The Monkey in the Coconut Mask...

[Saturday September 1st]
Today Bruce, Jeff, their significant others, and I went on a hike to Monkey Beach. I've started out on that hike a few times but never made it there. Today was the day! The weather was nice, a little warm but fine. The hiking was good, the trail stayed along the coast and was primarily flat with some ups and downs. The scenery was wonderful, sea to the right, jungle to the left. I was thinking to my self, just how many of the people I knew from Highschool have gone jungle trekking in South East Asia? Then I started thinking, how many people are sweating so bad that it just keeps dripping down their nose, or around their lips, tasting the salt? Wiping it off became futile as within 10 seconds it was back again! It wasn't an overheated sweat though, just a nice feeble attempt to stay cool in the humid jungle. Thats what 100 Plus Isotonic Drink is for! ;)

Well along the way, about 30minutes in, we came across a beach. We thought, no way we could be here that fast! Well it was a great beach but we were right, it was no Monkey Beach. We strolled along the beach and then back into the jungle. There was one spot along the way that I needed to stop and think about how to proceed. It was like Indian Jones, hoping over some rocks, just touching the tops, and keep going, let you momentum and fancy foot work keep you safe. Don't look down though, it a ways down ;)

Finally we made it to the Monkey Beach. True to its name, it had Monkeys! I love Monkeys! We got enamored by one group of Monkeys by the trash bins. They were being feed fruits by some locals. They were fairly friendly and a curious bunch.
Unfortunately there was this one unfortunate one. We'll call him, "The Monkey in the Coconut Mask". This little guy appeared to have placed his head into an open coconut to eat. It seems that his head got stuck in it! I don't know how long he'd been that way but he did look malnourished ;(. If it weren't for the fact that we felt he couldn't get the coconut off and his future was grim, it would have been funny. Some how there a was a moderate hole at on end that he could use to look out, he'd move about just like the others, but he wasn't quick enough to get the food himself. We didn't get to seem him eat so we weren't sure if he was eating through the hole or not. We wanted to just walk up to him and pluck the coconut off him. Ironically he was the most skittish of the bunch! I suppose I can't blame him.

The others were a bit more lively, chasing each other around, playing, trying to break into people's garbage bags attached to their tents. They were even doing 'other' things.

We hung out at the beach for about 20-30 minutes before he heard a crack of thunder. Uh-oh, time to head back! We started hiking back hoping to get back before the rain. I just wanted to get past the 'hopping rocks' before it rained, those silly things could get slippery! Well long story short, though we were already drenched from sweat, we got drenched some more with rain. It sure made it cool down though ;) Walking through the Jungle while its raining isn't bad, just watch your step it gets slippery. You can hear the rain falling through the trees, the animals taking shelter, the breeze pick up. Its nice.

We made it out, safe and sound. Time to shower up and figure out whats next ;)

-Terry