(Click to enlarge)

We had fun watching these mischievous monkeys invading our Costa Rican hotel, eating an avocado, and playing around with a plastic bottle. The monkeys would sniff the bottle and realize it was some kind of soap, then throw it back on the ground where another monkey would do the same thing. Folks had their cameras out, and had a good time laughing at the antics of the capuchins. Until…

We go back to our hotel room, and Linda calls out from the bathroom–“Did you see the shampoo bottle?”

Me: What shampoo bottle?

L: You know, the little plastic travel bottle I filled with shampoo…

Me: Uh-oh, no, couldn’t be…

L: It’s missing from the bathroom

Then we look in the main room, at the sidetable where we had two avocados sitting ripening. One is missing!

Now things were really getting crazy! Had they come in through the balcony door? No, it was locked. But lo and behold I realized I had left the bathroom window slightly ajar–so they came in through the bathroom window (Thank you, Joe Cocker!) and stole the avocado and shampoo bottle. Then they climbed up the pole right outside the bathroom window to the balcony of the next floor upstairs to where I was snapping photos, oblivious to the fact that their stolen booty belonged to us.

And that’s why we went home with dirty hair…

Manuel Antonio,

Costa Rica