Spider Monkeys & Tulum
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
We started this morning at the pool and then the beach just a 3 minute walk from our house while Calvin and Jeff did their morning run. Isaac's ears are really clogged. He told me he thinks his right ear is deaf now. It seems like this always happens with water but with no hearing aids at all, it's really difficult to communicate with him. We have to be less than 3 feet away for him to hear us at all.
We left the beach and drove to The Jungle Place in Chemuyil. We got out of the car and the boys ran straight for the monkey enclosure, holding on to the chain link caging to look through at the monkeys. Before I could even get there, the monkeys were clearly excited and screeching and one monkey had reached through the cage and taken Isaac's hat. The boys were trying to get it back when an angry lady started screaming at the boys from an upper deck to get away from the cages. They didn't move because they were trying to get their hat back and Isaac couldn't hear her at all. I finally got there and pulled them back from the fence. She looked at them sternly and shook her finger and said "That is a command boys!" She told us, "They have long arms and when they pull your hair, they don't just pull, they pull it out, leaving you with a bald spot." Yikes! Now we were all sufficiently nervous. We waited a half hour or so on a bench, watching the monkeys swing and flip and jump. They were amazing!
Finally it was our turn. The yelling lady came down and talked very sternly to us, telling us that we have to pay attention and do as we're told. She brought us upstairs, sat us at a picnic table and said, "Mind if I have a cigarette? I'll be much easier to get along with if I do." Kate was seated closest to her and she immediately plugged her nose with her fingers and kept her nose plugged the whole time. She told us the rules and her life history with the monkeys while we waited. She explained, "You are the monkey's entertainment this afternoon, so go in there and let them have their way with you." Uhhhh.... She told us all of the things we should not do or the monkeys will bite us. Don't push them away, don't tease, don't offer food and then take it away, don't move too quickly, don't scream, don't cry. If you do any of these things, and don't pet or touch Luna or the monkeys will freak out and attack you. We took off earings, jewelry, hairclips, shoes, etc. and entered the monkey enclosure. We walked in with crushed tortilla chips in our hands (Kate had accidentally eaten hers which we all thought was hilarious but she was mortified. She thought they were giving US a snack and popped it into her mouth. Then she thought she'd eaten monkey food, not people food). The monkeys were immediately all over us, climbing on our legs and shoulders and heads, opening our hands to check for food. Within the first 10 minutes, Luna (the crazy monkey you can't touch or she'll attach you) got in a fight with her little sister. They were fighting and screaming and wrestling, and all of this was happening across Jeff and Isaac's head, shoulders and faces. They kept yelling "Just stay clam, Don't move. Don't interfere. Close your eyes so they don't get scratched out! NO crying! Mikey was next to Isaac so I scooted him over to me and we put our heads down so we wouldn't get hurt. Luna climbed up the chain link above Calvin and Kira and peed on them because she was mad at her little sister. She peed all down their backs and some even got on Calvin's head. SICK!!! By this time Isaac was ready to get out, but he was brave and we talked him into staying. All of the monkeys look the same so now every time a monkey came over to you, you were scared to pet it because it might be Luna. Every time Luna came into where we were sitting (we were just sitting on a ledge inside the large female monkey enclosure so the monkeys could come and go as they pleased), they would say, "LUNA!" and you immediately tensed up. Luna eventually went and took a nap so we could enjoy the other monkeys. A guy in our group was like a monkey whisperer—the monkeys loved him. He had monkeys all over him. The monkeys would come and snuggle with you on your lap and you'd rock them and hug them. One of the monkeys kept "playing" with Kira's hair (ouch) and took it completely out of the braid. Despite the crazy Luna and eccentric Heidi (smoking lady), it was still a fascinating once in a lifetime opportunity and we loved it!
It was after 3pm and the kids were starving so on the way to Tulum we stopped at a highway-side open air BBQ Cafe - Mexican style. We had Mexican Coca-Cola and Fanta with fish/carnitas/carne asada tacos and the little boys devoured their hamburgesas. Delish.
Now we were off to Tulum. We got there late, buying our tickets at 4:15. The entrance, a half mile away, closed at 4:30pm. Rush, rush, rush! Jeff was in a serious hurry. Kate was feeling exhausted and sick. We had missed the last tram so we basically ran the half mile to the gate. We rushed through Tulum, taking quick pictures. Everything was roped off. When Jeff and I were here 16 years ago, you could explore and climb all over the ruins. It was SO hot but we kept telling the kids that we'd go dip in the ocean at the beach below Tulum to cool off. Right when we got to the stairway down to the beach, a guard came was closing the stairs. Kind of disappointing. A few minutes later another guard started blowing on his whistle like crazy to get everybody out. Not quite the experience we'd hoped for but I guess at least we got to see Tulum.
We drove the hour back to the house and went straight to the beach to wash the monkey off us. We went boogie boarding with dumpster-diving boogie board we had found on the way back from the beach this morning. The waves were actually really. We had a ton of fun! Mikey really got the hang of it and was catching dozens of waves. Towards the end, he caught a pretty big wave and did a full flip on the boogie board with his legs straight up out of the water! When he came back up he said, "Now THAT was a nose dive!" We boogie boarded until dark and came back to homemade breakfast burritos for dinner (thank you Jeff) but Isaac was so determined to swim at the pool that we ate them standing on the back porch and went straight to the pool.
You know how sometimes you see something beautiful and it just gets burned into your memory like a mental photograph? Tonight at the pool with Mikey and Isaac we were floating in the pool and looking up at the constellations. I showed the boys Orion and then we were quiet for just a few minutes, looking up at the stars. I have that image burned in my mind: floating in the water with my boys, looking up at the night sky through the hole in the jungle canopy, with the stars twinkling through the trees and the soft lighting of the pool glowing off of the bottom of the palm trees. It was beautiful!
We started this morning at the pool and then the beach just a 3 minute walk from our house while Calvin and Jeff did their morning run. Isaac's ears are really clogged. He told me he thinks his right ear is deaf now. It seems like this always happens with water but with no hearing aids at all, it's really difficult to communicate with him. We have to be less than 3 feet away for him to hear us at all.
We left the beach and drove to The Jungle Place in Chemuyil. We got out of the car and the boys ran straight for the monkey enclosure, holding on to the chain link caging to look through at the monkeys. Before I could even get there, the monkeys were clearly excited and screeching and one monkey had reached through the cage and taken Isaac's hat. The boys were trying to get it back when an angry lady started screaming at the boys from an upper deck to get away from the cages. They didn't move because they were trying to get their hat back and Isaac couldn't hear her at all. I finally got there and pulled them back from the fence. She looked at them sternly and shook her finger and said "That is a command boys!" She told us, "They have long arms and when they pull your hair, they don't just pull, they pull it out, leaving you with a bald spot." Yikes! Now we were all sufficiently nervous. We waited a half hour or so on a bench, watching the monkeys swing and flip and jump. They were amazing!
Finally it was our turn. The yelling lady came down and talked very sternly to us, telling us that we have to pay attention and do as we're told. She brought us upstairs, sat us at a picnic table and said, "Mind if I have a cigarette? I'll be much easier to get along with if I do." Kate was seated closest to her and she immediately plugged her nose with her fingers and kept her nose plugged the whole time. She told us the rules and her life history with the monkeys while we waited. She explained, "You are the monkey's entertainment this afternoon, so go in there and let them have their way with you." Uhhhh.... She told us all of the things we should not do or the monkeys will bite us. Don't push them away, don't tease, don't offer food and then take it away, don't move too quickly, don't scream, don't cry. If you do any of these things, and don't pet or touch Luna or the monkeys will freak out and attack you. We took off earings, jewelry, hairclips, shoes, etc. and entered the monkey enclosure. We walked in with crushed tortilla chips in our hands (Kate had accidentally eaten hers which we all thought was hilarious but she was mortified. She thought they were giving US a snack and popped it into her mouth. Then she thought she'd eaten monkey food, not people food). The monkeys were immediately all over us, climbing on our legs and shoulders and heads, opening our hands to check for food. Within the first 10 minutes, Luna (the crazy monkey you can't touch or she'll attach you) got in a fight with her little sister. They were fighting and screaming and wrestling, and all of this was happening across Jeff and Isaac's head, shoulders and faces. They kept yelling "Just stay clam, Don't move. Don't interfere. Close your eyes so they don't get scratched out! NO crying! Mikey was next to Isaac so I scooted him over to me and we put our heads down so we wouldn't get hurt. Luna climbed up the chain link above Calvin and Kira and peed on them because she was mad at her little sister. She peed all down their backs and some even got on Calvin's head. SICK!!! By this time Isaac was ready to get out, but he was brave and we talked him into staying. All of the monkeys look the same so now every time a monkey came over to you, you were scared to pet it because it might be Luna. Every time Luna came into where we were sitting (we were just sitting on a ledge inside the large female monkey enclosure so the monkeys could come and go as they pleased), they would say, "LUNA!" and you immediately tensed up. Luna eventually went and took a nap so we could enjoy the other monkeys. A guy in our group was like a monkey whisperer—the monkeys loved him. He had monkeys all over him. The monkeys would come and snuggle with you on your lap and you'd rock them and hug them. One of the monkeys kept "playing" with Kira's hair (ouch) and took it completely out of the braid. Despite the crazy Luna and eccentric Heidi (smoking lady), it was still a fascinating once in a lifetime opportunity and we loved it!
It was after 3pm and the kids were starving so on the way to Tulum we stopped at a highway-side open air BBQ Cafe - Mexican style. We had Mexican Coca-Cola and Fanta with fish/carnitas/carne asada tacos and the little boys devoured their hamburgesas. Delish.
Now we were off to Tulum. We got there late, buying our tickets at 4:15. The entrance, a half mile away, closed at 4:30pm. Rush, rush, rush! Jeff was in a serious hurry. Kate was feeling exhausted and sick. We had missed the last tram so we basically ran the half mile to the gate. We rushed through Tulum, taking quick pictures. Everything was roped off. When Jeff and I were here 16 years ago, you could explore and climb all over the ruins. It was SO hot but we kept telling the kids that we'd go dip in the ocean at the beach below Tulum to cool off. Right when we got to the stairway down to the beach, a guard came was closing the stairs. Kind of disappointing. A few minutes later another guard started blowing on his whistle like crazy to get everybody out. Not quite the experience we'd hoped for but I guess at least we got to see Tulum.
We drove the hour back to the house and went straight to the beach to wash the monkey off us. We went boogie boarding with dumpster-diving boogie board we had found on the way back from the beach this morning. The waves were actually really. We had a ton of fun! Mikey really got the hang of it and was catching dozens of waves. Towards the end, he caught a pretty big wave and did a full flip on the boogie board with his legs straight up out of the water! When he came back up he said, "Now THAT was a nose dive!" We boogie boarded until dark and came back to homemade breakfast burritos for dinner (thank you Jeff) but Isaac was so determined to swim at the pool that we ate them standing on the back porch and went straight to the pool.
You know how sometimes you see something beautiful and it just gets burned into your memory like a mental photograph? Tonight at the pool with Mikey and Isaac we were floating in the pool and looking up at the constellations. I showed the boys Orion and then we were quiet for just a few minutes, looking up at the stars. I have that image burned in my mind: floating in the water with my boys, looking up at the night sky through the hole in the jungle canopy, with the stars twinkling through the trees and the soft lighting of the pool glowing off of the bottom of the palm trees. It was beautiful!
The monkey whisperer!
The kids saw a lot of monkey bum. Not a very pretty sight!
Calvin after he got peed on by Luna. YUCK!
Isaac was still a little nervous from the monkey fight.
Kira getting the salon treatment from Maya.
Tulum family photo.
Boogie boarding at dusk.
We finally left when it was too dark to see the waves!
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