Today's hike was labeled a "Charger hike", meaning that it was strenuous. The leader had asked me the night before when I signed up
if I understood what that involved and I appreciated his caution- if there’s
someone in the group who can’t handle it, it’s not fun for them OR the rest of
the group. I told him I was training for
a 35-mile bicycle ride next month. That
seemed to make him happy.
 | ||||
| Reached the top! |
 The hike wasn't that strenuous but it was long- 3.5 hours, then it took over half an hour for the skiff to arrive because they were repositioning the ship. The scenery was beautiful, of course, but the most interesting part of the hike was an encounter with a colony of white-faced capuchin monkeys after I’d already been very excited at the sight of a few individuals in earlier hikes. The guide had some intimidating instructions before we approached the colony: don’t smile (baring your teeth is a sign of aggression). Don’t make eye contact. Don’t point a camera at them for prolonged periods. I ducked past them and a few were already making “get out of my territory” noises. Two people behind me got delayed because there were alpha males following them (apparently angered at the steady parade of people in their territory) and they were trying to figure how to leave without being attacked. (White-faced capuchins may LOOK cute but the guide said she once saw a group of them surround a female howler monkey and take her baby away from her). |
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