This message runs deeper that you’d initially think – but let’s have some fun first!
I regularly travel to the Riviera Maya for repairs and maintenance on my house. It’s located in a jungle setting, but on a country road that has become increasingly more busy over the years. What I have noticed is that for the past 3 years or so, we see monkey families traveling the surrounding tree tops. They hadn’t come this close when I lived full time in the jungle with no neighbors, and approximately 5-10 cars per day on the Ruta de los Cenotes – as opposed to 5-10 cars per minute these days.
This time (winter 2019-2020), for the first time I had 2 monkeys enter my upstairs part of the house. I had recently done repairs on my roof and the mosquito netting was still down. I was sweeping upstairs when one of them opened the screen door and walked with a brisk pace towards me, somewhat indicating that he was keen on my broom. There was only a fraction of a nano second for me to decide what to do, so I handed him the broom. He snatched it with a grin and walked back towards the screen door where I had placed the dust bin. It contained already a good amount of swept-up dust and debries.
Mr. Monkey had a blast with the broom! He looked like a witch about to fly off. He rolled over it, and then examined it carefully for fleas. Next he sat down in the dust bin with his butt, reached down, grabbed a pinch of dust and sprinkled it down again with his fingers.
I gently uninvited them and we all left the upstairs palapa. The two fellows hung out on the veranda while I was getting ready to leave. It was very cute to see how affectionate they were with each other, and how human-like their facial expression and gestures were. The only trace I found when I came back home was monkey poop on my veranda.
That’s when I started finding them not so cute anymore.
But it goes on: My house is located in the subtropical rain forest, and with that it can be subject to 90% humidity occasionally. Airing the house out and keeping good ventilation going is crucial, because if you keep the doors closed for too long you can actually watch fungus growing on your leather belt when the heat evaporates after a strong rain.
One morning I was enjoying a soft breeze and sunlight with all doors wide open, while preparing my breakfast. While my back was facing the open room, one of the monkeys showed up at the side door where my kitchen shelf is placed. I walked towards him to prevent him from entering my house. In a split second he grabbed my favorite nuts and dashed out! I shouted “No!” and tried grabbing the nuts back, but he scratched my hand and screamed at me, showing his teeth. Immediately I gave in and let him go. He climbed up the tree in front of the door and tried opening the bag from the bottom with this teeth – instead of taking the laundry clip off.
Long story short – I found the bag a few hours later on the other side of the house. Leave a comment and guess whether I ate the rest of them!
From talking to my neighbors I found out the following:
These 2 monkeys in particular are said to have been freed from captivity. They supposedly grew up on a leash and were a tourist attraction in one of the nearby cenotes (sweetwater lakes/caves). They do enter the houses in the nearby village and even manage to unscrew bottles with their skillful hands. Some villagers feed them and they do bite if they feel trapped!
As fascinated as I am when I see a monkey so close up – I must admit that the behavior of these 2 monkeys in particular is unnatural an concerning. It limits me. For example, I find myself in worry when I’m upstairs on my yoga mat while having all doors open downstairs. I’m glad that these 2 rebels haven’t opened my fridge yet that’s placed outside on the veranda. Meanwhile I put up all the mosquito netting again and it seemed that they respect it. But they do know how to open the screen door – so I wonder whether I will find my palapa inhabited when I visit next time!
The last thing that really concerned me was their almost evil behavior when I was burning a lot of wood one afternoon. The 2 rebels were sitting on nearby trees and yanking some of the branches so hard, and on purpose, in order to make them fall down relatively close to me and the fire. They were screaming occasionally, and I’m unable to tell whether they were just excited or angry. They did not attack me in any way – but it was strange to see them aggressively yanking down branches.
So here you go. Now you know what I meant by “deeper message”. One eye sees them as the cutest little beings, fascinated by the trust they show towards humans – but the other eye is critical and raises a brow. The bottom line is that their behavior has been corrupted because humans raised them in captivity. And as nice as it is that they are free now – it seems they haven’t been able to adapt to nature fully. There are still wild families of probably 20 adults and babies traveling through our ‘hood – but they stay way up in the tree tops and at safe distance from us humans.
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