Today has been incredible. I took an impromptu stop at a shrine, met some nice people, fell in love with ryokans, and, of course, saw the snow monkey!!! But before I let you see the pics, here's how the rest of my day went:
The temple had an underground, twisting path that's pitch black. You go down trailing you're right hand on the wall, and i your hand finds a mysterious metal object, good things happen, or something like that.
I did find the metal object, which felt like a door handle. The point, they said is that in complete dark, we're all equal. I'm scared of the dark, and I went in alone without anyone else ahead or behind me. It takes about 5 minutes to walk it, and it was amazing to face that fear.
The ascent to the Jigokudani Monkey Park begins.
There're about 150 monkeys total in one troop. They were hilarious and adorable and galloped thought tourists like we didn't exist. I had one big one zoom past me and brush my pants.
Weebly won't post my video, but when the park attendants threw some food out, dozens of monkeys started racing down the side of the mountain to eat.
I pulled myself away and came back to village and the ryokan. On my way back I saw another monkey sitting outside someone's house and chirping at a dog inside. The dog would bark and the monkey would chiro back! Video to come soon.
I'm beat! Signing off!