Friday, December 7, 2007

Tena Diaries: Stopy Monkeying Around

Well, when I woke up from the hike to the waterfalls, my body was aching. All I wanted to do was wake up, sweat a little, eat breakfast, sleep, eat lunch, and then rest before dinner. En serio (Seriously). Pero, I didn't. I decided to take a walk around the city...which isn't much. Even counting the smaller cities within this small city, you are still not looking at much.

It's not that you CAN'T walk the town in a day...it's just that you wouldn't want to. When I say it was hot, I mean you'd beg for the Arctic Circle. Tena is like Arizona when the sun falls down in Phoenix.

After my cool shower which was like....hmmm....heavenly, I ate my breakfast and went out for the day. On my way, I went to this little reserve for animals. Now keep in mind, I am in the jungle. There are lots of wild animals that can roam like jaguars and ocelots. I am in the city, but that doesn't really matter. In this reserve, they keep those "wild" animals away, but provide homes for those cute South American ones and protect them from the city life of Tena (which ain't no Vegas, but it's still a city).

I saw so many monkeys climbing trees and swinging by people's houses. It was absolutely amazing. I saw two of them playing or fighting...I don't know the difference. It's kind of like me and Tracey...sometimes we play, sometimes, Mom and Dad gotta watch out! You never know! It was a spider monkey and a squirrel monkey. The big one was sooo mean...he looked like the oldest and he wouldn't let the little one go. The little squirrel monkey tried to get away and did his very best. It reminded me of me, trying to escape my sister and older cousins who tortured me (oh yeah, I remember those days at Granny's house). I tried to scare the spider monkey away, but then I figured, I'd better not intefere with nature. My little squirrel monkey got away. Yeah!!!!!!!


I couldn't keep my eyes off of these monkeys. They were so beautiful and so playful. The thing is, they were used to people looking at them and playing with them. They live in Tena and not a zoo. They are natives of that land and that was absolutely the best part of it. One of the squirrel monkeys was staring at me, while eating.......a banana of course. It is so cute how they eat it. Not like you and I. They peel it and then tear off little bites. Well, I guess she was scared of me looking at her, she threw the banana peel on me....I couldn't even get mad. That was her way of saying "Stop staring at me". I didn't stop though. Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures because my camera batteries were low...then out...they would work...then it wouldn't. The sights I saw when I was with those monkeys was absolutely gorgeous.

Then....what.....

OWWWWW.....what.....

She did it! She jumped on my shoulder. The cutest little monkey. She was absolutely beautiful. She was tickling me...not of purpose, but she was trying to get settled in on my shoulder and I didn't want to move because I thought she would leave.

"Take my picture, take my picture"

"Oh no, Krystle....your camera won't work. No...It's not working. Sorry..."

"No. Try again. Please you have to take this picture. No one would believe me....please try again."

Click. Click. Click.



Oh, great. I got three pictures with my little friend. But I was so happy and excited, I started crying. It was absolutely amazing. By this time, I knew she would soon leave my side, but not...sister monkey girl, crawled on my head. She would NOT let go.

"Okay, go little monkey. Climb in the tree."

Oh yeah, she speaks Spanish.

"Arriba, pequeno mono por favor, sales. En el arbol por favor."

Nope. Didn't work. After about 8-10 minutes, (yes...I kept count) she finally jumped into the tree.

Wow...that was absolutely an amazing experience. Truly amazing. I always wanted my own monkey. But ten minutes with my new friend was definitely an experience I will never forget.

Tis far better to be under a monkey than in the mouth of a jaguar (Ecuador's King of the Jungle), glad I didn't run into one of those!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Giiirl.....This picture doesn't surprise me at all...I wish you could bring her home and we could call her Beauty!!!! Love You

BaBy T