Hurricane Joan in 1988 did something hurricanes rarely do: she jumped over Central America from the Caribbean to the Pacific, getting a new name when she did so. Joan-Miriam was the final hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season and the final named storm of the Pacific hurricane season.
And she was a real bitch by any name.
Part of the damage she did to Nicaragua was the destruction of almost all of what fed the monkeys and for decades most people in the area thought all the monkeys along Nicaragua's Caribbean coast had died, either as a result of Joan's killing winds or of starvation that followed the loss of their food sources.
I'm glad to say they didn't all die and they're making a comeback. Here are some of our locals on one of their well traveled overhead routes...this byway across the canal not too far from the house.
It used to be that when the monkeys saw us they screamed and swung. Not so much any more. Now they just sort of hang out and watch what we're up to.
