Welcome to the Jungle

Day 13 (10/12) part 1 - Monkeys!

We walked back to the IC house from Charity of Peace that morning. It was quite early, and most of the others in the house were still asleep. Given the shower situation (one of them), I chose to hang outside for a little while before trekking through the house, making all kinds of noise, and waiting in line to shower. I had heard that the house had two pet monkeys, but I had yet to see them, which meant that I wasn't entirely sure that someone had made it up altogether. Until I finally spotted him. Little Alex. I sat down on the ground, looking all harmless, and waited to see if he would venture over to me. He was shy at first, but once he warmed up, he became quite the little cuddle monkey.

Alex and I:



One of the IC residents brought out a banana to give Alex for breakfast. He sat next to me as he ate. He would put a piece in his mouth, then "give" a piece to me.



Amanda and I both kind of fell in love with the little guy, and to this day, we regularly say to one another, "I miss Alex."



In order to give Amanda some QT with him, I went off to find the second monkey. I had heard that Vicki was much friendlier than Alex, and I quickly learned why people had this opinion. I walked to the backyard and spotted her immediately. Within seconds, she jumped on me and climbed up to my shoulders.



About that time, I heard people moving about in the house. I could not tear myself away from the monkeys for too long (and I was hoping for the electricity to come back on to provide me with a warm shower later that day) so I decided to forgo the shower and just change clothes and freshen up. (If there is anytime when it's appropriate to skip a shower, it's in Africa.) In addition, I grabbed some breakfast and my Bible, and went to have a quiet time in the backyard with Vicki. A few minutes later, Michael decides to do the same and brings his cup of tea within Vicki's reach. Long story short, I now have monkey prints in my Bible and my journal. I know you are jealous.

Amanda ate her breakfast with Alex and gave him another banana while shooting a short video: