by Georgie Penelope Wingfield - Hayes
I first met Jack Ewing in March 2001, when, as tourists, he took my father and I climbing, 35 meters up a rope into the canopy of a rainforest tree. A memorable occasion, and one which eventually resulted in my leaving the colder climes of northern England and heading for the hot humid tropics of Costa Rica, to work for Jack as an English speaking guide. That first meeting is a memory that I will hold dear; the extraordinary experience of tree climbing in a tropical forest and the wonderful stories which came with our veteran guide. Now I have the privilege of taking visitors and showing them that same magical world of the rainforest. I do my best to pass on the wealth of knowledge that I have learnt from Jack, the other guides and from having the opportunity to observe the forest on a day to day basis. In these two short years there is one thing that I have come to realise, and that is, if I spend the rest of my life here, I will never stop learning.
Learning is one of life's continual pleasures, and stories are a beautiful medium through which we may be taught. Jack can often be heard telling his guides "Good guiding is about telling stories. Tell someone a fact and they will generally forget it by the end of the day, but tell them a story and they will remember it for a very long time."
Jack's wealth of knowledge and interesting tales come from having lived through change. He didn't go to college to learn about the preservation of the natural world, he just got on and did it. Hacienda Baru is now a National Wildlife Refuge, and a wonderful playground for anyone interested in tropical ecology. But it hasn't always been that way. Jack arrived here in 1972 when the Hacienda was largely a rice and cattle farm. Hard to believe today because mother nature has reclaimed those fields and pastures for her own, and once more a rich tapestry of forest, streams, wetland and mangrove swamp adorn the landscape.
Monkeys are Made of Chocolate is a tapestry of stories as rich as the land from which they came. In the three decades which the storyteller has been here, he has seen and learnt many things, some amusing, some shocking, but all fascinating. This book is a selection of Jack's thoughts and experiences which over the years he has put down in words, originally as articles for local publications, and now as a collection of essays in this book.
Whether you like reading about huge snakes which always seemed to come in pairs, the intelligent behaviour of sloths, the ancient craft of building a boat by digging out the trunk of a tree or how toucans aren't quite as cute as they appear, this book is a treasure trove of Costa Rican life and natural history. I hope you enjoy reading Monkeys are made of Chocolate as much as I did.
--Georgie Wingfield, June 2003
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