The Monkey Island

"You must all assemble at the reception hall at 3pm for the Monkey Island trip", said Percy. The first of the incessant commands he would issue in the next four days. Percy is a very organized and meticulous day planner who smashed all our dreams of idling around for the rest of our trip.

We barely got a chance to enjoy our jungle lodge called ‘Toucan’ (an Amazonian bird). Made entirely of wood, the living room was furnished with two cloth hammocks. Our bedroom had tall-beamed ceilings and light pouring in from its highly placed windows. The dank, woody smell of our home continued into the attached bathroom, also built entirely of wood. Luckily, we had flush toilets, albeit filled with muddy brown water. The shower is heaven only as long as you stand under it. Sweat drenches you the second you step out.


Anyway, we could no longer postpone spraying the vile smelling Deet (mosquito repellant). Kavita dressed in light black pants topped with a cotton t-shirt, convinced that covering her limbs would fend off any insect attacks. She would stand corrected shortly.

A long-tailed boat waited at the docks to transport us to the nearby monkey island. It rocked precariously as we clambered on and arranged ourselves evenly on either side to keep it in balance. At the island, we met our guide Elmer for the first time. Machete in one hand and a bag full of mini-bananas in the other, he confidently led the way ensuring us that the monkeys were waiting for their afternoon snack. "Platano, platano!!!" he shouted a couple of 100 meters into the thick of the forest. Nothing. After he relayed a few more "bananas are here" messages, we heard furious rustling sounds echoing through the forests followed by the chattering of monkeys.

The long-tailed black capuchin monkey was the first bold creature to come in search of his snack. Elmer threw several bananas and the dude tried to grab them all before pealing them carefully and gulping them down in a flash. Several other species of monkeys slowly made their way near our group, some shy, some defiant, some challenging, some greedy, but all so fascinating to watch at barely an arm’s length away. Our favorite was the lion-faced monkey, the tiniest little fluff ball, who perched himself on Elmer’s shoulder until he had his fill.


After a half hour of close encounter with the simians, Elmer took us on a mini-exploration of the jungle. His machete came in handy any time he had to chop off branches and clear the way through the thick vegetation. We met the giant garlic tree - yes garlic isn’t just a bulb that grows underground - in the Amazon you can chop off the barks of garlic trees and use them to flavor your cooking. If you’re bad in the Amazon, you will be tied to the "punishment" tree whose trunk is filled with notorious Amazonian red ants. A simple theft gets you two hours around the tree and a major offense ensures an overnight stay that can lead to death.

Meanwhile, the mosquitoes had decided to harass Kavita. The light pants were no armor and by the end of the evening she had fifty souvenir bites on each thigh and all along her arms. Apparently, even clothes need to be sprayed with deet, not just exposed body parts. And yes, these are bites that swell to the size of eggs in a few hours. They did subside after a few days.


After some more interesting explorations, we came to a marshy clearing filled with tall grasses but no trees. The sun was inviting us for a spectacular light show of bright amber rays. We sat down on fallen tree trunks nearby to enjoy our first Amazonian sunset.