Explore, Create, Inquire, Seek, Share, Learn

It is 6:30 a.m. in Costa Rica. Songs and chatter from unseen birds fill the air. I recognize only the cooing sound of maybe mourning doves. Now and then  howler monkeys shout from a distance. Chirping, crowing, tweeting. Macaws flew over us yesterday making loud parrot screeches. There are small, quieter, green parrots too, and a peacock down the road.

Small lizards and giant iguanas, black and gray and green dance across the pathways and scurry up tree limbs. I met one fearless iguana in a Montezuma parking lot yesterday.

There’s a large rodent thing here (probably more than one), about the size of a cat, definitely not a Capybara. It’s either an Agouti, or a Guatusa. The cats and dogs who live here at Cabuya don’t mess with them. Disappointingly, I have not yet seen a sloth.

Insects are everywhere, keeping life flowing. We saw countless leafcutter ants in formation, some carrying leaf bits in one direction, others empty handed, skittering back to retrieve more greens. Butterflies and bees and wasps and other worker critters fly between flowers. Spiders weave complex tapestries, glistening between stalks and stems. A bright green leaf critter was waiting on the steps of our cabin last night.

In the beach town of Montezuma there were dogs wandering everywhere, lounging outside businesses, playing with dog-friends on the sand. Their lives look pretty great, actually. Someone feeds them, and most have collars. I wondered, though, if they actually live with humans or just among us. I wondered yesterday if that black and tan, short-legged fuzzywuzz could come home with me. He probably prefers this Pura Vida life.

We’re now watching agile monkeys climb from one high branch to another with no fear, agile acrobats. I need a tail. And a better camera.