If You've Ever Dug a Grave...

... then you'll certainly appreciate the amount of work it takes to work with heavy clay soil bound together with a mass of roots. There were more than a few jokes that flew back and forth about being bored enough up here to dig your own grave, etc. Ha ha. But seriously:)

As part of our holistic approach to living on Cerro Osa, we're improving our compost pit - well, basically starting from scratch. We've leveled some ground behind the house to start a home garden and are toying with water catchment as well. The latter, however, we found out yesterday will require a huge amount of storage. 

We were exposed to our first torrential Tico downpour and learned that from only one of the four corners of the roof, we could fill a 50 gallon barrel in less than 5 minutes. It was astonishing! The rain came down so hard and the wind was blowing so violently that much of the water missed the barrel and it still filled as if by a fire hose.

Monkeys Around

This morning was packed full of wildlife! We decided that it had been too long since we had been out on the trails (I think Monday morning was our last time out, a hike up to Cerro Arbolito) so headed out after breakfast. We saw the Blue-crowned Motmot that we normally only hear close to the Rio Coyunda, as well as a black Tayra. I'm not sure if this is the same Tayra that I've seen before, but this sighting was better than the previous two. The first time I saw it, it was running across the clearing in front of the house, while the second time was along the entrance road to Cerro Osa. However, this morning was in the middle of the forest and when it saw us, it jumped onto a tree trunk and stared at us. When I pointed the camera, it jumped down, moved further into the forest and up another trunk. It did this once more before it was out of sight.

The howler monkeys were incredibly loud as we crossed the Rio Coyunda. We knew that they had to be close, but we couldn't quite get a fix on them. We kept moving to the southern border of the Cerro Osa property where we spotted the white-faced capuchin monkeys. These things are like the devil incarnate. I don't really know what it is about them, but when you see them in the wild, and look into their eyes, you feel pure evil permeate the air. 

On the same trail we were able to catch a lek of Red-capped Manakins giving a show to a prospective mate. They make a curious clicking sound with their wings and you wouldn't believe that wings could make such a sound until you see it. We stood staring straight up at their mating display until our necks hurt.

As we returned to the Rio Coyunda we found the elusive howlers loitering along the edge of the path. They were quite quiet until we stopped to observe them and sneak a couple of photos. Once they were onto us they released their distinct bellowing wails.

I've uploaded some videos of the Manakins and Howlers here: http://www.youtube.com/user/OsaConservation

Amphibians in Our Lives

We don't yet have a name for our house gecko, but we like it to be around to gobble up unwanted insects.

The second photo is of a poison dart frog (Dendrobates auratus) that we spotted on a hike this morning.  This was actually the first of two that we saw in only a few hours.  This displays the colorations of the Pacific variation while those from the Caribbean side are greener with black markings.

Fer-de-lance

We're still trying to figure out what is going on with our power here in the house and haven't heard back from any technicians.  So we wait.

Adrian arrived yesterday and we've been going over some of the major ideas that need to be implemented in the coming months regarding the operation of Cerro Osa, the Osa Biodiversity Center, and Friends of the Osa in general.  He definitely keeps things balanced though, making sure to take time to relax and breathe while discussing work.

We walked down the Terciopelo trail [Terciopelo means Fer-de-Lance in English] to check out a possible site for constructing a new turtle station for volunteers.  Manuel Ramirez was in front, Adrian second, I was third and Saima was in back.  I saw something scuttle in the leaf litter and immediately stopped.  Adrian turned around and confirmed that it was a Fer-de-Lance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bothrops_asper

Aptly named trail! 

Unfortunately we broke rule number one of the good photographer so words will have to suffice for today.

Our Solar System is in Trouble

 

The past few days have been challenging. About three days ago, just as we are quoting a small solar system for the house that we're supposed to be fixing up, we find that we don't have any electricity in the morning. At first it didn't really bother us. After a couple of hours the lights and internet kicked back on. But later that same day in the evening as we sat staring at the walls after dinner, all the power kicked off again. Hmmm... We talked to Juan and Augustin who came over and checked all the charges on the bank of eight batteries that power the house. Everything was right around 5.8 volts - not too bad for 6 volt batteries.

We asked them what they thought it could be and they both mentioned that the last owners who had internet here had the same problems. When there is no internet connected, no problems. Activate the satellite and they start to see the problems with the solar system. So at this point it seems obvious that we'll need to do something to expand the capabilities.

Yesterday we hiked the south border of the Cerro Osa property with Augustin. We had no clue how crazy this trek was when we started. The beginning is fairly normal trail through the forest. But about halfway in, we found ourselves on a pronounced ridge that fell off to each side steeper with every step. We made our way, sliding for some of it, down to the base of a waterfall. Augustin looked back, half apologetic, half amused, saying that we had to go up.

Go up? All we could see was a waterfall. He pointed and showed us a rope that ran about 50 meters up the cliff. After some slipping through the splashing water, we got to the rope and hauled ourselves to solid ground. The next quarter mile, however, was a very steep climb, where the only good way to keep yourself from sliding backward down into the river was by searching for and grasping onto tree roots that stuck out from the soil.

Covered in mud, with a couple of bruises and a few cuts, we came out on top to complete another hour and half hike back to the house. When all was said and done, it was a great hike. But probably one that we won't do again. It was important to learn the trail though.

This morning I had the laptop set up out on the porch to work [after the electricity came on of course] and saw three Fiery-billed Aracaris zip by into the Cicropias behind the house.  I had seen some before fly across the clearing, smaller than the Chestnut-mandibled Toucans, with a different flight pattern and the distinct bill allowing them to be discerned from a distance.  I was able to get a few good shots.

I took the memory card out of the camera to download the photos, and looked up from the screen to see a Tayra skulking across the clearing.  I fumbled to get the memory card back into the camera, but by the time I did, it was gone.

Morning Walk

Saima and I walked down the Cerro Osa trail this morning to the Osa Biodiversity Center. When you walk the trails frequently, you learn where animals tend to be. We saw a pair of Great Curasows at the Rio Coyunda crossing in the same place I had seen them a month ago. We always here the Blue-crowned Motmot calling in the same place. Augustin taught us to call to the motmot. It always answers back to let you know it's there.

This is a photo of a young Heliconia and a diurnal moth that we spotted on the way down.

Learning to Ride

This is kind of how Saima looked this morning when she was learning to drive the quad. My first time was only a week ago, after a 2 minute lesson in front of the Friends of the Osa office before we lashed down our shopping and hit the dusty road to return to Cerro Osa. We agreed that it was a good idea for both of us to be able to get around in case of an emergency up here.

Sai got a photo of this pizote at Adrian's house this morning. We went down to show Luz how to make soap from scratch. We made a 50/50 mix of coconut/palm oil soap and it looked like it was setting well when we left.
We also got a shot of two agoutis while drinking our coffee and tea on the porch this morning.

Saima's First Big Snake

This morning I took the quad with Augustin down to visit Jackie and Olly, neighbors with some questions about planting trees around their new home site.  When I got back to Cerro Osa, Saima was excited to show me the photos she got of a rather impressive snake.

After a few photos and measurements, Juan took this big guy into the forest and released it.  It as 2.3 meters long.  How many inches is that?

Here is a photo of Juan and his nephew, Alex, showing off their find:

We headed down to the OBC to meet the Dintersmiths, a family of four that is doing a round-the-world trip.  While they didn't have too much time, we were still able to take them on a short tour of one of the station's trails.  Although we didn't see a lot with them, Saima and I headed up the Rio Piro after the family had moved on.  Off the top of my head, we saw a Green Kingfisher, Belted Kingfisher, Black-throated Trogon, Piratic Flycatcher, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Red-legged Honeycreeper, White-crested Coquette, Prothonotary Warbler, and Cherrie's Tanager.  There were troops of spider and squirrel monkeys foraging along the river's edge as well, making for an exciting afternoon walk.  This place is amazing!

Visitors in the House

While we almost feel that we're settled in to the house here on Cerro Osa, we're also acutely aware that we need to start figuring out a budget to fix up the smaller house further down the hill.  We're getting pretty good at this routine, though; moving from one place to the next, getting somewhat settled in, but not too much.  Kind of ironic that it has happened again.

The houses are designed so that they can be completely opened up here which is ideal for the tropical heat and humidity.  However, you need to understand that when your house is wide open, you may get some unexpected guests.  In the last couple of days we have hosted a bat, a gecko (that we would love to have permanently), and a pizote that came in to eat a mango off the counter. This afternoon, after a long hike to get to know some of the borders of our properties, I was getting ready to settle into something else - work.  I had just sat down to dig into some enticing work plans, and review some documents that might be helpful in understanding the history of land use on Cerro Osa, when a truck load of unexpected visitors showed up.  

It turns out that the rogue leader was Manuel Ramirez who sits on the Friends of the Osa board of directors, so we were obligated to invite them in!  He had brought some friends and family up to sit on the porch of the house and watch the sunset.  We made up some lemonade to keep them away from the mangos on the counter.

Using Your Turn Signals

Things have been crazy since the last time I wrote.  I think I had just returned to Hyattsville after being down in the Osa for nearly a month.  I managed to slip in a blog post before the reality of moving out of the country struck me.

Saima had already done so much to get our apartment packed up, giving some things to charity and boxing clothes that we knew we would have no use for in the tropics [think thick jeans and wool sweaters].  Even so, the big task that we had was finding somebody to take over our lease so that we wouldn't be hit with the two month penalty.  We had the place advertised on Craigslist and were waiting until I got back to the States to begin showing it.  With so many people interested and so many people who came to see it, I thought it would be a piece of cake.  Well, after the entire week, we were able to wrap it up the day before we left the country.  Needless to say, there were a lot of emotions involved with packing up to leave, from a place where we weren't even sure we wanted to be but had started to like, after reconnecting with friends only to be on our way out again.  And on top of all of that, Saima had just received her permanent resident card, which nullified the need for the travel document that we had waited so long to receive.  Now we'll see if we can somehow maintain her status while living abroad - we both kind of doubt it.

We showed up at Reagan National airport and were greeted by a friendly Continental agent who began helping us to check in.  It wasn't too long before he told us that we had a problem with our tickets - they were only one-way and we couldn't enter Costa Rica unless we had a flight out.  Fortunately, he was much more helpful than many airline employees we've dealt with in the past, and after some phone calls, we had two refundable tickets to Tegucigulpa and were on our way to security.  That whole scene though had us a bit on edge and I have to say that I didn't believe we'd get our $600 back.

Getting to Houston was no problem and after some sub-mediocre airport food, we boarded the flight to San Jose.  We sat a little longer than normal and the pilot announced that they were "looking into a problem."  Just what you want to hear before you hurl yourself 6 miles into the air.  I guess that one of the baggage handlers had crashed into the cargo door and dented it.  Can you imagine - those baggage guys treat everything with such care, I can't picture one being so irresponsible.  Apparently they had to get some technicians to the scene to inspect the damage and ensure that the plane was flight-worthy.  No complaints about that, but it meant that by the time we had reached San Jose, we had missed the internal connection.

Well, not actually missed.  We arrived at 3:10 for our 3:30 flight with Sansa, could see the plane sitting on the ramp outside the door, but nevertheless, were told that it had left.  We made the mistake of making a logical argument; this never works in Latin America and I admit that we knew better.  We asked how it was that they had two passengers with reservations on that flight, it was 20 minutes before the scheduled departure, yet they decided to start the engine and head out.  Muy raro.

The worst part about all of that was that they charged us to change the tickets to the following morning and we had to pay for a hotel.

By the time we arrived in Puerto Jimenez, we were both fried, exhausted, fed up and ready to get up to Cerro Osa.  But we were just in time to catch all the staff and then of course got caught up in introductions, and inevitably work-related items.  I even went and met with somebody from the local ministry of the environment office to ask about an issue with part of our land.  

We did finally make it up to the house on Cerro Osa that afternoon, after doing what we considered to be a big shop for food and some things that we would need to get moved in.  It turns out that the place needs much more cleaning than I had anticipated, having been unlived in for too many months.  Books were being eaten on the shelves, accompanied by insect excrement. Dust and droppings abound and walls are stained.  Railings need to be replaced, wood sanded and refinished, a pillar replaced.  

And then there's work.  But I won't get into that.  My head has been spinning and I finally realized today that all of this won't get done in a day, or even a week, and there are some things that won't get done this year.  But we'll keep working at everything and progress will be made.  

On my way to the OBC this morning, I saw a great curasow crossing the road and remembered the running joke while the birding group was here in March - I had told them that I saw three in one day, Adrian said, "Sure, those things are a dime a dozen.  I once saw 23 walk through my back yard."  Yet the group didn't see one during their five days on the Osa Peninsula.  It made me laugh.  And then I used my turn signal to turn into the drive that leads by the schoolhouse to the OBC, and remembered somebody commenting in the past about what a funny practice it was to use your turn signal in such a remote place.  Some things are like that though.  It might be taking time to read for pleasure, exercise, yoga or photography.  These are the good things, that you need to keep no matter where you are or what's going on in your life.  

So this afternoon I made sure that Saima and I went for a walk for a couple of hours before the sun set.  She's practicing with the camera and has captured some good shots already.  We were happy to see a troop of spider monkeys; we stood there and watched them eat, jump and flirt with us for 20 minutes before we turned to come home.