Monkey Pool

There are many monkeys in the forest in which Tushita resides.  They are brownish-red with medium long hair.  They have little brown faces and little red butts.  As you can imagine they are adorable.  Adorable yet a complete nuisance.  They steal your food and may steal your underwear just to parade around in it.  The nun here at Tushita constantly reminds us that we must close all windows and doors.  There are large packs of them and they often linger when we’re outside eating lunch.  There is a sweet dog here that often runs off the monkeys when they get too close.  When it’s between you and a monkey for your lunch; monkey wins.  One of the founding Lama’s here had a special wading pool built just for the monkeys.  It’s about 5ft long and 2ft wide it’s maybe a foot deep.  The large males usually come by and wash their face.  The babies have much more curiosity over the pool.  They lie at the edge of the pool, reach their little hand down and test the water.  Then they’ll jump in.  yes, jump!  And splash.  It’s sounds like they’re swimming laps.  There is probably nothing more entertaining than watching monkeys swim in a pool.  It’s warm in the sun here, but we’re at 7,000ft so once you’re in the shade it’s cold.  The little monkeys come out of the pool sopping wet and cling to the hot cement.  I can remember doing that as a kid.  When you’re cold and wet after being in the pool there’s nothing better  than laying on the hot sidewalk baking in the sun.  The monkey’s chill for a bit soaking up the sun and then they’re off, as quick as they came, back into the woods.