The planned "expedition" for the morning was another walk in a rainforest. Lots of people signed up a few days ago but after the "moderate hike in the rainforest" switched to the afternoon Mangrove Boat Ride. (What a mangrove boat is, I do not know).
We took a now familiar theme park like Costa Rican ecotourism small boat through the mangroves where a very enthusiastic docent pointed out the various abundant wildlife. Very enthusiastic I say as he described every snail, lizard, bird, or tree for heaven's sake as "beautiful." First he pointed out small crabs, then familiar birds, then "very rare" sightings of (beautiful) birds and snakes, and then he said as we approached the end of the 2 hour tour was that we lacked seeing was monkeys. Oh horrors. But sure enough, just as Disney would have done it, as we approached the dock at the parking lot there was a troupe of capulin monkeys all over the trees on both sides of the river, doing monkey things. The guide was besides himself about this "unusual event", as he said, until we noticed the cages and food supplies put in that spot to encourage the monkeys to remain in the very area. Even the not working guides were standing on the dock pointing at the more or less tame monkeys who were not going away from their human generated food supplies. Costa Rica, except for the "moderate hike" is show business, but nice I suppose, but it's easy to worry about the condos and retired North American folks who will crowd the wildlife into smaller and smaller true theme parks.
For all it's worth, I did think that the the Emberra village in Panama was legitimate, but with a government school and some telecommunications they were not quite as wild as they appeared to us. The loin cloths were brand new as was the paint tattoos, no doubt donned (and partially discarded) for our visit. I suspect a lot of western garb would have been visible on a normal day, and as they become more and more of an "attraction" for eco-tourists.
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