A walk to remember

We (Deanna and I) took a walk last night after supper. The weather was wonderful... dark clouds and rather cool breeze. And despite the dark clouds, it wasn't pouring... it was only sprinkling. We walked down the dirt road behind the school, past the dam and waterfall, past the cows with huge floppy ears, down past the second bridge over the rushing, muddy river. We walked all the way down to where we had seen the monkeys on Sunday. There were no monkeys in the tree today... we did see a nice line of marching leafcutter ants, though. :-) Steve (missionary) and Nick (his son) had caught up with us, and decided to take us off-roading to look for monkeys. We made our way through the rickety barbed-wire fence, and headed off into the jungle. We came to one sort of clearing, where there wasn't much undergrowth on the ground. There were huge trees throughout the clearing and around it, with masses of vines trailing to the ground. Steve tried swinging on some, but they wouldn't hold his weight. I tried swinging on some, but they wouldn't hold my weight either. It was about time for Deanna and I to head back, so we bid goodbye to Steve and Nick, and made our way back along the trail (if it could rightly be called a trail). We still hadn't found any monkeys. Working together, we managed to get through the barbed-wire fence again (skirts and all), and we walked back along the road. Then, as the shades of dusk deepened, as we walked past the cows with huge floppy ears and told each other stories of changing flat tires, we began to hear a strange sound. It was almost a woofing sound, but it had a strange echo to it. Both of us immediately knew what it was... the monkeys! Mantled Howler Monkeys, they have a call that reportedly can be heard distinctly for three miles. They were much closer to us than that, however... right about where we had been looking, but on the other side of the road. :-) We walked back quietly under the dusk of a Honduran evening, and listened to the monkeys call.

God is good.

Sarah