The monkeys are back! Yesterday afternoon, Kemper and I enjoyed watching a troop of 28 monkeys travel across our cedar tree into our neighbor's mango trees; it was a young troop, with three mothers traveling with babies on their backs, and at least four juveniles. They sat for over an hour munching on the green mangoes, then throwing them down at us. We have finally trained our dogs to stop barking at them.

Kemper loves to hoot and howl back at the howlers- she is becoming quite talented at recreating their noises. At a year old, some children can meow like a kitten....mine sounds like a monkey! I guess that is what you get when you raise your child in the jungle!

As we watch the different troops travel, I like to make note of how many monkeys have been injured (missing hands or arms from power line surges)- this troop only had one handless female, who was carrying a baby. Perhaps the hard work of the local charity, Save the Howlers, is finally paying off. The charity works diligently to cover the unprotected power lines and transformer boxes in our area. They also coordinate with ICE (national power company) to have the tree limbs cleared away from the power lines, and to install 'monkey bridges'- small rope and web bridges that connect the canopy where roads have been cut.

Save the Howlers is a terrific charity, but I also feel that it is the local developers responsibility to protect our town. We know the result of erecting unprotected power lines....maimed or dead monkeys. Spend the extra money to buy covered lines, or even better, have the lines dug underground. If you are looking to invest in Nosara, I urge you to support eco-conscious developers. Ask your realtor (Erik) who he recommends.

On another note, this short little video clip is dedicated to Nanna, who gifted Kemper a Dora the Explorer DVD. Needless to say, she loves it!