Figuring Shit Out by Biancolli Amy

Author:Biancolli, Amy [Biancolli, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Behler Publications, LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

30 Ecuador Stories, Part V: Monkeys, More Monkeys, and a Dog

In the midst of all these exploits, I keep sensing a Chris-shaped hole beside me—where he should be, would be, if he hadn’t died. But of course if he hadn’t died, I wouldn’t have brought Jeanne and Mitchell to visit Madeleine in South America. Therefore, any attempt to envision him here, splashing paddles into the Pastaza or getting shat on by horses, is an exercise in futility, and a painful one at that. But I envision him. I’m human. I ask what he might have done differently, whether he would have marched us off in some opposite direction, ushered us into yet more churches or devised some other death-defying escapades sold on the street by tiny ladies.

There’s no answer, and how could there be? These are our experiences, not his. And at a certain point in the midst of them—somewhere between the rafting and the riding—I stopped thinking quite so much about the Chris-shaped cut-out and started feeling, at long last, transformed. Just a little bit. Just enough to believe that I can lead; that I can travel and traipse without him; that my kids and I can indeed have our slam-bang adventures without him, be it here amid the staggering beauties of Ecuador or anywhere else on the globe. We can keep living and racking up stories, I’m sure of that now. I’m doubly sure that he wants us to.

But I can’t blame him for the monkeys.

Now, some people find them cute. Others find them disturbing and scary. I had always found them cute, and part of me (the stubborn, childish, idealistic part) still does, but after this trip’s lesson in simian-related F.S.O. I also find them enormously disturbing and extremely scary. They are unpredictable, fast-moving, thieving little buggers.

This we learn during our stay in Puyo, a gritty jungle town about an hour from Baños. If you have only a day and a half left to visit the Amazon basin, Puyo’s your best bet, and the drive south is—what’s that word again?—breathtaking. More mountains. More clouds. More waterfalls: at the taxi driver’s suggestion, we stop and hike up to the thundering Paílón del Diablo (Hair of the Devil), whose elemental force reminds me of Angel Falls at Niagara.

Once in Puyo, we take a cab to a jungle nature preserve where a guide takes us around and explains for us some of the endangered, exquisitely beautiful Amazonian flora. He hands us cinnamon leaves to chew. To the kids he hands a lip-shaped blossom; they pop it in their mouths and pose coyly for photos. On our return to the hotel, Madeleine asks the receptionist about fun things to do the next day. The advice comes back: Go see the monkeys in the jungle at the edge of town. Monkeys! Cool! Monkeys are soooo cute! Monkeys are fun! Yeah, all right, we’re in the Amazon, baby! Monkeys!

So the next morning we take a cab to the Paseo de los Monos, a monkey rescue staffed by tall young Germans in khaki.

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