Mico sighting

The other day I was in the shower and started thinking that I had not seen a mico for quite a while. Micos are squirrel monkeys who live in the city. They are relatively elusive, in fact in the time that I have been living in Salvador, I have seen micos less than 10 times. But when you do get to see them, they are soooo cute and amazing to watch.

I have seen micos three times now in front of our apartment building, and Vilma has seen them once. There is a big mango tree on the side of a building that is just down the street, and I think they either live there or like to hang out there a lot.

It was about 6AM and I was walking to the bus stop when I saw a group of three running along the telephone wires towards the mango tree. They kind of ran along, stopped to look for danger, then ran along, stopped, etc. They have long, striped tails that help them to balance. I love micos!

The strange thing was that I had been thinking about them before I saw them, and then that same day I saw the group! I was kind of blown away by this, it´s like I was invoking them or something.

I get the feeling that Brazilians view micos with just a little more love than we have for squirrels in the US. They don´t seem to think it´s that big a deal to see them, although they do seem to like seeing them. I get the feeling though that they aren´t as totally excited and blown away as I am when they get to see a mico.

So here´s hoping that this group (is it a family?!) will keep hanging out in my neighborhood and that I will have many more mico sightings in the future.