oh holli: costa rica honeymoon part II

On the 5th day of our honeymoon in Costa Rica, we decided to explore the mangroves. Jacob's sister and brother-in-law, who spent a month vacationing in Costa Rica in May, recommended a certain tour that they enjoyed. This tour was guided by a man named "Rafa"-- a man who calls himself the "Father of the Monkeys." This excited us becuase we knew we would get the chance to see some actual monkeys and wildlife in the mangroves; however, we had no idea just how bananas it would be!

Jacob doesn't know where he is going.

In the morning, we took our rental car over to Rafa's place. We got a little lost and had to ask for directions from some nice Costa Ricans who spoke absolutely no English. Luckily my few years of studying Spanish allowed me to understand, "left," "right," and "straight." We barely made it to the tour in the nick of time. In fact, the boat was already leaving, but one of Rafa's friends called them back to come get us. Whew! Sometimes we are very lucky!

Then we enjoyed a nice peaceful boat ride through the lovely mangroves. . . well, before it was interrupted by some visitors. Enter the monkeys!

Here you can see Rafa (at the front of the boat) calling the monkeys as we pull up to their neighborhood. Apparently Rafa has known this family of monkeys for a long time and has a good relationship with them-- still not sure what that entails. But hey, the monkeys are coming!

When the monkeys appeared, I actually was really impressed with how well he knew all of them. There must have been at least 12 of them jumping around our boat, and he had them all named individually. This is "Superman." This is "Marie." At the beginning of the vid you can see him give a big banana to a mean-looking monkey and shooing him away. "That is Muhammad Ali. He is very dangerous. Go away Muhammad Ali!" This is where the tour went bananas. Monkeys on a boat. Way better than snakes on a plane. The only thing this tour lacked in adventure was Samuel L. Jackson.

Then the monkeys got up close and personal. . .

nice monkey!

Rafa came around and put mushed banana on our hands, which caused the monkeys to get friendly really quick.

They were jumping all over the place! on our shoulders! on our heads! It was a circus.

Jacob, the monkey whisperer.

Not the hair, monkey!

hahaha. i love this portrait that Jacob took of this monkey. He looks so noble.

a monkey is licking my hand!

Jacob's shoulders were actually quite sunburned, so I think he is in pain here.

easy on the sunburn, monkey!

Whatcha gonna do with a monkey on yer head?

Jacob loves this pic. I obviously look great, and that monkey's face!! It's like he has tunnel vision on my hand.

"BANANAS!!!"

This one's face just melts my heart.

this monkey jumped right on my haid!!

Then we left the monkeys to get back to their normal lives, but this was so fun! I had never experienced anything like it before. Definitely a highlight on our trip.

The rest of the tour was smooth sailing. It was kind of like the "real" Jungle Cruise, which was my favorite ride at Disneyland as a kid, by the way. We saw lots of other animals out there in the mangroves-- birds and reptiles of all kinds.

Lots of Iguanas.

honeymooners on a jungle cruise.

I love Jacob's face in this pic!

AHHH! Crocodile!!

Crocodile in the water!! I had no idea these guys were around when I was cleaning my hands off in the river! YIPE!

Rafa made me this really cool grasshopper out of jungle leaves. Very elaborate and realistic!

We had a lovely time. I am not sure if a crazy monkey and crocodile tour is everyone's idea of a romantic honeymoon, but it's totally our style! We loved it!