Monkey Mayhem
Rain threatened to mar the day with its persistence. I had plans to meet up with Arno and Elke, who I had met in Monteverde, and finally go into the National Park.
Around eight we decided, rain or no, we were going to meet at the park entrance. Guides accosted us from every side, offering deals for tours and a better chance of seeing wildlife. We repeated, “No, gracias,” like a trio of broken records until we were safe inside the gates.
Unlike National Parks in the states, all of the ways were maintained paths; I’m talking paved or wooden slats. It was all very…commercialized.
We took a trail to the left, hoping it would lead us away from a loud group of tourists. Gradually the voices dissolved and were replaced by the sounds of birds, tinkling water, and of course cicadas. The path meandered up and down, ending at a modest waterfall that would have been dry had we not visited in the rainy season.
From there we continued on to a trail that hugged the beach. Signs warned us of a toxic tree…that would surely kill me as I’m already extremely allergic to plants. We kept our eyes peeled but never actually found a specimen. Iguanas lingered along the edges of the path, a family of bats slept soundly from the underside of a leaning palm.
A wooden lookout marked the narrowest point of the peninsula. It was here that life got really interesting. From up above, we saw a commotion as a troop of capuchin monkeys approached some tourists.
I quickly opened my pack to get my phone out for pictures. A very inviting gesture, it caught the attention of the nearest monkey who promptly ran at me and jumped on my shoulder. He reached down eagerly, attempting to penetrate my pack. Even if he had, there was no food in it.
I love animals…I mean I was an animal biology major for goodness sakes…but the last thing I needed was to add “rabies shots” to my to do list. To my relief, the monkey grew bored and went off to join his kin.
It seemed that our luck turned after that. We saw two sloths, four capybaras, two troops of howler monkeys, more capuchins, and some smaller golden-black monkeys (I don’t know the exact name).
After a much deserved lunch, we retreated to the beach and watched parasailers until the rain returned and drove us away.
Although I missed the catamaran tour, Kayla and Chan did not. They regaled me with stories about how awesome it was and how Chan had overcome her fear of jumping into deep water. They also met a guy named Coco, who knew about a karaoke night happening at Selina hostel just down the road.
Hold up…let’s be real now. I fricken LOVE karaoke! Mainly cause I just love singing, and since I’ve been having some separation anxieties about my guitar I insisted that we go. Thankfully, the girls were totally down! (I just want all of you to know how excited I was about this…if the exclamation points weren’t a giveaway!)
We convinced an Uber driver to let seven of us squeeze into his car and headed for a night overflowing with laughter, stories, and connections. I sang my heart out and couldn’t have asked for a better last day in Costa Rica.
