Hard to believe we’ve been on Luna de Miel for 2 weeks and 1 day. I suppose it’s been fast and slow.
Awoke around 6:00’ish this morn and shortly thereafter headed up the street (can a dirt road be called that?) looking for my monkeys. Nada. Saw some parrots –no pics – too fast. Got back and Scott was up on the balcony doing his coffee thing. Naturally, I joined him. He took a body surf and I started packing up for our next adventure. Around 9:45 he drove me back up the dirt road and we found them! A group of monkeys all sacked out on limbs drunk from mango juice.
I first climbed on top of the car and Scott suggested I get closer. I crawled underneath barbed wire and walked closer – wondered briefly if I would encounter snakes or other curious creatures. I got some good shots and a few other guests stopped along the way. The 2 gals from Maine told us of another spot. So, after I played National Geographic Mag photographer, we headed out on another exploration in search of monkeys. This is Kenda reporting live from the depths of the jungle in search of the ever-evasive Howler Monkey.
We found ourselves on a road that was flooded over by a waterfall. Parked and walked over it. We then found ourselves in a beautiful place – many butterflies fluttering about. I saw the Green Malachite – no pic. A beautiful red bird came across our path and eventually rested on a fence. I got a shot – just not a good one. I didn’t have my tripod and didn’t see this bird in my field guide. It looked like a red Parakeet.
Three motorcycles passed by – just before their arrival, we heard Howlers about ½ mile back. We continued on and found the monkeys. The motorcycles must’ve gotten the male revved up, thus our being able to hear them. I was looking for him, the Alpha. Walking, walking, walking, and there he was. I got too close and he jumped down a branch howling. He sounded aggressive and a little pissed, so I slowly backed away from him. I didn’t want to be a future Headliner, “Foolish American Camera-Carting Tourist-Girl in Costa Rica gets Mauled by Howling Monkey”. yikes.
As I was backing away and heading to where Scott was standing near another small group of monkeys, those monkeys began returning the Alpha’s call. Spooky.
I videotaped some of it just before my batteries died. I was bummed because I don’t want to miss anything! I left my camera bag in the car and had no spare batteries on me. Crap.
We saw THREE magical Morphos. One breezed, lazily by us past a little palapa house surrounded by brilliantly colored vegetation. It looked like something in a fairy tale.
Rain rain rain again this afternoon. We actually made it back just in time. I hung out and wrote thank you postcards while Scott read. At some point this afternoon, we adopted a dog, who we promptly named Pilsen after the local beer. He hung out with us for hours. A couple walked by our place (which was odd in itself, because we were the most remote and hadn’t seen anyone all week except for the house keepers), and Pilsen was nearly on the attack in pursuit of protecting our property and our persons.
We actually dressed fairly fancily for dinner tonightly. We figured, what the heck, it’s our last night at the Sanctuary.
Dinner with Dave and Susie, our WV Republican friends again. It was chill and we headed in early to prep for a long drive mañana. Adios Sanctuary.
If you’d like to follow all the Costa Rican posts, click click click away and enjoy!
Post #1: The first days of our Costa Rican Honeymoon here
Post #2:: Little Grape Big Grape here
Post #3: First Monkey Sighting here
Post #4: Spazztacular Sunset here
Post #5: Looking at Lava with my Lovah here
Post #6: The Sanctuary here
Post #7: More of the Sanctuary here
Post #8: Playa Pan de Azucar here
Post #9: Yes We CAN! here
Post #10: Back at the Sanctuary here
This is Post #11: Adios Sanctuary! here