We rose early, searching out the howler monkeys we had heard throughout the night. They are really funny, making their mouths into a big “O” shape as they hoot and holler in response to our mimicking their noises. We hiked a steep trail, nearly stepping on a big black, yellow and green snake and seeing a wide array of cool insects, lizards, ants, tiny frogs and trees with buttresses.

After lunch we hiked a new trail, in hopes of crocodiles. Instead we saw really cool “Jesus lizards” that deftly run across wide swaths of water. There were plenty of cool birds and a large network of leaf-cutter ant highways several inches wide, completely cleared of debris, and with ten lanes of ants going to and fro. We saw our second type of monkey, spider monkeys, hanging out together in the trees, as monkeys are wont to do.

We then encountered squirrel monkeys which were the cutest animals we saw the whole trip. They are a between squirrel and miniature Chihuahua-sized with yellow faces, long non-prehensile tails and acrobatic abilities to scamper around the trees or lounge draped over the branches. They were completely unable to be intimidated, and we were able to get within a few feet of them. We even saw one gnawing on a katydid.

We ended the afternoon by attempting to play the coconut game, but were thwarted by our inability to find more than one good coconut.