Heather and Scott (Scott Free) and their visiting friends, Jeanette and Alan wanted to take a tour up the Monkey River and invited us to come along. Although we had done that 3 years ago, we opted to go again - this time with Percy Gordon who calls himself the king of the howlers. He picked us up sharp at Yoli's dock and we roared through the mangrove canals down to Monkey River, with good commentary all the way. We saw where Norwegian Cruise Lines is building an island playground and where they expect cruise ships to begin calling in 2016. Dredgers are at work in the waters near the island, and we could glimpse what looked like docks and canals on land. It always seems a shame to see this kind of development, but if it brings more work to the guides in the area, it may not be a totally bad thing.

As we neared the river entrance, he pointed out a beach bar where the hurricane of 2001 had washed away the beach. Local folks are gradually reclaiming the land, piling sandbags and planting trees but it is a slow process. Besides the immediate destruction of property in this kind of storm, it must be heartbreaking to see one's hopes and plans for a business just disappear overnight. Down in the village, we saw the same kind of evidence of storm-damaged houses - broken steps, waterlines high on buildings, altered beaches. Percy remarked on the clotheslines strung beneath houses and I laughed to hear that one of my theories about houses on stilts had some truth to it! Besides protecting them from rising water, those raised houses do allow the women to hang their clothes on the lines during the plentiful summer rains. And in Percy's words, "Those girls got to do a lot of washing. We fishermen and our clothes smell baaad!"

On our leisurely ride up the river, Percy's sharp eyes spotted tiger, blue and great herons, ibis, egrets, orioles, swallows and Montezuma's oropendolas. One towering ceiba tree was literally dripping with the teardrop shaped nests of these beautiful birds. We have seen the birds and the nests before in the Rio Dulce, but this was one impressive sight. He stopped by a clump of branches and announced that there was a small American crocodile in among the floating sticks, and before too long we all managed to see him - all that was visible at first was his head but he moved and we could see the remaining 2-3 feet. We stopped by another tree and peered and peered at the brown clumps there - that really looked like rough bark to me, but with binoculars we could see legs and folded wings. They were small brown bats.

We beached the lancha and went for a walk through the forest to find the howler monkeys that we could hear in the distance. Percy called to them, some of the other guides banged machetes on trees and sure enough we were soon able to look up and see them high above us. A male was making a lot of noise while a mother with a baby clinging to her chest made her way along a branch and took what seemed like a big leap from tree to tree. The males do the howling, and no matter how many times I hear it, I'm always a little spooked by such a fearsome roar from a relatively small animal. There were several groups of monkeys - and several groups of visitors - so we weren't all tramping over ourselves as we moved around for best views and pictures. As we walked through the forest, Percy gave us the names and medicinal uses of many trees and bushes - I can't begin to remember them all but there were plants for burns and snake bites, ones whose leaves made teas for all sorts of complaints and problems. The jungle forest really is a natural pharmacy.

Farther up the river, we stopped at a sandy bar and those who felt like it jumped in the river for a fresh water swim. (This wasn't an option on our last excursion here and Percy said he is the only guide who includes it - but I'd wear a swimsuit if I did this again. Jim had quick dry shorts on but I had to limit myself to splashing water on my arms and legs or else sit in wet clothes for the rest of the trip.)

Back down the river, we stopped for lunch at the little building in the village that seems to be part of Percy's operation. One other group was here, but the rest either ate elsewhere or didn't have lunch included. We smiled at the plates of stewed chicken, coconut rice, mashed potatoes and a pool of red beans - pretty heavy on the carbs and not the most interesting food, but typical of a village diet and tasty enough to satisfy our appetites.

After a walk through the village we piled into the lancha again for the return trip, stopping midway to look for manatees. Although we saw the smooth backs and flip of the tails as a couple of them dove below the surface, we never did get a close up look but it wasn't a problem - we saw plenty of other wildlife.

And then it was 2:30 and we were back at Yoli's dock after a thoroughly fine day of exploring. Check out Percy's information at www.barebonestours.com
Even though the big draw is the monkeys, I thought you might like this pic of the croc!