15/06/2025
How I Accidentally Offended a Howler Monkey (and Lived to Tell the Tale)
I used to think monkeys were cute. You know, little jungle buddies swinging from trees, living the dream. That was before I met him.
It started with a peaceful morning in the rainforest. I was staying in a cabin near Uvita, trying to embrace nature and all that. Coffee in hand, I walked outside to enjoy the sunrise, when suddenly the jungle roared. And I mean roared. A deep, guttural scream echoed through the trees like the jungle itself was having an existential crisis.
Turns out, it was a howler monkey. In a tree. Right above me.
Still half-asleep and overly confident in my “Pura Vida” attitude, I tried to be friendly. I looked up and casually said, “Hey buddy, you okay up there?”
That’s when the monkey stopped howling, locked eyes with me like a disappointed parent, and—no joke—peed. Directly. Down.
Now, it missed me by maybe half a meter, but the message was loud and clear: this was his jungle, and I was the unwanted guest. I backed away slowly, coffee still in hand, pride not so much.
Later, a local told me that howlers scream to mark territory, and that talking back (even politely) is not advised. Great. I’d basically started a turf war with a furry tenor in the trees.
So yeah—Costa Rica teaches you lessons. Some are spiritual. Some are biological. And some are just about shutting up when the monkeys are speaking.
Pura vida, I guess.
