With a title like that, you KNOW this post should be cool.
We had our Regional Security Meeting yesterday. It happens once a year or so, and all thirty or so PCVs that work in the department of Huehuetenango get together with the security director to talk about what we’re supposed to do in an emergency. Being a US Federal Agency, the Peace Corps is pretty into the whole “emergency preparedness” thing. I am not allowed to go into much detail in the blog, but suffice it to say that we are well looked-after should there be a massive earthquake/ hurricane/ civil disturbance/ nuclear war in Guatemala. Though, I was somewhat disappointed to find out that they actually DON’T have gatling-gun-toting blackhawk helicopters on standby with a team of commandos to extract us from our sites. It’s like someone telling you Santa Claus doesn’t exist.
What does this have to do with monkeys, you ask? Well, the hotel that hosts our meetings has a tiny private ZOO attached to it, of all things. How random. The star attraction is a pair of monkeys. I emailed my friend Darren, who is a primatologist, to ask him what kind they are and I will let you know what he tells me. [update: he says they are spider monkeys, the smallest and most social of the new world primates.] While I was “talking” to one of the monkeys, I felt something caress my face, and was startled to see that she’d sneaked her tail out of the cage and past my perhipheral vision, just to touch me. I had to laugh; I got tricked by a monkey! I could see her hands and feet the whole time, but I forgot about the prehensile tail. Oh, and the big pink monkey outside of the cage is Emily.
On our way back to our site, I was waiting to get onto the bus and saw the ayudantes running up and down the ladders of the bus, loading cargo. Those guys work HARD. And who’d have ever thought a school bus could carry so much stuff? I had to take a picture. It’s like an ant carrying a giant chunk of bread. And the best part? I posted a video of it on YouTube so you can enjoy the full effect.