Is That a Monkey?

Recently I've been having one of those "you know you're a returned Peace Corps volunteer when" moments.  The scenery appears to be "normal" as defined by western standards and I seem to be blending into the crowd when all of the sudden I say something like, "Is that a monkey?"

Normal trees in Germany where I thought I saw a monkey.

No. Not a monkey. Just a squirrel, birds nest, or sometimes, nothing at all. I look at a fairly normal tree and for some reason see a monkey hiding. In my defense, the town I lived in, Dangila, I had monkeys living in the forest just a hundred meters from my house. Sometimes they would even visit the large trees just two houses away, driving my dog crazy.

The forest in Dangila, Ethiopia, filled with monkeys.

Monkeys in Dangila are harmless and afraid of humans, so you hardly ever see them up-close. But monkeys in tourist areas of Ethiopia tend to be very bold and greedy. The monkeys in Sodere were capable of opening your unlocked hotel room door to steal food! Not my favorite kind of monkey. I prefer the sweet kind hidden in trees, and I suppose I like them so much that I still imagine that they are in the trees all around me.

Close-up of monkeys in the forest in Dangila, Ethiopia.

It's not just monkeys though. Imaginary hippos too seem to appear in lakes and rivers, too. Any large rock or movement in the water and my mind jumps right to the conclusion that it must be a hippo.  Strange, I know, but that is just the beginning. There are lots of other quirks that I picked up from two years in Ethiopia.  Keep reading to find out more (or just call the doctor for me).

Hippos in Tanzania hanging out in a small lake.