This Island wasn't always called la Isla de los micos, it was actually accidental... The Island was called Sofia many years ago but once there was an American man who tried to export over 10,000 monkeys to the states from Colombia. But there were many monkeys that were ill and were dying and I think he was caught so he had to let them go in this Island.... This occured around 40 years ago.
After 10 years he went back to the Island and built an illegal luxury hotel for many Europeans and Americans to visit. When the authorities found out about this they arrested this man and closed down the hotel....
This Island has been open to the public but only 2 years ago did it become a reserve. Now the animals, the lagoons and plant life are protected.
To get to this Island you have to get a boat, it is still in Colombia, Colombia has 112 km of Amazon river and 20 Islands, the rest belongs to Brazil and Peru.
On our way to the Island we passed only 5 of these small Islands.
The journey was around 45 minutes long, and guess what?? it was raining yet again! Lucky the guide gave us all rain macs but we didn't get them until we actually arrived to the island, so yet again we both ended up soaking wet....grrrr. Once we arrived onto the island, we had a guy introduce himself and gave us a brief history on the island. Unfortunately though, he did give some incorrect facts which wasn't good for people that do not know....For example he told us the Amazon river is the longest in the world. This is untrue it is the Nile, but the Amazon's is the widest, (just informing you in case you didn't know ;-) )....
Lorenzo the Parrot, he likes to talk whilst the guide talks too, very funny but annoying at the same time... After the introduction we were given wellies to wear and were told we would be doing a 4km tour of the reserve. 1.8km would be walking and the rest would would be in canoe....We would then get a buffet lunch and then get the opportunity to meet the monkeys!
Tiny little monkeys, look feisty though...These were in the entry where we collected our wellies, I think they are kept in cages as they were a different breed to the ones we saw in the trees.
Our journey began with a guide that was a medicine man. He knew what every plant was used for in the past, unfortunately they aren't all used now. The most curious one was the "Punishment tree". This tree is full of angry ants. The whole tree is hollow and in the inside like the ants. Back in the past people were tied to the tree, (if they needed punishing) and would end up severly hurt or even killed from these ferocious ants. 
This tree is known as the tree of punishment....
The guide explained to us about many different tree's and plants. There is one tree that releases a white powder which is used to put on any cuts or scars and helps to clean the cut and clear any scars, this would help surgeons back in Europe!!! As we walked we did get the pleasure of having some visitors! MONKEYS!!!! They were curious to see us, or they were hungry. They came to say hello and then went back into the jungle!!! It was very exciting though.
The monkeys checking up on us....and seeing where their food is???....
Another interesting plant is the "Button" plant el boton, This plant is used for anyone with a tooth ache, lucky for me I actually had just been to the dentist with Andy and we both had sensitive teeth so it was great to test it out.... You have to place the bud of the plant into your mouth and chew for a few minutes, you spit it out and your mouth numbs 
Here you have Andy's demonstration
As we walked along there were huts where tribesmen sold their natural medicines to people. There were also some very cute children....
As you can see they were dressed in the typical clothes that the tribes would wear. I did feel sorry for them too as it was like a zoo, everyone was staring wanting to take pictures, but they allowed it and as you can see they were very photogenic....
Also in the hut was this.....
A 3m Anaconda Skin that was hunted, this is actually small compared to how large they get. Lucky we didn't see any as these animals hunt for humans, and they come out in extremely hot weather.... Anaconda's cannot be killed by machete's or gun shots, they are extremely powerful animals. We were told that if a snake was to try and crush you the best thing is to bite it, it is like a snake bite for us, this really hurts them, but either way I really wouldn't like to be caught in that situation.....After our quick visit we then followed onto the Canoe's.
We were taken through two main lagoons, one being the Victoria regia. These lagoons are black watered, this is not because they are dirty but because it is full of plantation.... Also the waters are full of piranha's, caymans, and other fishes that measure up to 3m long! Unfortunately we didn't see any. The piranha's arent like what you may believe, they do not eat you alive, they only attack if you have an open wound and they can smell your blood, so we were not in danger while sitting in our boats....
As we went along the lagoons, the guide explained how the plantation works, and how the lilly pads are formed, we also saw the lotus flower which was very nice. As always it began to rain and yes, we got wet, although our rain macs did help, but being in a lagoon with a lot of rain causes one great inconvienience, MOSQUITO'S.... I was putting repellent on me constantly but to be honest it really doesn't do anything, I even think it provokes them to come more and attack....
Lilly pads in Victoria Regia Lagoon
Leaving the canoe and walking along.....
Once we left the canoe's we went for another walk along some bridges, further inside the jungle. By this time we were getting rather hungry.... we now didn't even think if giving the monkeys lunch, we only though of filling ours.
A very, very, very long bridge, maybe just over a km long, was beautiful sites to see though.
We walked for another 10 minutes until we arrived to where we started. There we had a buffet lunch, although it wasn't all you can eat, which didn't impress Andy very much.
We got soup, meat, a fish burger and juice.... Andy went for more and they weren't impressed, neither was he....
After our lunch and a bit of a rest from the rain we were then taken to see the Monkeys. I didn't expect this experience to go this way....
We were taken onto a platform, we were a group of 17 people, and as we walked along the bridge to get onto the platform all the monkeys started to come and greet us in their monkey way.
There were mother monkeys with their babies hugged to them (or so it seemed), the babies were asleep yet holding onto their mothers while their mothers jumped from branch to branch. It was so cute. We were told we were allowed to stroke the monkeys but not try and grab them as they will attack, we were told to take off any jewellery as they would rip it off our ears, necks or wrists, we had to tie the cameras to our wrists, if not they would snatch them and lucky I listened as one monkey knocked mine out of my hands. You weren't allowed to touch the mother monkeys either as they would obviously attack to protect their children.... I did stroke the monkeys but they are so fast so it wasn't a prolonged feel. Plus their fur isn't soft as you would expect. It is rough, almost nettle like....
We were given Banana's and told to hold them so only a little bit is shown, you don't peel them either, as the monkey's do it themselves. Once you hold out a Banana, they all come and start peeling the banana and breaking bits off.
The feeling was amazing, it was emotionally so much fun, I didn't want this moment to end. I was overwhelming being surrounded by so many monkeys. I thought that the monkey's would be greedy and would only come everytime you had a banana, but it wasn't the case, they came for their right amount of food then left. The experience went too quickly for me, I wanted to take them all home with me! Obviously that cannot happen but I defintely would recommend this to anyone that has the opportunity to do so. It was incredible and has left me even more in love with the monkeys than I was before heading out to this Island.
Monkey with baby on it's back....(not a hunchback)
Look at it's hands, almost human like....See the baby sleeping?
Ohh.... qué monito el monito...! Andy... con esa voz, das mucho miedito! Las fotos son super chulas!
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