MONKEY ISLAND

The pool we swam in at Monkey Island

It's both a blessing and a curse to have 8:30am meetings on Sundays. For those of you who aren't morning persons like myself, it's almost impossible to be up, showered, dressed, Watchtower studied, walk to the busstop and be to the meeting before the second song. But Joe basically grabs us girls by the ears and we somehow make it before it's all over. By the last song and prayer, I'm ready to peel myself out of the hard plastic chair and enjoy the whole rest of the day in the intense Amazon sunshine.

So last Sunday we decided to take Aedyn and Carlie swimming after the meeting. A sister in our hall  had suggested taking the kids to a resort that has a nice pool that you can use for the day for $2 a person. It's called Isla de los Monos (Monkey Island) and it's about 30 minutes outside of Tena, past a smaller town called Archidona. So our main complication would be to figure out the best and cheapest way to get there.

The busstop for Archidona is way on the other side of Tena, so first we had to take a taxi to the busstop. Then, once we arrived in Archidona by bus, we had to flag down another taxi to drive us right to the door of the resort five minutes further down the road. It took about 25 minutes for a taxi driver to finally pick us up because it was New Year's day and most were still at home drunk/drinking. But finally we got to the resort and it was worth the trouble.

 Aedyn had been there before, so he showed us which trail led to the chlorinated pool and which trail led to the river. A server came up to our table and took our order. In Ecuador, there is no such thing as recreation without food or drinks. We ordered ice-tea and patacones, a type of smashed banana that tastes more like french-fries when fried. We ate and swam, swam and ate. We got in about two or three good hours of swimming when the storm clouds came creeping in. But by then the kids were tired of swimming in the fountain squirters and jumping off the big rock into the sparkling water below. They were ready to explore the other trail by the river.

We made our way through thickets of bamboo and orquids down the trail past the honeymoon cabins,  being careful not to step on the leaf cutter ants. We finally arrived at a clearing in the bamboo where there were two swings, which of course Aedyn and Carlie raced to. Joe and I looked at the churning silver-blue river below which he surmised was a class 3 in rafting terms. We marveled at the gigantic boulders in the middle and imagined how they must have rolled and crashed with a great thunder from the foothills above.

Back at the resort, we asked for a tour of one of the cabins. The owner's son took us out back behind the reception building to some family cabins that slept 10. Monkeys peeped down from the trees above as we walked. Some even threw seeds and sticks at us as we passed. The cabins themselves were basic but I could imagine this would be really fun to rent with friends. It had beds to sleep 10, a private bathroom, fans for the heat and mini-fridge. The cost was expensive for Ecuador: $55 a person per night, but included all 3 meals a day and use of the pools.

The highlight for the kids were the lush surroundings and the animals on the premesis. For example, in the reception area we got to see a boa constrictor in a tank and tortouises in a man-made indoor marsh area. In large cages outside of the family cabins we saw every kind of exotic bird and parrot imagineable. Of course there were also the monkeys roaming free after which the resort is named. One brave male scooted on the sidewalk right past us marking the trail with his underbelly. In the entrance area of the resort was even more animals. Here we saw (in cages or protected areas) a wild boar, a tapir, jungle crocodiles (that have a special name but I forgot) more turtles, more exotic birds and one lone baby monkey in a huge cage. It looked as though his family had died and he was the last of his kind. He sat there clinging to the fence with this forlorn look in his eyes, crying softly to Carlie and Aedyn when they cooed back at him. His eyes looked like Puss' on Shrek when he was trying to get people to feel sorry for him. We gave the baby monkey a piece of  grass to  hold. He grabbed it and shoved it straight in his mouth like real babies do.

As the sun still shone on one side of the sky it began to lightly sprinkle on the other. The owner's son had suggested we could take a Quito bus back to Tena without having to get a taxi to Archidona first, so we waited...and waited...and waited. Finally a Quito bus came flying by. And passed us. Then another. After waiting in the sun-rain an hour, a third bus finally came and took us back to the Tena bus terminal. Then we had to walk 10 minutes or so back to Jessamyn's house.

All in all, it was a great Sunday afternoon. It was a lot of trouble getting to Monkey Island and back, so we probably won't be going there very often, but it was lots of fun. If you come visit us, we promise to take you there so you can meet the baby monkey yourself.