Monkeys and a Mud bath

When a baby monkey has a problem crossing through trees or jumping across, not only do the mommy and daddy monkey come to assist the baby, but the entire troop of monkeys come to the aid of the baby. It takes a village to raise a productive adult. I wonder why in American human nature, parents tend to feel so isolated. Ask for help, let those around you help your baby "cross" the ravine. Form a village to surround and help your kiddo grow up and be molded into the adult that God want him to be.

I saw this because we see a lot of monkeys around here... a lot of baby monkeys. We've gotten to see the family dynamic of them. It's neat to see.

We went to the Rincon de la Viejo National Park and Volcano the other day. We took an long tractor ride down a crazy path before arriving at the mud bath and hot springs.

Daredevil DID NOT enjoy the mudbaths. He gagged and gagged over the smell, since it was a natural sulfur smell from the volcano (think rotten eggs), and he screamed the whole time we tried to rub the mud on him. Then he asked to be held not realizing that both momma and daddy were covered it in already. Poor guy. He was NOT having any bit of it. Needless to say, we kind of zipped through that part and went quickly to the thermal pools. These, like the ones in Arenal, are heated by the volcano. We went from pool to pool (hot to warm) to enjoy. There were monkeys above us, fruity drinks in our hands, pineapple in our tummies, and warm water to relax in. It really was nice. Plus, there was a ledge to sit on around the perimeter of the pools which were lovely for the adults but also great for Daredevil to "march" on. He likes the warm pools as much as he disliked the mud bath.

On the way back up in the tractor, he fell asleep. He slept through lunch and then woke up for the hour and a half drive home. All in all it was a fun day.

There were seven monkeys above those thermal pools, two were babies. It was so sweet to watch the troop of monkeys take care of the babies. Just like those monkeys, we've had grandparents helping day in and day out with our Daredevil. It's so nice to have a strong village raising Daredevil.