Monkey Business

You gotta love 'em! Monkeys do the darnedest things! With their human like hands they can get into all kinds of mischief. The sign above makes me smile every time I see it because I have no doubt that if someone left their car unlocked and the keys in the ignition one of the monkeys could and would drive off in it! I complained one time to the owner of a lodge in Ecuador that the monkeys, (spider monkeys for the most part) were getting into my hut and rummaging through my belongings when I was out on the river or hiking...and I mean they were unzipping my bag! He asked me, "Do you have any cookies..candy... fruit...in your room? Well, yessss, I did...but... He threw his arms in the air in exasperation at my answer and ended the conversation abruptly with, "Then I can do nothing!"

The monkeys got in at night too as evidenced by what I would find in the morning, usually on my bed. It was more than a little disconcerting to feel a hairy tail brush against my face in the night. I got used to it though and even stopped screaming after a few nights. The owner of this lodge was very nice, despite his inability to give me a good nights rest, and he loved all the monkeys that would visit the lodge.

They are not pets, nor are they fed, and they are free to go anytime. This little capuchin seemed pretty used to people. At dinner each night, when he saw me heading to the dining area, he would jump on me, crawl under my shirt, and then pop his head out of the neck hole and stay there, peering around and sometimes snoozing....for hours. Cheeky monkey!

The Jungle Place in between Akumal and Tulum is a great place to visit when in Mexico. You can read about their monkey sanctuary here http://www.jungleplace.com/ . They are doing wonderful work there for sick and displaced spider monkeys in that area.

Here's a photo of one of my smaller friends at The Jungle Place when she was five years old wearing a monkey "bracelet" (Ixchel) and last year, barely seven years old, just after a thorough head inspection for insects by Luna and Maya. She's a monkey child!

Aren't we all?

I'll be away from a computer for a few weeks while I go a whale watching in the Dominican Republic. (Yes, you CAN get away from a computer!) Hopefully, I'll figure out how to post video when I return. Until then....stop monkeying around and start planning an adventure!