
two howler monkeys mocking us from the canopy during our horseback ride at Arenal.
Then, on our first morning down near Manuel Antonio Park,
we woke to the sound of something thumping on our hotel room roof.
At home, it might have been squirrels, but I thought I could hear soft
rustling just behind each louder sound -- maybe a long tail? Jen was out
first, and as she went up to the pool deck was pleased to see a monkey and
then another in the trees. Then she turned around to see the roof -- where two
or three dozen of them were frolicking.
You're not supposed to feed them; we know that now, because our Lonely
Planet guide berated us about it. But that hardly occurred to us as our
hotel clerk handed bananas to the girls, and as the capuccin monkeys grabbed
the offered chunks with their soft little monkey hands.
This
Old Tyme newsreel tells the whole story.
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