4 days and 10 species later

I ended up starting my primate rotation on baboons, drills and mandrills rather than the smaller monkeys. I found out that my greatest admirer and most motivated enemy are of the same species. My first day of feeding and one of the baboons, one which I had kind of had a soft spot for because he's a little less than perfect, threw rocks at me and landed a good shot under my right eye. Luna and I are not friends. The next day was no less eventful. It was spent running around the drill enclosure trying to capture a sick baby and later collecting large stones throughout the enclosure. They hate the net we use to catch them, so I kept it with me and carried it like a flag anytime I moved to a different section. It was my first literal safety net.

These last two days I was with the smaller monkeys, mona, guenon and mangeby. Mangeby can be extremely aggressive and they like to grab and pull if you get too close to the edge of their enclosure. Monkey pinches are not pleasant. There is an ancient red-capped mangeby that I can't help but baby. He has arthritis in everything, is missing teeth, drools all the time. I keep making sure he gets the ripest or softest of everything.

I've managed to keep my reputation as a strange American. With a smirk and a crowd I was told to chop down elephant grass with a machete for the animals, smirks stopped when I did it and did it well. I always feel like I'm being tested. The wheelbarrows (which really are the bane of my existence here and I plot their destruction daily) keep getting heavier, jobs longer and more labor intensive. I think they keep waiting for me to fail. I'm an anomaly to them. They only have 6 more days to torture me before I start in the field, so we'll see what challenges lay ahead.

Things I have learned in my first week:
A good J-kick is handy when breaking bamboo.
Don't let chimpanzees take your clothes, they will never respect you again.
Don't flinch when the primates run at you or try to attack you.
Don't look them in the eye or raise your eyebrows when you're near them
Baboons have really good aim.
There is no such thing as a set price.
Food will be ready in no less than an hour at any restaurant.
You can fit three passengers on a motorbike.
I will spend the majority of my money on eggs.
Plants are cheap, animal products are not.
When monkeys masturbate(which they do a lot), they eat the resulting fluid.
Big floppy protrusions on female asses that look really unhealthy are apparently very appealing to chimpanzees.
Chimpanzees really do fling poo.