Monkey Business

Paddle boarding had been on the agenda for this morning, but somehow it never came to pass. The Guanacaste offshore winds were howling and we used that as an excuse to laze around the compound. Sipping tea by the pool and reading books happened instead. I walked over to Chuck’s and picked up some fresh fish a local fisherman had dropped off there for us. I chatted them up for a while then PJ and I spent the morning taking care of some online business and watching the birds and dragonflies coming and going.

I cleared the leaves from the pool and we got in a good swim then lounged around on the deck drying off. A small snake tried to sneak by on the grass without being seen. I reached for the camera but he was way too quick. Some kind of garden snake with long horizontal stripes. The day idled by then we decided to go to the market and see if they had an ATM. As we exited the driveway, we could hear some howlers in the trees over by the public beach access.

We walked over and a large tribe of monkeys were hanging around in the tree tops munching leaves and tending to one another. Every so often something would rile them up and they would go to roofing and howling before settling back down to their social rituals. There must have been a dozen in the clan. Some we could see and others we could only hear making their distinctive calls from in among the jungle. A few small parrots stopped by overhead before flying briskly off towards the creek.

The market in Junquillal didn’t have an ATM. The girl at the counter said we’d have to go to Santa Cruz or Tamarindo to get cash. We bought a few veggies then took a drive down to the estuary to check out the area for launching the boards. The beach was beautiful and people were scattered along the coast fishing, picnicking or just hanging around waiting for the sun to set.

It was dark when we got home and I fired up the barbecue and started grilling some of the fish Trevor had brought for us. It was as good cooked as it was sashimi style. PJ made a rockin’ salad and we sat out on the patio with the meowing cat at our feet. Feliz wasn’t the only varmint lured in by the odor of fresh tuna. Feliz started growling and hunching up and we looked over to see two mapaches, the local raccoons, creeping up on us about four feet away. We shooed them off but PJ was now on the alert. They tried sneak up a few more times but we were on to them now.

After dinner, we were relaxing on the couch browsing the worldwide web when PJ’s eyes opened wide. A small skunk was poking its nose through the bars on the back door thinking to come in until he spied us then turned and fled. Tuna’s the bait if you want to attract the neighborhood wildlife.