OOOOoooHHHHEEEEEE…that is the sound a howler monkey makes

The picture to the left is a picture that was taken close to my new site loction! Quite the beautiful view.

Last Sunday I woke up around 6am, did my laundry (a 3 hour experience), hung up everything to dry in the sun, and ate breakfast around 9am. In the afternoon, a friend and I decided to meet up with the other PCTs (Peace Corp Trainees) who were at the local Laguna. Little did I know my excursion to the Laguna would be very similar to the classic 90’s movie Jurassic Park. Just to remind those who have not seen this movie in a while (I saw it on the local Spanish 10 channel recently) the scene in the movie that I am referring to: The scientists and 2 kids land on the island of Jurassic Park. All appears to be well at first, lush green trees and picturesque crystal clear water surround the park. Then the group ventures through two large doors that encapsulate the park to go into search of dinosaurs. To sum it up quickly, it starts to rain and the group gets terrorized by man eating beasts.

Now back to my experience…as my friend and I are walking through the green canopy trees we come to the serene Laguna. The water is still and there is a volcano in the distance with puffs of white fluffy smoke emitting from the top. We are walking along a path and run into one of the PCTs that we were going to meet. The trainee directs us to keep walking (maybe 40 minutes give or take) and we should run into the other group on the beach. As we are walking along in search of this beach it starts to rain. The paved path we were walking on turns into a dirt road. And out of nowhere a noise like that of a t-rex ready to swoop up its pray comes echoing out of the forest “OOOOOOoooooooHHHHHHHEEEEEEE.” My friend and I look at each other in horror….not knowing if we should run, hide or just stay put. We decide to turn back…having never found the rest of the group. The rain continues and there is an eerie silence to the forest. We decide to find a place to sit to eat our lunch and we proceed to walk down closer to the water. In the middle of lunch we hear the sound again “OOOOOooooooooHHHHHHEEEEEEEE” and then we hear “Hey Guys!” We both jump, only to look up and see the rest of the group standing at the top of the hill. We finally meet up with the whole group and we walk towards the bus station together. I found out that the sounds we heard coming from the forest were the sounds of howler monkeys…not dinosaurs. We jumped on a big yellow school bus and headed back to our town around 4pm. I will never forget the sound that a howler monkey makes…but if you’ve never heard one then just imagine the sound a dinosaur makes because it pretty much sounds the same!

When I arrived back in my town there was a festival in full swing at the central park. I sat down and partook in some local entertainment and food. I ate something filled with rice and pork (it was greasy but really good). I also ate fried plantains, which are sweet and delicious. To finish off the meal I ate a tortilla! It was a fun celebration. However, the party did not end until 3am and I was trying to get to bed early to catch up on some sleep. Instead, I got to listen to some really load Spanish music coming from the park that is only 2 blocks from my house. But what’s a good fiesta without loud music and greasy food!