Cedro's perfect dream

The most beautiful sight in the world

Waiting. 

Shadows elongate and stretch time.

Time moves as the weather sees fit

 and we move when the roads are passable.

A kick in the dark asserts you,

a brisk swipe of a limb,

the feel of your head in the palm of my hand

separated by days and skin, breathless minutes that will turn to breathful years

and then you relax.

These are the days in which I will come to know you

These are the ways in which I will come to know myself.

Stranger than Science Fiction

The heavy rains bring out the largest and most fascinating of Monteverde's menagerie of creatures.  From brook to leaf to wall of house, shelter and food is sought and found as the water pounds pathways out of hillocks and forces everything to grow or be swept away.  The eyes and ears compound and the imagination needs little exercise when the fluorescent lights illuminate the recesses of evolution.   Featured here are an Elephant Beetle, A Walking Stick, A Wolf Spider and an awesome view of the Nicoya Gulf.

  

 

 

 

Purple Caecilian

I allow the rocks and mud to guide me, my mind heavy with the whirrings of academic machinery.  The darkness is lifting, but its progress is impeded by the relentless October cloud cover.  I nearly step on it, as it remains motionless, even in the wake of my footfalls.  It reacts only when a motorcycle speeds by, lifting a confused disoriented head, that could easily be a tail.  There is no discernable face, at least, not at first glance.  The taxonomic mind begins whirring.  A snake?  A worm?  A quick glance reveals no elimination vent, the telltale presence of round, full body creases, nasal respiration and a rounded cloaca which eliminates both possibilities.   It moves lethargically, half in and half out of the roadside erosion ditch.  Washed out by last night's storm, no doubt.  The rocks and sand seem to be too much for its soft moist underbelly.  If left alone, it will die.  If I take it with me, my science lesson is planned and the whirrings can ease back into dream.  I encourage it up onto the bag I'm carrying and hurry the remaining 50 meters up the mountain to the CEC.  The gate guard has no idea.  The first few drowsy teachers are equally baffled.  I snap photos and do some online comparisons and finally, after a consult with our land manager, discover that I have a Purple Caecilian, a legless nearly blind amphibian.  A truly rare sight, even here - and one that is far under researched.

The Caecilian lives 11 out of 12 months underground, feasting on decomposing floral material and other decomposers, such as worms.    It comes out at the height of the rainy season, when the ground saturation point proves too much for its simple lungs.  It gives birth to live young - an abberation among amphibians - who spend their gestation slowly eating the lining of the mother's uterus.  Yum!  When my students arrive for science classes, we gather around, note observations, form hypotheses about behaviors and environments and allow the caecilian to slither around the room, noting which of the environments we create on a series of pans it seems to prefer.  It settles comfortably each time among the wet leaves and rich plant detritus we've pulled from the forest.  We then brainstorm and decide as a class where would be the most appropriate place to set the shy creature free.  We choose a spot in the virgin forest, next to a decomposing stump and call it a day.  What a classroom!