A Child’s Dream, a Trip to Monkey Island – Peruvian Amazon

Peru

A Child’s Dream, a Trip to Monkey Island – Peruvian Amazon

Happy Capuchin!

As children one of our favorite games to play was Monkey Island. We had a four legged swing set with a slide on one end, monkey bars down the middle and a swing on each of the four corners. To turn the swing set into “Monkey Island” we would unlatch the swings on one side and stretch them across to the other corner criss crossed and re-latch. We would then climb around like monkeys and not touch the ground. Probably not the safest games but it was the early 90s and we loved it! You can imagine the excitement when John told us our afternoon activity would be a trip to Monkey Island!

Monkey Island!

The trip to monkey island would require a short 20-30 minute boat ride down the Amazon like most excursions from Corto Maltes. Honestly it’s nice to be on the water cause there’s a bit of a breeze and you get a break from the heat. Monkey Island is the first place in the Amazon that we arrived at that didn’t have a dock waiting for us to unload. We took of our shoes and rolled up our pants and climbed out the front into the shallow water.

This time real monkeys and no swing sets involved!

No Dock Here!

Happy Monkey Hunters!

The site of Monkey Island from the shore is lush green. Trees a bit further back with a path through tall grass leading up to them. Very different from the swing set version we cooked up as kids. Walking the path was so excited. Still no idea what to expect. Almost immediately after arriving where the trees start we saw monkeys all around high up in the trees.

Lush Green!

Follow the Path.

Nature Walk.

Hi Buddy! Enjoy Your Banana!

Keep Your Eyes Peeled.

John brought some small bananas with him and the monkey loved them! They would come running and John would throw the Banana in the air only to be caught by a Monkey! We mostly saw Capuchin monkeys and they were oh so cute. Watch out for the Alpha monkey and give way if they start running down the path.

The Stereotype is True, They Love Nanas!

Peel.

Eat.

What Banana?

We spent about 30 minutes on Monkey Island but didn’t go to deep in. It was really fun to see the monkeys but also a bit nerve wracking with them literally running all around us.

Loved the Trees when we Looked Up!

Repeat. Peel.

Eat. (Banana is Bigger than this Guy!)

Eat. Nom Nom!!

What Banana?

When it was time to leave we headed back to the boat and had to climb in. Turns out climbing in is harder than climbing out! John and the boat captain held the boat as steady as they could and we each took a turn jumping up and rolling in.