Tortuguero day 2=

Our day started 5.30, first light, with a knock on the door, time to join an early morning group to baot through the forest and watch it wake up. The area is an extensive lowland rain forest, very diverse in swpeciesw, and laced with waterways. so con can boat it as a way to view the forest. We had 2.5 hours out, a cooler time of day, and cruised in a small open topped flat bottomed boat, along the margins. A lot to see such as Caimen alligators, otters, turtles, not enough snakes but wonderful birds. Just to putter along the forest wall for that time looking for anything was sheer joy.

The highlight for us both were the Howler monkeys. I never thought monkeys would interest us, being just bum scratchers of one form or another, but in the wild they are a quite different story. I can hear a howler right now, 8pm at night as I type. We heard them first, then saw a troop of about 8 high in the canopy. The sound is hard to describe. There is a deep chested barking, like a a mighty hound but not quite, very deep and resonant. The so called howl is not well described by that term. It is like an extended lions roar, but with a strange sonic quality that I can only liken to a high performance engine. It seems to come from everywhere and nowhere in particular, the primal sound of the forest itself. We talked about how top predators and top food chain animals seem to capture the whole essence of a place, the Condor in the Andes, the Wolf on the arctic tundra and the Falcon in the Otago hills for example. Here the Jaguar and Howler are top members of the forest community and they say it all in both sight and sound.
We then saw a Howler troop of about 8 monkeys. After a night browsing in the canopy they were lying up in the tree tops, perched in comfortable branches soakinh up ther early sun. They sat hunched, dark shaggy mounds with head sunken onto their big torsos and limbs drawn in. Only with binocs could you see their dark eyes watching us, deeply set into their shaggy coats. They have joined my short list of wonderful things worth being!
We were back for a late breakfast then pushed out again by boat, this time into the smaller canals protected ftom the hot sun. Another heavenly two or more hours pushing up tight waterways, seeing the sights and sounds of the forest interior. We turned back when it started to rain. Waterproof capes came out and before we were halfway back the it was in downpour. The noise of heavy rain on forest canopy is something else. A couple of hours break, we were stuffed and slept, and we went walking for 2 hours on forest tracks. By 5 pm the mossies were diabolical so back to the cabin, looking and i must say feeling like a sack of A holes. Sopping wet with sweat and not a stitch of dry clothinmg left. That was sorted by going to the pool and submerging ourselves and drinking fruit and rum cocktails till dinner. The frogs and night birds start teeing off by 6 pm and the lightening flickers in the nearby mountains.
Im losing control of my use of my (writing)tenses and having to back edit everything, so that means time for about shower number 6 for the day and bed, under the fan going full T. Shanti hyas already vanished shes a trooper but probably needs more sleep than me and maybe thinks even less than me of being permanently red faced, pouring with sweat and in sticky clothes 24 7. Im going to set the alarm to turn the fan of about 5 am so it doesnt compete with the howlers in the morning. we have a big thrill tomorrow weather depending, moving in super close to a very active vocano, Arenal.
Talkl soon, sx