What a place. Run by an American John (or 'juancho' to the locals) and his partner Allegra from Australia, they have spent nearly 5 years creating a monkey heaven on earth. Visited daily by a large troop of endangered squirrel monkeys who come to feed on their regular supply of bananas, inhabited by a all sorts of wildlife and protected by a pack of 5 friendly dogs, it wasn't long before we had integrated into their patch of beachside jungle. We were offered either a beautiful cabin overlooking the beach or a beautiful cabin surrounded by palm trees. We opted for the latter given our recent overexposure to the beach in the car.
We spent a total of 5 nights there, the whole time only in the company of John, Allegra and Leana, an American girl studying the monkeys there. John spent most of his life surfing, most recently living 15 years on his 25' boat, slowly making his way down from California to Panama, catching the best waves as he went. He put a joke posting in a surfing magazine 18 years ago which is how he got in contact with Allegra and after 18 years of exchanging letters (this lifetime John will gratefully avoid email and the internet and anything remotely hi-tec), they met up and Mono Feliz was soon born.
Also with us was:
30 x squirrel monkeys, lots x white faced monkeys, a few x howler monkeys, 5 x very protective dogs, 1 x Mickey the VERY VERY NAUGHTY pet squirrel monkey, 1 x boa constrictor hanging out by the natural spring water pool,1 x cookie the giant pet cockroach (unsettlingly charming cockroach), 1 x scorpion (1 inch punch) who quickly got the machete through down the middle but continued to wriggle, millions x hermit crabs, 2 x parrots, 1 x cat plus v cute v mini kitten
Monkeys are incredibly human-like and to those who have never observed one closely either in real life or on TV, it is quite an eye opener. The phrases monkey business and monkeying around have strong roots. Mickey the pet monkey is the physical manifestation of naughtiness. He is a child who has never been told what not to do, has never been punished for doing it, and never will have to do a thing about it. Mickey the monkey has no idea when he is in the toilet and when he isn't. Mickey's sphincter allows non stop traffic. This is because John and Allegra love this monkey. They love it selflessly and without consideration for its impact on their lives, without concern for completeness of sets of chess pieces and without care for its incessant ability to monkey around in any and every possible way.
Towards the end we figured out the technique for focusing attention on a decoy object, watch Mickey jump at it and in that split second retrieve the true target. Mickey enjoyed jumping in the outdoor shower with e-j and taking her soap and hair band. Mickey loved ambushing the backgammon set with terminal hit and run missions for the pieces. Mickey would jump in our car tent and pee on our duvet.
Worst of all? By the time we left, we loved Mickey too.
Despite there being two nature trails paved out for us walk on, and an island opposite which you can walk to from their beach when it's low tide, we accomplished next to nothing. We were happy with our schedule of exercise on the beach or yoga with john, reading on the beach or snoozing in the open air cabin. and we never missed a meal. Allegra and John's cooking was to die for, repeatedly. Worlds best banana pancakes, fruit and oatmeal and cheese tacos. Seriously, again and again. A fisherman would turn up in a row boat, snorkel and fins, and Allegra would hand pick what she wanted to make that day. We had fresh conch ceviche, a few times. It was all delicious and Allegra we want the first signed copy of your cookbook when you do it!
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