Bali, Indonesia
Waking up this morning I could not have been more excited!! Today we were going to visit the MONKEY TEMPLES! Yay! I have been waiting for this day! We had our complimentary breakfast of yummy banana pancakes and the most delicious fresh mango juice. While waiting for the bus to come take us to the temples, Josh and I enjoyed the morning on the beach. We had to hurry and purchase sarongs as well because that was mandatory dress for the monkey temples. When we got to the temples everyone was freaking out! We went over to check out a monkey that was sitting on the fence to the entrance, and it snatched Matty Mac’s sunglasses! Straight up stole them and ran away! We were dying laughing and we all then decided to leave our sunglasses and everything else of value in the car. We bought bananas and entered the temple. At first our walk was solely scenic, which was fine. We walked on these GINORMOUS cliffs hanging over the ocean; probably a four hundred foot drop. SO SCARY. Then as we headed to the temple on top the mountain, that’s where our trouble began. Monkeys started appearing out of nowhere, and to be honest, they were creepy looking and MEAN! They saw we had bananas and were either trying to snipe them from us, or hiss at us! Dusty had a whole bushel of bananas and a monkey snuck up on him and snatched the whole bag! One thing was for sure: They were NOT afraid of humans. I had to grab a branch off of a tree and defend myself from the “monkey business” (no pun intended) going on around me when I realized that this will probably be one of the only times in my life where I get to actually interact with monkeys. That was enough for me, the branch was down and Josh, Ethen, Heather, Brandon and I headed off of the designated path and into the jungle. This is where we lost all fear. We put bananas in our palms and the monkeys would literally climb up our legs and bodies and sit on our arms and eat. There was a moment when I had THREE monkeys on my head and shoulders at the same time!! They were so fun and such curious little animals. They would go through our pockets and bags trying to steal. One even jumped on me from a tree above my head! After we played with our monkeys for a while, we headed to the top of the mountain to see a cultural dance of the Monkey Temple. It was beautiful and a great way to better understand the Balinese culture. We were sad when we had to leave the temples, but this is a memory we will NEVER forget. I LOVE monkeys!
