Why gringos should never feed the jungle monkeys

11:11:00 AM Andreas Vailakis
I realized my posts sound a bit negative towards South Americans and I apologize. In an effort for equality, I will try to include more dumb, gringo traveler stories like this one:

While in Ecuador a friend and I took a 3 night trip to the Jungle just east of Quito. After some interesting bus rides and some unexpected plan changes, we ended up in a small jungle village right on the river called Misahuallí. The attraction of this town is the monkeys that run around in the plaza in the center. Seeing those little guys running around, playing, and jumping on trees was just too cute. Well it’s all fun and games until a gringo makes a mistake.

I noticed this gringo couple (who had been playing with the monkeys are hour earlier) walking through the square both holding fruit they had just purchased. The monkeys are obviously curious, so some come up all playful and innocent to “say hi.” The man decides it’s a good idea to feed one of the monkeys some fruit. WRONG. Once he does this, another monkey jumps onto the woman’s arms (she is hugging a bunch of fruit) and knocks it all to the ground. The monkeys start going ape shit. The couple gathers their remaining fruit and start to try to leave the plaza. They are literally walking backwards shooing these monkeys away - that have gone from playful to mean. They are jumping on the guy and going nuts. One even got a rock and was pounding it against the metal bench. The couple finally got away unharmed, but damn folks take my warning, do NOT feed the jungle monkeys.


I soon learned these monkeys were not so “cute and friendly” as I had originally thought. In my hour of sitting at the plaza I also witnessed them steal a bag of chips from a little girl (and made her cry), taunt and tease a dog, and steal a sprite bottle from a tourist.

One of the monkeys:


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