Los Monos

Los monos ("monkeys," in Spanish), who lived in the mango tree at the posada we stayed at outside Ciudad Bolivar. We became friends, the monkeys and I. There were 2 monkeys, one who chose to live inside a fenced area, the other who went back and forth between this mango tree and the enclosure (which both monkeys could squeeze into or out of). One day I went down to meet them. I offered one monkey my hand, which he took thoughtfully in his, and sort of scratched on to see what it was all about. The other monkey came down, cautiously, to the bottom of his climbing perch. He then sidled over the grass to me, laid both paws on my shoe and looked up at me, then dashed back to his climbing post. I was so charmed I brought Michael over to meet them. They repeated the same actions, just as thoughtfully, with Michael, and again the morning we left. ras