Monkey Farm

[RN4life]

How long does the taxi ride take to get there? Are the mosquito's really that bad? Are the monkeys well cared for? How much, is it pp for the taxi ride there and back? THANK U :D

[cujosmom]

We just got back from Costa Maya and went to the Monkey Farm. I will answer your questions, but you probably won't want to go as most of the monkeys have already been released and there were only about 8 monkeys total and they were all in cages so you could not really interact with them. I will say everything is very clean and monkeys there appeared well cared for.

 

You cannot get a "local yellow" taxi at the pier. You have to take their shuttle to the village of Mahuajual (sp?) for $5 per person and then hire a taxi there. At the pier, they wanted $100 to take four of us to the farm (a total rip-off). So we paid the $5 pp for the shuttle to M. Were soooo lucky to get a local taxi driver who spoke very good english. He charged us $30 total to take us there, toured the farm with us and translated our questions/answers with the caretaker who could only speak spanish and then took us back to Mahuajual. (Because he was so helpful, we gave him a $10 tip.) There was a pen full of the wild hogs and they were quite interesting to watch. There was also one small crocodile, but the main reason for the trip was the monkeys.

 

The mosquitos WERE terrible. We were continually slapping them. It takes a couple days, though, before they start itching. And that's when you really find out how many bites you have!! I don't know how many miles away it was, but he drove at least 15 minutes each way. He could have taken us back to the pier but we decided we wanted to explore the little village first. When it was time to go back to the pier, it only cost us $2 per person.

 

The facility at the pier is very, very nice. If we were to go again, I think I'd spend my time at the pier.

 

If you have any more specific questions, please ask.

[RN4life]

thanks for the review but i will pass now as the same reason i wanted to go was for the interaction, ahhhhhh well.

[robcool]

Just as a follow up, we were in Costa Maya just a week ago. My wife wanted to visit the monkey farm. As soon as she got of the ship she started asking about it. Most people looked at her like she was crazy, they had never heard of it. When she finally found someone who knew about it they told her it was an hour drive. She decided not to make the trip. Instead they rented a golf cart and drove into town. The golf cart broke down on the way back, but that is another story! :)

[Cruisin' Patty]

I want to hear about the golf cart breaking down??!!

[robcool]

Well, not sure I can tell too much, I will have to get my DW to tell that story. She and some friends went with one son into port to visit the monkey farm. My other son and I decided we were not interested and decided to just explore the buildings around the port.

 

Once my DW and friends decided that the monkey farm was not going to be worth it they found someone who could rent them a golf cart to go into the local town. (I have seen the name several times but can not remember it right now). Anyway, they had a nice trip, but at some point apparently the golf cart decided it was done for the day. One of the persons in the group spoke spanish, and I think they talked someone into making a phone call to the cart owners who came and picked them up. I will check on the facts and let you know, but I think that is how it went.

[Cruisin' Patty]

Thanks Rob.

[trudle]

I can tell you about the golf cart, I was one of the riders. No one,at the taxi stand, seemed to know about the monkey farm, but now it seems we didn't miss much, we wanted to hold a monkeys had. Well, after trying to find out about the farm, we rented a golf cart, we will explore the island ourselves and we did have someone with us ,that could speak Spanish-----so off we went------------happy as five bugs, on a floating log. We weren't gone 10 minutes,when, we spotted a termite nest, in one of the trees, so we turned around to go take another lookat something we never saw before, and the cart broke down.:eek: Lucky us, we were near a restaurant. Some of the help came out and tried starting the cart, but no luck. We all pushed the cart back to the restaurant and they called the co. that rented us the cart. They said they would be there in a little while to see what happened. The restaurant was very nice and it was on a beautiful beach, so we didn't mind waiting there---is was so nice, we could have spent the day. So. we sat ourselves down and ordered drinks. In about a half hour or so, someone did come, and couldn't start the golf cart either. They would be back in a little while, with a different cart. Well, they did return and we said farewell to our beach friends and were on our way again. No more problems with the cart and they told us, don't worry about the time, just have a good time. The cart was going to cost us $15.00 per hour, so we only paid for the hour and had a great time for another two. We went out to the town of Mahajual. We walked around in their little shops and did a little shopping---lucky to have our Spanish speaking tour guide with us, we had a great day.:)

[Bill paytolcal]

:) The mosquito problem can be taken care of by putting on a repellant, I found that one with DEET in it worked best, Muskol or Ben's, used by fly fishermen are the strongest. You can find them at sporting goods stores. The island refered to a couple of threads down is called North America, Majahual is on the main land of Mexico.

[robcool]

Hey, Trudy! Thanks for chiming in with the first hand account. My DW never tells me anything! ;-)

[Cruisin' Patty]

Thanks Trudy.

[trudle]

Have a great Cruise Patty:p