When people travel to the tropics for their vacation, they have a tendency to’let their hair down” so to speak. Translation - they lose all their social inhibitions and start striking up conversations with complete strangers at the poolside bar while slurping a frozen daiquiri or pina colada or on the beach while reading their favorite romance novel. If you fall into this category of traveller, please read on….

In Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica, that ever so popular Pacific coast beach resort with magnificent sunsets and tropical landscapes, there is a new travel advisory - it seems that a new breed of Moocher is rapidly exploding in numbers. This character is known in some circles as Mono Curioso (Curious Monkey). His modus operandi is to hang around poolside bars especially during the Hapee Hour; once you a throw a couple of peanuts his way or give him a handout, he will cling on to you for your entire vacation and make you go bananas. So please watch out for this cuddly, innocuous looking character. If you give him an inch, he will take a mile! Just remember - Don’t Feed the Animals and you’ll avoid falling into this sticky predicament. Pura Vida!

Factoid - Beside this new relatively new breed of Mono curioso, there are three additional species of monkeys that reside in Manuel Antonio - the Howler, Capuchin and Spider monkeys.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 1st, 2006 at 9:35 am and is filed under Commentary, Costa Rica, Humor, nature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.