The Late Wet Season has arrived

The forest is changing once again. Finally I am seeing the changes from the early to the late rainy season that I have heard of for so many years. The rivers are flowing, the forest is teaming with GREEN and all of my clothes and belongings smell of mould -I love it all!

Sitting on the mouldy couch, reading papers, writing, constructing presentations, I hear evidence for monkeys nearby. The audible evidence is water falling from branches the spider monkeys are using to swing from tree to tree! The photo I have here was taken from the monument on top of a hill looking south. I captured one of the spider monkeys hanging from the tree staring out at the view. Man, I'm going to miss casually seeing those guys as well as most other living things in this jungle as I sit on the couch doing work...

I'm back...for now

OK, lots to tell, little time. I have been away from the blog for a number of reasons for which I will leave until another post perhaps. Since my last post I have been to Guatemala, Tortuguero, Ometepe, Canada, England, and back to Costa Rica again. I am currently living on my own in Santa Rosa chasing monkeys when I'm not analyzing data and writing my masters thesis. I could not wish for a more perfect write-up setting than alone in the jungle (in a house, for logistical reasons). I saw an ocelot the other day and could see a number of things as soon as I wake up in the morning and open my bedroom door, such as tinamous, anoles and "venados" or deer. Right now, as it is nighttime, my front porch is lit by moonlight of the Disney-movie variety opaqued by hazy clouds, but large, half crescent and horizontally posed steaming through the mist. The frequency of insect songs is high and constant but punctuated by calling nightjars. I can't believe I eventually have to leave this place.

I hope to provide you with details of my adventures in the near future.

Turtles!

Well we're well into the early wet season, but I'm a little behind in these blog posts. Many organisms tend to emerge after the first rains start the build. Here I have a couple of wonderful turtles! Once the rains started, I was seeing at least one turtle per day. Here are two that I saw within half an hour during a walk home from the monkeys in the afternoon. I love seeing turtles in the wild, there's an aura about them that donates instant happiness as soon as you come across them. Perhaps one can attribute this feeling to their utmost innocence; certainly a "flight" response animal (besides snapping turtles of course), but in their unique way of fleeing into their portable home. No one can argue that this behaviour is not cute as hell. 

In addition to turtles, we often find many adult insects emerging, bird songs amplify the chilled forest fog, and the monkeys stop resting and starting running almost non-stop! In particular, this is a time when the short-lived insect congregations grace us with their presence. First, the fireflies gradually build in number over a period of a week or two until they reach capacity, yes, capacity In. The. Jungle. Picture a firefly disco that enables three-dimensional views of the forest in pure darkness during early hours of the night. It's completely mind-blowing! This level of firefly density lasts only one or, if you're lucky, two nights in the year. Possibly my favourite night of the year in Santa Rosa, however, I have yet to experience the late rainy season from September until December. I'm very excited to see the kinds of rain I will experience then! Second, the adult sexual termites (that's what entomologists call a caste within a social insect family that usually possesses a pair of wings for the sole purpose to fly out of the colony to mate) gravitate towards all light fixtures. Therefore, our well-lite buildings in the park are flooded with flying termites! This, however, is more fascinating than disturbing especially since the termites are busy with one thing on the mind, and it's not to bite or disturb humans...This event lasts ONE night in the year. Quite a remarkable behaviour if you ask me. However, this year, in Santa Rosa, not only was the flood of termites less dense than previous years, but it was about a month and a half late! The rains commenced way too early this year. We were experiencing relatively heavy rains in February! We are not supposed to have rains like this until May! This has really put a wrench in a lot of the natural processes in the forest. For example, Santa Rosa is a tropical dry forest and most of the tree species here are deciduous, therefore loose their leaves. However, because of the early onset of the rainy season this year, the leaves on the trees started to grow in April when they are not supposed to grow again until early or mid-May. I am guessing this disruption facilitated the irregularity in termite sexual emergence. Regardless of whether you understand the science behind this story, the point is that the irregularity I'm talking about should sound familiar to you. It seems as though there are many irregularities happening worldwide especially this year and mostly to do with climate. That is an increase or decrease in rain, storms, temperature, etc. Everyone knows of at least one story of some irregularity happening nearby to them. Should you be alarmed? I think so. What can we do about it? I'll get back to you. For now, take note that this story is not unique and there are many similar stories that directly or indirectly effect humans around the world. 

Photos: 

Top: Kinosternon leucostomum adult. Bottom: Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima juvenile. 

Little Garden in a Big Forest

I often have moments of blissful scenes while following the monkeys through a forest that sometimes seems like it would love to eat your skin and your soul. Here, while with my favourite monkey group -Guanacaste- we came across what looks like a little garden. It was low-canopy forest that was very green and enclosed compared to the surrounding forest in this area. The monkeys were nice and low and EXTRACTIVE FORAGING -a very important behaviour I am trying to document as much as possible. They were being very playful and the juveniles seemed to be watching the older monkeys as they opened fallen fruits to obtain insects from within them. It is times like these that I am reminded that what I do is pretty magical -watch wild monkeys.

Semana Santa in León

The week before and including Easter (a.k.a. Holy Week) is called Semana Santa in Central America (a.k.a. when the entire ismuth shuts down and goes wild). In the heart of León, at the cathedral church square, there were artists putting together a wonderful form of art! The nicos were taking wood shavings, dying them with bright colours and making a picture in a frame with them. The were spectacularly bright and it was an interesting sight amongst the hustle and bustle of the center of town and in the middle of the road nonetheless! Each piece depicted a Christian theme or figure and I never saw the final product, but I imagine these pieces would have been a main spectacle for the Semana Santa celebration.

Murals of León

I knew I wanted to walk about the town of León because I had read about the plethora of history to be unfolded here. I had planned on wandering on my own and finding my own way, I had not planned on meeting Maria. I ran into una nica viejo, an elderly Nicaraguan woman, who had not only lived through the revolution and civil war of the mid-1990's, but had a burning passion to teach those around her of what happened in these hard times. Had I not run into Maria, I would have walked past most of the history even though it was painted on the city walls! Maria took me through the intricate details of each mural, pointed out each symbol and explained its significance. I had walked by some of these murals and noticed them, but had no idea they had deep meaning. I treated them like most murals you would see in Canada: a work of art that may have some meaning to the artist or a specific group of people. These murals meant something to the entire country of Nicaragua. Each had their story or multiple stories entwined around each other in an incredibly powerful display of artistic license. All of the murals looked brand new, like they had just been painted. This is because they were touched-up in preparation for an important anniversary -that of the death of the four students and professor. These five highly-intellectual individuals were murdered on the street because they were actively rebelling against the government at the time. They are depicted in one mural shown in the picture above. More murals, plaques, and statues were found all over town in commemoration of these individuals. It was so touching. I can't imagine living in a city that had so many visual reminders of its history. I've been to Europe, this was different. The colours were so vibrant and the art so contemporary, it was utterly surreal. The other picture above is a fraction of a two-walled mural in a corner of town that represented a timeline of events that lead to the end of the civil war and a bright new beginning for the children of Nicaragua.

Las Peñitas

A tiny fishing village 20km west of León, Nicaragua with nothing much other than a helluva lot of soul. Don't expect to live in any kind of luxury here, but that's the best part! The limited accommodations in number as well as conditions is exactly what attracts the most wonderful people you'll ever meet. Expect a handful of tourists that all speak fluent spanish (or pretty damn near close to fluent) and define what "down to Earth" means. When I wasn't kick-boxing the ocean (because the waves were a wee bit strong), dragging a surf board (because I couldn't ride it) and swimming-on-the-spot (not because I miss aerobics classes up north, but because the current wouldn't let me move forward), I was simply drinking beer and learning about the lives and adventures of three Brazilians, a Swede, an American, a Guatemalan, and a Mexican and they were all absolutely invigorating. Yet another place I didn't want to leave and that I'll revisit one day, although, because of its gorgeous location, I fear "real tourism" might infiltrate and ruin its carisma sometime in the next decade. Here's to hoping that doesn't happen.