Just prior to my last update, before I had time to write about it, we went hiking in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Diana was quizzing us as we walked down the trails, asking us to identify what family different plant species came from. I don’t know any of the genus and species names, but I can look at a plant and tell you if it’s from the Piperacea family or not. Which, you know, two weeks ago I would have said “Huh?”.
After the hike, as we were relaxing near the entrance to the reserve, some sort of animal — I still don’t know how to spell the real name, I just call it the Raccoon Dog — was very curious and walked all around the area looking for a bite to eat. I thought it was funny when he came up to my bookbag and poked around… thinking that my zippers were secure, until he deftly opened the front pocket with his slender snout and stole my peanut butter and jelly sandwich! He quickly took it off into the woods and ripped it open. Ha! Here are some pics.
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Plant life…
Bryophyte #1 — Liverworts! Oh baby!
Bryophyte #2 — Mmmm.
Fungi #1 — Red and pink.
Fungi #2 — More mushroom-like.
Leaf #1 — The protrusions are called galls, which are some sort of defense mechanism when leaves are attacked by insects. Nifty.
Huge Tree #1 — You could put about seven of me in front of this thing and still not cover it up (one included for reference).
Heart Trunk #1 — This was the hollow trunk of a fallen dead tree (likely a strangler fig, whose inner host tree had perished a long time ago). You can’t see the depth in the picture, but I was standing at one end and the other end was about 5 meters away. Looks like a heart shining through.
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Continental Divide #1 — A view from the top of the continental divide.
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Animal life…
Insect #1 — This guy was about as big as a house fly. He was very cooperative when I leaned in to take a macro shot. Beautiful.
Insect #2 — An alternate view.
Land Crab #1 — You never know what you’re going to find in the rainforest. A crab!
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People…
People #1 — Taking a break. L-R: Diana, Tiffany, Mollie.
People #2 — Lunch break at the top of the mountain.
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And finally…
The Coondog #1 — This is the SOB who…
The Coondog #2 — Stole my sandwich!