Mostly, though, the monkeys find very small insects to eat: little flies, gnats, small beetles, and crickets.  Because most of the insects are so small, the monkeys must eat a lot of them to get enough calories and protein.  This easy to do in the rainy season when there are lots of insects, and the capuchins can eat their fill.  But during the dry season it is harder.  There are fewer insects and much more dry leaf litter for them to hide in.  Sometimes, there are so few insects that Lupé's family will start eating more lizards or squirrels.

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Sometimes Lupé's troop would go to the mangroves.  Some of the mangrove trees had long prop roots that held the trees high above the water.  Lupé would leap from root to root, playing with the other kids.  They played in the mud and splashed in the water.  When the water was gone, because the ocean tide went out, the monkeys would find little clams in the sand.  They would carry them up onto the tree root where they would sit and pound and roll the clams on the tree branches.  It took some time and quite a bit of skill.  But, if Lupé was patient, the clam would eventually open, and she could eat the meat. 

 

Max was big enough and brave enough to forage on the ground a lot.  He especially liked to pull the small sprouts out of the fallen coconuts so he could eat the young heart of palm.  He looked for coconuts that had one or two small leaves.  He would grasp the lowest part of the leaf and pull as hard as he could.  The slender shoot would slide out of the nut and he would eat the white, fleshy heart of palm.  Lupé tasted it: it tasted just like coconut meat.

 

She was much too small to be able to collect the coconut shoots and she was not strong enough to gnaw holes into small green coconuts to drink the green coconut water.  Several at the adult males knew how to do this and there was usually more water than they could drink.  If she was lucky, there would be some that Lupé could drink.  Sometimes squirrels would chew open the coconuts and the monkeys could chase them away and steal their food!

 

The forest also provided lots of other things to eat.  There are lots of different kinds of fruit, tasty seeds and nuts, delicate flowers, and sweet nectar.  Even some of the leaves, like those of the jobo and jocote, were good to eat. 

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But some of the things in the forest were not good to eat.  Some of the leaves were very hard or stringy, making them very hard to digest.  Other leaves and some fruits were quite bitter and upset Lupé’s stomach.  Lupé’s mother had warned her about eating different kinds of seeds and leaves, they had poisons that could make Lupé sick or worse.  Lupé had spent much of her childhood learning about the good foods in the forest and which things to avoid.

 

She even learned about medicines contained in plant parts. The juices, oils, and sap of different plant parts sometimes relived itching.  Some plants contained antibiotics that prevented bacterial infections while others prevented fungal infections.  All of them felt good to apply. Lupé especially liked the juice of citrus.  Lupé learned to pound the fruit on tree branches and roll it up and down, squishing the fruit to release the juice.  Then, she would bite into the rind, opening it up so she could dig out the juice.  Using her hands, feet and sometimes even her tail, she applied the juice over her entire body.  It was so fun.

 

Lupé really liked fur rubbing.  It made her feel good and it was a fun thing to do with her family.  She liked to sit beside her mother and Tita to rub the pungent citrus juice into her fur.  Max and Peter usually joined them and even Julio and sometimes Granny Francis would join in.  All seven would huddle together in a squirming ball of monkeys, frantically pounding fruit, digging out the juice and rubbing it into their fur.  The strong citrus scent and excitement made them drool.  Spit and citrus juice would fly around, pulp stuck to their fur and when they finished their fur would be soaking wet.

 

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