Here in Port Linton (Panama) we are anchored on the edge of the Portobelo National Park. You don’t “head off in to the jungle”. You live next to it!
Just over on Linton Island there are spider monkeys who keep the tourists entertained by hanging from the trees and stealing anything they can reach. The surrounding jungle is also full of howler monkeys. We haven’t seen them but hear them all the time. The local dogs start barking which sets the monkeys off howling which drives the dogs to bark insanely which drives the monkeys wild which … You get the picture.
Walking down the road we thought we saw a spider monkey but on closer inspection it turned out to be a sloth hanging happily upside down and chewing away at the leaves. The next creature we mistook for a monkey was a variegated squirrel with its huge bushy tail hanging down.
The flowers are full of huge brightly colored butterflies which are definitely much larger than the tiny humming bird we saw flitting from flower to flower this afternoon.
There are also caiman, crocodiles and poisonous snakes here but we have managed to avoid all three.
All photos are from Wikipedia and licensed under the Creative Commons license.