Monkey Business 2 of 2

Julie and I instinctively went back-to-back like they do in the movies. She was keeping an eye on the monkeys in front of us; I was keeping tabs on the ones behind us; all the monkeys were keeping an eye on the two of us –or to be more specific, they were keeping an eye on our backpack that I had just handed to Julie.

Just as we made it through the monkey gauntlet without incident, we encountered an elderly couple walking their dogs.

They understood just enough English to answer our question and allay our fears. “No problem.” “Okay. Safe.”

With our courage (somewhat) restored, we continued. It was a good thing we had been assured the monkeys wouldn’t bother us, because a few minutes later we had to walk through what looked like Club Med for primates. About 40 or 50 monkeys were sprawled out sunning themselves in the late afternoon sun. Some were grooming each other. Some were nursing their young. Others were just milling about. Most of the monkeys that were on the path sauntered off as we got close, but a few of the bigger ones couldn’t be bothered. We had to walk within a few feet of several twenty-pound monkeys.

As nervous as we were, Julie and I couldn’t help but be amazed by these creatures. In the midst of being petrified, we would nudge each other to point out a baby riding on its mama’s back or one monkey picking nits off of another. We kept vacillating between “Sweet Jesus, save us!” and “Oh my goodness, look at that little one. He’s so cute” and “Hokey-tooters, look at the red butt on that one. There has got to be an ointment for that.”

I’ve never experienced quite this combination of fear, laughter, and wonder.

It was an intoxicating and heady mix.

-Jack