Semana Santa in Cost Rica Part 3

So my absolute favorite animals at the sanctuary were the kinkajous. I was literally obsessed with them. Kinkajous are super cute creatures in the raccoon family. They are nocturnal and so are only really awake from right before dinner to dawn. At all other times they lie curled up with each other in their little sleeping box.

They were really sleepy if you went to see them during the day, but I took to visiting them right around dinner time and they were super affectionate and enthusiastic. They would both clamber out of the sleeping box and leap onto my shoulders sniffing me and pulling on my clothes and camera. Their tails are incredibly strong and the could could actually hang from my neck using on the tail to hold on.

Each volunteer chooses an animal to be in charge of enrichment toys/activities. I, of course, chose the kinkajous. I scavenged some coconuts that we had already drank the coconut water out of and filled them with bananas and honey. I then hung the coconuts at random places in their cage. One of the kinkajous woke up when I was hanging them and ate all the bananas and honey out of one coconut before going back to sleep. I came back later at night and both kinkajous and Itchy the olingo were going crazy about the treat. 

 Itchy shared the kinkajou enclosure but was not nearly as friendly. She spent all day inside this orange tube. She only came out at night and when she did, she was incredibly jealous of whatever the kinkajous were doing. If the kinkajous were on my shoulders, then she had to be on my shoulders AND she didn't want me to touch her AND she would then pick a fight with whatever kinkajou was on my other shoulder.

Itchy the Olingo

My other favorite animal was Billy the coati. He was soooo sassy. Everyone, including me, was a little scared of Billy. If you got near his cage he would rush at the chain link and jump up on it on all fours and growl and squeak at you. After a few days of this nonsense, I decided to push him a bit. I would sit as close to the cage I could get without him being able to reach me. (And he tried) And so I would sit until he calmed down. Then he would lay down against the chainlink and I would stroke his fur as fast as I could. He would immediately turn around and growl and squeak at me menacingly, before laying down against the chainlink again. Sometimes he would throw a suspicious look over his shoulder at me. So I'd pet him real quick and the cycle would continue. I maintain that he enjoyed it because he could have just walked away from where I was sitting but he never did. 

 

I had more of a love hate relationship with the Capuchin monkeys. They were incredibly cute and so humanlike, but they were also little troublemakers. One of their favorite games was to jump in the water bucket and then shoot down the back of your shirt so you ended up with wet dirty monkey climbing up and down your back. The worst was when one was under the shirt and the other outside of the shirt and they would fight with each other. Other times they would cling to you and refuse to get off when you wanted to leave their enclosure. They managed to escape twice, using this method. Simone got out and promptly ran amok everywhere. She moved onions onto volunteers beds, chewed ipod cords and stole cookies. When Wim got out she just jumped from the top of the cage to the tree nearby and back. 

(I tried to put another video in here but It wouldn't let me. I'll try on the next post)

Just realized I forgot to blog about the accommodations. They were rustic. Rickity bunkbeds all around. But the pool was nice. Though the mosquitoes were a holy terror. 

Bed

Pool!