Sign in the picture says, "Careful: Monkey bites". Notice that our little friend is running free, outside the cage.

Yesterday was a holiday here in Angola- Labor Day. I went with my French friend Anne and her two adorable kids, Weni and Kadja, to Catumbela, a nearby town. Catumbela has a restaurant with the only decent ice cream I've encountered in Angola. They even had peanut ice cream, which was excellent. It's no Blue Bell ice cream, but then again, nothing but Blue Bell is...

We also stopped by the "zoo" in Catumbela. I've heard about this "zoo" before, but was dubious because when I asked what animals they had, people would say "oh just some monkeys and crocodiles." Hmm. I didn't have high hopes to begin with, but it turned out to be worse than I expected!

The fences that once sealed off the small park were torn down due to road constuction work close by. The place looks like it was just abandoned, leaving the animals there to fend for themselves. There was no sign of the crocs. Plenty of monkeys, however. Two of them somehow got out of the giant cage and were running lose. Surprisingly, they behaved themselves and kept their distance from us, except when they hopped into the bed of the truck we were driving. Still in the cage were about 5 other monkeys. The monkeys outside the cage were rummaging around the trash heaps for food. Not sure what the ones inside the cage do. Coitados.