A coati up close.
If you like things furry and four-legged, there’s a good chance you’ll run into a coati during your visit to Costa Rica. I didn’t know this until I arrived in Monteverde, a laid-back town in the mountains north of San Jose.
We showed up in Monteverde after the bruising ride from La Fortuna – the boat portion of the trip across Lake Arenal was fun, but after that? Forget about it. An exercise in brutality, it was – but that’s for another post.
After stashing our bags at La Colina, I was eager to walk around and get my equilibrium back. I filled up some water bottles and we began meandering about. Off in the distance near a trailhead, I saw a bunch of small creatures with their tails proudly thrust into the air. We were far away, and I assumed this was just some massive collection of house cats.
Being the cat-friendly guy that I am, I wanted to pet them. So I made the universal “kittykittykitty” noise. And the group turned to face me as one.
Coatis surround my wife, hoping for a tasty morsel.
These were no cats! They had longer snouts and huge claws. But they trotted gamely up to us – clearly, visitors had not been heeding the signs that we began reading: DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS. They quickly surrounded us, hoping for food. When they realized we were going to obey the signs, they wandered off.
Interestingly enough, coatis live far north, all the way into Arizona. They’ve been known to hang out east of Phoenix. I hope I get to see one here sometime.
In the meantime, enjoy Monteverde – it’s worth the beast of a ride. The coatis are cute, it’s really tranquil, the coffee is awesome.
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