Monkeys

We woke up early to the not-too-distant sound of Howler Monkeys this morning. The girls and I decided to delay school to see if we could find them. We threw on our shoes and trotted out the gate and down the road toward the sound of ghosts in a haunted mansion in almost every episode of Scubby Doo, "WWHOOOooooooooo".

And then it stopped. And we didn't find any Howler Monkeys.

Not easily discouraged and total energized from trotting down the road at 7:00 AM on a monkey hunt, we kept going anyway. About 2 km south of our house there is a single lane dirt path that goes up Santa Clara Hill. We had made it half way up earlier in the week and decided to give it another shot today just in case that was where the Howlers had disappeared to.

After a tough climb, more or less equivalent to the climb up to the Pavones Yoga Center that Laura does every day, we came around a bend and saw the trees on the side of the road bouncing around. Getting closer, the girls squealed and pointed up. MONKEYS! Not big brown Howler Monkeys, but cute little orange Titi Monkeys with white faces and black eyes, noses and tails. There were at least a dozen and they were leaping from branch to branch and tree to tree. We took turns with our binoculars, my iPhone and our camera, alternately watching, filming and photographic the amazing scene.

We watched them for about 20 minutes until they moved deeper into the forest away from the road. It was hard to believe we had been so close to so many monkeys. Costa Rica just keeps on delivering great experiences.

Another look...

And this gives an idea of how high from sea level we had climbed by the time we hit monkey gold...

Laura has the afternoon off from yoga training tomorrow. Our favorite day of the week!

Hasta mañana