Friday, February 02, 2007

The Big Event

I couldn’t think of what to title this post, but hopefully this will make sense as you read.

This morning I followed the South Group up to Níspero trees they love so well. When we arrived, there was another group or two already up there. The monkeys stayed pretty tranquilo though; just a few howls and everybody settled down to eat. Even with two or three groups up there, I’m not sure they have much to howl about anyway. There are at least 5 fruiting Níspero trees in the vicinity, so it seemed like there was enough for everyone.

In the afternoon, I followed some monkeys in an area where there was not a trail. As I hacked my way through vines and thorns, suddenly I heard buzzing all around me and could see only yellow and black. Then there was a sharp pain in my arm, sort of like getting a tetanus shot. I screamed and tried frantically to get away but was hampered by the vines. Finally I got away from all that buzzing and miraculously had gotten only one sting. I put on some “Sting-Eze” stuff designed for this purpose and hoped for the best.

As I was recovering from this encounter, I heard some strange noises that sounded sort of like birds and then all of a sudden, I saw the weirdest looking monkeys I had ever seen. For a split second I thought it was some kind of albino howler monkey, and then I realized they were capuchins! These are the monkeys with black bodies and white faces—the only other non-human primate species that lives on Ometepe. All the times that I have been here, I have never, ever seen wild capuchins. This was the big one. The big event. I was speechless. I forgot all about my wasp or whatever sting.

The capuchins had apparently come in for Níspero fruit as well. So in addition to the 2+ groups of howlers, a group of capuchins was now vying for it. The howlers didn’t seem too happy about having the capuchins on the scene, but they also seemed unwilling to get up from their afternoon nap to do anything about it. There was some weak howling and a bit of movement, but nothing like the pandemonium I might have expected. Regardless, the capuchins were extremely skittish. I think they were probably pretty freaked out by me; unlike the howlers, capuchins don’t see people as often and they definitely weren’t habituated. They did not hang around long: they retreated back from where they came, and in the end and I’m not sure that they got a whole lot of the Níspero fruit. Even so, it made my day.

Later on, I also saw an iguana, but under the circumstances, the capuchins made this day more memorable.

Okay, I need to sign off. Here's a picture of a capuchin that Rob took last weekend from Monkey Island; unfortunately I didn’t have the camera with me today. Oh, and by the way, my sting isn’t too bad. Thanks for reading!

3 Comments:

At 8:21 PM, February 03, 2007, Blogger Melissa said...

Exactly! The little things are more harmful than the big things!! I was just thinking that today.

Taxes already?! That is being prepared. Hooray for you. Hopefully Uncle Sam is nice to you this year!

As for the wasp sting, it is worse today than it was yesterday. But I suppose at some point the swelling in my arm will go down and everything will return to normal. I've got toothpaste on the sting now because I read that that's the best home remedy. Oh and about the iguana, I'm not sure how big it was, maybe like 2 feet?? It was pretty high up in the tree; even the capuchins look big at that distance although up close they are actually quite small.

Hopefully you survive the chilling weather in the midwest. It was blisteringly hot and sunny here today. I ran to Balgue and back (possibly more on that in a later post) and was so hot that for the first time, the ice cold shower actually felt good.

 
At 7:30 AM, February 05, 2007, Blogger amypfan said...

I think that wasps are another thing that deserve ALL CAPS. I often imagine your 10-year-old self on this adventure, and think that kid wouldn't last 5 minutes. Okay, well, my 28-year old self probably wouldn't last 5 minutes either. :) At any rate, I like the capuchin--it's very cute. Sounds like quite the big day!!

 
At 8:56 AM, February 10, 2007, Blogger Melissa said...

Amy,
I also think of my 10 year old self, or even my 20 year old self, and think how that person would not have been capable of doing this. I'm sure you recall the numerous occasions in junior high or high school when I was home alone and found a spider in the house and actually called you and had you come over and kill it for me. A few times in the forest I've wished I had that same opportunity, but alas.

 

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