On this day we went to the marina at eight AM to meet our guide who took us by boat the eighteen miles down the coast to where the Monkey River meets the Atlantic Ocean. We rode through mangrove swamps and open ocean to get there. He's been operating these tours for some thirty years and really seemed to enjoy stopping to point out crocodiles, herons & egrets, plant species, and places where mankind had altered the environment in some way that produced an unintended outcome.
At the mouth of the Monkey River is a little village, population: 310. We pulled into a dock there where we took a potty stop and ordered lunch, and our choices were beans and rice with fried or baked fish, or baked chicken. Then we got back on the boat and went about eight miles up river. Along the way our guide pointed out many kinds of flora and fauna.
Morning Glories grow wild and prolifically along the river banks. We saw their purplish pink flowers as far up the river as we went and beyond.
We saw a particular type of grassy weed, one of the plants they use in thatching their roofs (rooves?). We saw yellow bamboo that grows in huge thickets along the riverside. We saw Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, "regular" white egrets, a juvenile Tiger Egret, several crocs, turtles that look like giant versions of the little ones we grew up with in our terrariums, a big old' snappin' turtle, cormorants, frigate birds, pelicans and so many other birds I can't even remember them all, and even a pair of tiny brown proboscis bats that had bunked for the day on a bare tree stem in the river.
About eight miles up the river we pulled over and parked alongside some other boats and disembarked. We had already been warned to wear closed-toed shoes and to spray everyp centimeter of exposed skin with bug repellant and so we were ready. We walked carefully through the woods, stopping every now and then so our guide could explain or point something out. The monkeys we saw were howler monkeys. Pretty little black things, about the size of an extra-large domestic cat, maybe a little larger. They make their way through the canopy and never offered to come down or to make themselves more visible to us Relatively small creatures to make as much noise as they do! Here and again you'd hear a guide hollering his special sound to elicit a response from the howler monkeys, and their responses were dramatic! The path was quite muddy and we saw even more interesting things in that jungle, which I might tell you about another time because right now I am very tired. It's been a busy and exciting day and I'd like to see if I can get some sleep now.
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