The Monkey Doctor and the Fancy Hotel

When we were in Nicaragua, we stayed in quaint little haciendas and bed and breakfasts. Each one was small and cozy with good food and cold drinks - everything you could want and nothing that you didn't need - just the way it should be. Jack and I tend to shy away from the large chains - I mean when you stay at the large chains you forget where you are in the world and why you're there - Jamaica turns into Cancun which turns into Costa Rica which turns into Miami which turns into Orlando - same towels, same pool with "yellow bird" being piped in, same, same, same. I think the entire purpose of going to another country is to really immerse yourself in the local ways - to eat in local roadside stands, to stay at a local b&b, to meet the people and to give money directly to the community instead of the Hilton family....

But, I did hear about this really cool hotel in San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua - a hotel set into a hillside, each room resembling a cave. Not a chain but a "western" hotel with lots of pools, bars, etc. So our last night in Nicaragua, after spending time on Ometepe Island with giant spiders, howler monkeys, cows, thousands of frogs and one very poisonous coral snake we decided to travel to the "touristy" town of San Juan Del Sur and stay at the Pelican Eyes hotel.

Nicaragua surprised me on many levels - it charmed the living daylights out of me - and the roads for the most part were smooth and well signed. Until we turned off for San Juan Del Sur. We turn off the beautiful Pan American Highway at the sign for San Juan Del Sur - 50km. Well, that's close....not! The roads were nothing short of red clay and rocks just large enough to break the axle on a rental car. After what seemed like forever on this really dusty hot road, we stopped at the ice cream man (see picture of the ice cream man and his ice cream bike). and had a delicious cold treat.

We finally get to San Juan Del Sur and the Pelican Eyes Hotel. Beautiful hotel set into a hillside cliff with the most amazing vistas of the bay of San Juan Del Sur and the Pacific Ocean. We get the keys to our hacienda - which is beautiful. What is disturbing, though, is that directly in front of out door there are some little howler monkeys on harnesses. Further investigation shows me a little boar in a cage, some chickens and some ducks. Animals in cages? A mini zoo? I run to the front desk to confront these people - if they have monkeys for the benefit of tourists I am so outta there! So the woman at the front desk see this American hellcat in front of her as I confront her about the monkeys. Yes - that is our rehab facility, she replies. For our veterinarian. Would you like a tour of our animal hospital? That shuts me up as I nod yes.

I am escorted down some rock steps to what I would like to refer to as "my waking dream" - kittens and chickens and monkeys. Dogs and birds lying together, walking around, healing. I am greeted by an volunteer who shows me around. I spend the day there and the following day I am introduced to Maya. Maya is a six month old howler monkey orphan. She will be raised by hand and loved until she is about two or three, when she is sexually mature. She will then be released to have her own life and family back in the wild. Male monkeys, however, cannot be released - they would be ganged up on - hence the monkeys on the property.

The Stones and Waves clinic is unique in that this beautiful hotel funds part of the operation and gives them much needed property. What a wonderful idea. In countries like Nicaragua, animals are not treated kindly. Like the story of one of the monkeys on the property that almost had his arms and legs macheted off by a drunk. Or the stories of boys throwing rocks at monkeys for fun. Or the poisoning of cats and dogs. The vet at Stones and Waves is not rich, In fact he joked that he's still paying off his student loans - and he's middle aged. What a wonderful man. What a wonderful place.

I still think about beautiful Maya - her baby breath that smelled of banana and mango. Her teeny little hands touching my ear and her little tail wrapped around my neck as she fell asleep on my shoulder. I think about this perfect little creature and how there are people in the world that would want to harm her. But there are also good, good people who would give up a big house, a new car every few years and creature comforts to live in a poor country to help save her and her kind. I think of Maya, who by my calculations should be ready to be free to make her own monkey babies in the Winter of 2009. And I think that one day, as she plays with and grooms her own sweet baby monkey, she will tell her child about people and how some of them can be good.

Please visit http://www.piedrasyolas.com/swvc_eng.htm for more information on this wonderful clinic and to donate much needed money to their efforts to build a new monkey enclosure for the monkeys that are rehabilitating and those that cannot be released into the wild again.