Another adventure very close to my home I finally had the nerve to visit today. Why not, I had to take advantage of having the car, so I visited the The Congo Trail and Refuge Centre today in Nuevo Colon. Wow, another awesome day. Another incredibly bumpy road, another wrong turn. I’m so good at taking the wrong turns, but to my defence, the signage is terrible everywhere. Just 15 minutes away, but it took about an hour. Hey, I get to see a lot of countryside. I had to cross two arroyos in my little Nissan. I highly recommend a 4×4 for this trip. There’s a fork in the road, and nothing to say which fork I was supposed to take. One road leads to the Refuge Centre and the other to Dante Beach. Folks, take the high road, I did not. Poor car took a beating, but along the way I saw this beautiful Jaguar on the same road, so I thought, sure I can do it, too. That guy was crazy to drive his beauty on this road. Heck, even my car was too nice to be on this road. Every other car I came across was a 4×4, smart people.
I brought along a couple of bananas with me since I knew I would be in monkey land. I learned it’s not necessarily a great match monkeys/bananas. I guess only in the cartoons. The capuchin monkeys were all over me. They loved the bananas because these monkeys will eat anything and everything. Brings back a memory of a capuchin stealing my sweetener for my coffee in Africa once.
I really wanted to see the refuge, but my main goal was to conquer my fear of heights. So, I signed up for the zipline . There are two. Small and extreme. You can guess which one I signed up for. I thought it was one zipline, but it was 14 on the “small” course. It was really hot today upwards of 98 degrees. Lots of hiking, ugh! What a blast!! So worth it. I don’t know why I was so afraid of hanging by a cord 100 feet off the ground before.
The refuge centre is small, but important to the well being of the animals they keep. They all have a story and I had a great time talking with the biologist on site about them. Next thing I know, I’m asking for a job. I want to help take care of these animals. Lots of snakes, turtles, monkeys, lamb and sheep, ducks, chickens and roosters, bunnies, and a burro, all with sad stories and need to stay in the safety of the refuge.
Tomorrow I meet with the head biologist for my interview, but I’m sure they will welcome my help. This will be very interesting, as everyone speaks Spanish. I hope I can learn quickly being absorbed in the language. I think it will be beneficial to the refuge, too, to have someone there who speaks full English.
Most of my adult life I have taken care of people; families in crisis, teenagers, teenagers and their guardians, teens within the court system and most recently geriatric disabled adults. So, now it’s time to take care of the other species. Everyone knows I love animals and would do anything for them. I think my dogs Maggie and JoJo would approve from heaven.
These are some of the “wild” capuchins who ate up my bananas. The far left picture is a momma and baby on her back. They were so awesome, got on my lap, and I fed them the nanas.
Following are some of the animals inside the refuge, hence the fences. The spider monkeys blew me away as they walk so upright, just like humans. Unfortunately, this time I wasn’t able to capture this. But here’s some of the animals I hope to be taking care of while I’m here.
I didn’t take pictures of the snakes, not my favourite creature. I didn’t get a picture of the baby lamb, either because she kept following me and I just couldn’t get the shot. The baby bunny is two months old. The turtles will eat your finger so I didn’t get too close to them either. All the animals were well taken care of and the biologists are fantastic in their knowledge of a balanced diet for each animal. Great day of firsts.
In loving memory of my pooches.JoJo and Maggie, I hope they approve of my efforts from heaven.
Out of the snow and into the heat 