Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Animals in Ecuador?

The reason I put the question mark is because that was what I started to wonder when I moved down there.
Now I'm not referring to the herds of cows or sheep that could be seen going through town. (That's right! I mean down the middle of the street) Nor am I referring to the rooster I was hoping would make it into soup before the next 2 a.m. calling outside my window.  What I'm talking about is wild animals, because there didn't seem to be any.
In Wisconsin it was basically an obstacle course of animals any time you would get behind the wheel of a car. We had deer, raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, opossums, porcupine, skunks- I think you get the picture.
Except for the bird WAY up in the sky, there was nothing in Ecuador. Why?
Because any living creature that has the misfortune of coming near humans is promptly killed and eaten, so they tend to stay far away. Can't say I blame them.

I had really been hoping to see monkeys in the wild in the rainforest, but they had wisely moved further in, so I only saw them as pets.
My favorite was the pocket monkey. A woman had a baby that was so tiny, with its' arms stretched out it held onto the palm of my hand. It was adorable!
A friend of mine had a pet one that was maybe a foot and a half body height, three feet with legs. He walked with his hands over his head, but he wasn't nice. If he got a hold of your hair he wasn't letting go!
Once I walked to the store, and I passed a boy that the monkey was holding by fistfuls of his hair. When I returned, they were still there!


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