THE MONKEYS ARE AT IT AGAIN

In recent days our family of white face capuchin monkeys has been quite rowdy. Monkeys are usually quite vocal but lately there is something in the air that is making them more vocal than usual. Is it the full moon, the coming of summer, or maybe mating season? We are not quite sure but something is making them more active than usual.

They are also appearing in new locations on the property. Over the years they have developed a routine that seemed to be a very large loop. They would start out in the early morning at the studio and then work their way down the hill side to Café Blue and continue around the hill and up to the top of the hill near Casa Palo Alto to return to the studio around lunch time. They would make another loop and be at the studio late afternoon and then disappear to settle down for the night.

Lately, they are everywhere. They are behind the studio, crossing the road near the Café Blue parking lot, behind the restaurant, near the casitas, etc. It is a lot more interesting. I can be walking the path down to the Lecheria and suddenly hear the calls of monkeys overhead. It is usually a warning for the others that an intruder is approaching. And believe me when I say they think of humans as intruders. The family of monkeys definitely thinks that this is their land and we are invading their territory.

We have always been very careful to keep our distance. As cute and funny as they are, they are still wild animals. We make sure that our hotel guests do not feed them. We are having a hard enough time keeping them away from our food as it is. We used to store all our fruits and vegetables on a shelf just outside the Café Blue kitchen door. We have now had to move all the food inside because the monkeys were stealing it,. Last week when I came out the door, a monkey had an entire pineapple in his hand eating it right in front of me. His reaction when he saw me was to take one more bite and then drop it to the ground.

The cas fruit tree at Adrian’s house across the street is currently fruiting. I love cas. It makes a great fruit drink. The challenge has been to get the fruit before the monkeys do. In one afternoon, all the fruit was gone, or more accurately, partially eaten and on the graound. Monkeys are not frugal eaters. Instead of eating an entire fruit and then taking another until they are full, a monkey will take one bite of every fruit and throw the rest on the ground.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love the monkeys. I love seeing them every day and watching their “antics”. No matter how stressful or tiring a day I am having seeing the monkeys always makes me stop and smile. They always seem to be having such a good time, even when fighting over something. And there always seems to be some sort of squabble over something.

Over the years we have seen our family of monkeys grow from 6 members to 14. If it is mating season which is causing the recent bout of unusual activity, maybe the family will soon be larger. I will keep you posted.