Crocs & Monkeys in When West Coasts Collide

Today, was interesting. It was very, very interesting. For many reasons. It started out by my not going to bed until about 3:30 AM, then trying to get up at 10:30 AM so that we could start our day. We didn’t get out of the house until around 2 PM…good grief.

I felt like writing earlier, and tonight I’m feeling very, very uncomfortable. I got terribly sick (spewing nether regions - probably food related) on Sunday/Monday, and my stomach hasn’t been right since (and honestly, it was off all last week). Marie came home with me tonight and went to bed around 9 PM. She’s got the right idea, but I’m on medication that I need to wait until at least 11 PM to take…which will be early.

So, here are the highlights of today. We went to the Crocodile Pond/Farm. That was interesting - as I got to touch a crocodile. Not an alligator, but an actual crocodile. I’ve never done that before. They are all just hanging around on the path, sunning, resting, not a care in the world - it doesn’t seem to bother them that people are walking by and taking tons of pictures here and there. Marie wouldn’t touch one (and hasn’t ever, and she’s been there before), but we got some cool pictures. We did a tiny bit of shopping - got a few trinkets for folks back home and such, and looked at their museum (which was small, but intriguing).

We then went to the Monkey Park. Okay, this was literally the highlight of my day. It’s a big forested area (not huge, but big) with a laboratory building that doesn’t seem to be in use for anything, with tons of Green Monkeys running all over. We bought some peanuts, and hired a guide who walked with us and called the monkeys out. Finally, some showed up who were hungry and all of a sudden I had a ton of followers. These little guys are smart. A couple of them would come up to me, take my one hand in theirs and with their other hand they’d pry open the peanut hand and take out all that they could snatch. LOL Awwww, but so cute. At one point one popped onto my shoulder, and I fed him peanuts for a good 10 minutes. We walked for a bit until he tired of me and hopped off. What a truly fun and unique experience that was.

We saw some Red Monkeys in the tree, and were told that we were lucky to see them - evidently they don’t like people and hide, and are never around, but there are a bunch there.

The Green Monkeys were a delight, and I think I might just have to go back and hang out with them for awhile before I come back here. They are absolutely adorable. They really did remind me of little tiny kids.

I’m tired…I think I’ll turn in…more to come…

-T