Monkey Ambush in Honduras

Posted by Christopher

This duck is not afraid of iguanas, no matter how big they are.

We’ve arrived in a sort of marina resort called on Roatan, where tourists and boaters alike (and they ARE alike) can stay. Essentially, it is a nice resort for Honduras, called Fantasy Island where there are lots of things to do and see. Luckily we’ve seen nicer pristine beaches than the one here, and so while all the tourists are swimming and making sandcastles, we’re free to frolic around an almost empty resort doing what we will without lines!

Enjoying a game of pool in the shady lobby of the Fantasy Island Hotel.

One of the things here that we’ve kept coming back to, is a little area that they have here where they keep a bunch of tropical animals, for you to just wander around and observe. They have a wide range of animals including parrots, ducks and roosters, massive iguanas, rabbits (they’re more like big hamsters on tall legs, but that’s what the locals call them) and MONKEYS.

The locals call these things rabbits.  Their other name is Watusa, and they are members of the guinea pig family.

So as a family we decided to go in and look around at all the animals. I almost immediately spotted monkeys once we were in, and they were leaping from tree to tree epically,  as monkeys do. So we kept looking around and we were about to leave, when one of the monkeys jumped down to a tree just near me. I thought it was pretty cool that I got to see a cute little monkey that close but then It began to edge out on its branch. I wasn’t sure whether to run as fast as I could or to stand and watch, so I made a split second decision to stay- which was the wrong decision.

I stood my ground as the monkey moved closer and then realized that he was going to jump. He leapt off the branch straight at me flying at me and so I flinched away, leaning. The monkey seemed confused and so he grabbed  himself by his tail and then went back to the tree. I was immobilized by laughter and couldn’t run away, so within a second he had jumped again. This time I ran away and didn’t look back, but I’m sure he grabbed the tree with his tail because he was back on the tree again. We soon left after that, but that was not the end of the monkeys.

Hey, look, a monkey!  Cool...

... uh, oh, what's he up to?...

AAAAAUGH!

Monkey Attack!

Katie and I decided we would come back to the animal place. As we walked in a monkey leapt on the ground in front of us. I thought it was adorably cute, until it went at Katie. It started slapping her legs and as much as Katie was freaked out, I thought it wasn’t horrible, considering that the monkey wasn’t doing any real damage. and then he started to slap me in the legs as well, as another jumped down and started moving in. I realized that we probably were encroaching on their territory so I backed myself out the entrance. I managed to get myself out, but I realized that Katie had the monkeys between her and the exit. I called to her and told her to jump over them and so she did. We both started to run then, down the dirt path that lead to the marina but one of the monkeys was at my heels and another was chasing us from the trees, moving as fast as we were.

After about twenty meters of running I realized that the monkeys had let up and gone back to the animal place. So we walked back to the boat, heart’s pounding.

I guess it is best to leave the animals alone to enjoy their meal.