Butterflies and Monkeys

Mike and I met online on September 18, 2007. His descriptions of his life in Costa Rica and his love for nature and especially his penchant for “soft winged things” as coined by Victor Hugo left me enchanted.
He sent me pictures of butterflies, birds, frogs and flowers. However there was one picture that he sent that changed everything! It was a picture of a mono titi, in Spanish, a squirrel monkey by common name. The little guy was draped around a limb of a tree sleeping. I had never even heard of a squirrel monkey, but it didn’t matter. I sent Mike an email back telling him that he had no way of knowing, but I LOVE MONKEYS. There are four species of monkeys in Costa Rica. The squirrel monkey or mono titi (pronounced mono-tee-tee), the white face monkeys or capuchins , the howler monkeys or mono Congo and the spider monkey. The spider monkey is no longer in our area, but fortunately is located in other areas of Costa Rica. So started our love affair fueled by joint interests of nature, water, music and many thoughts and beliefs held in common. In September of 2008, I took an early retirement. After visiting his family in Hawaii for seven weeks, I moved to Costa Rica in November of 2008. The adventure begins.