Nicaragua: Don't blame the Monkey

Meanwhile, back at the Villa Paraiso all hell was breaking loose. Several men were running around, some climbing the building, some going in and out of upstairs rooms, obviously looking for something. But what?

The Villa Paraiso had a few animals in cages in the back, including a strange kind of wading bird that held it's head straight up to effectively hide amongst the reeds. And a monkey. This was a Capuchin, one of two species we saw on Omotepe. Now remember that monkeys are smart, have hands and don't like to be in a cage. This monkey, lovingly named by me "That F**king Monkey" loved to escape. The funny thing, though, is that it didn't just disappear into the jungle. Instead, it ran all over the hotel property breaking things that were loose. The week before we got there it smashed a Dutch tourists very expensive camera. On purpose. Just picked it up off a table and threw it hard on the ground. Mean little bastard really.

So anyway, these guys were running all over the place trying to catch the monkey, again. It looked like a French Farce. They finally cornered it, caught it and locked it up, again.

When we got back to our little villa, there, on the ground, was one of the interesting pots we bought from a local potter. Smashed by "That F**king Monkey". That's how it got its name.

Sally reminded me not to blame the monkey. A free animal, now caged, taking out its rage on the captors. Not its fault.

What I can't figure is why it just didn't melt away into the jungle across the road. Maybe payback was more important than freedom. Or maybe it was raised as a babe and didn't know about the jungle. Whatever the case, if you visit the Villa Paraiso, keep your stuff inside, and don't blame the monkey if you forget and something gets "accidentally" broken.

Image:http://gb.fotolibra.com/images/thumbnails/29626-monkey-in-cage-ometepe-island-nicaragua.jpeg