Umbrella Birds

I woke up at 4:30 am to find these freaking birds called Umbrella Birds. They make these crazy call that sounds like when you blow on the top of a glass bottle. We hiked for over an hour and finally heard them as the sun came up. Jeff, Dan, and I crashed through the forest leaving the trail and the rest of the class to try and get to them. We found the tree that the sound was coming from but they were too high up in the canopy to see. We hopped back on a trail beyond frustrated and caught up with the rest of the group. Dan and I were annoyed at these elusive birds for causing us to awaken so early and forged ahead of the rest of the group. We saw something called a tayra (a really bizarre animal) and some white-nosed coati before getting back in time for breakfast.

Our free day at San Gerardo was today. Once again we were allowed to do whatever we wanted. I decided to pack a lunch and head down to this stream that was 4km away for a swim. Joining me on this adventure was Yong-Ju, Evan, Adam, Amanda, Kim, Professor Shepherd, and Jeff.

We left after breakfast. On the way down we stopped at an abandoned farmhouse and explored it. Found a huge wasp nest and some crazy looking spiders had taken over the house. There were cows grazing in the front yard who seemed less than thrilled to see us. It was a beautiful hike down; even saw a snake. Here’s a picture of me with an American Painted Lady Butterfly. I found it flopping around on the grass. There was a weird red bloody substance all around it. We figured it had just emerged from its cocoon and was unable to fly yet.

The stream was beautiful and we had a real refreshing swim. At our lunch on the rocks afterwards. Our professor is a 75 year old man who we suspect consumes the energy of a student every semester to continue surviving and decided to go further up the stream on a hike with Jeff. The rest of us found a cleared farm and started playing Frisbee. Every single one of us wound up falling asleep on the farm. Jeff has a picture of all of us asleep when they came back from their hike. Apparently, up the road there was a 65 year old farmer who lives all the way out there by himself. The man invited them inside and showed them around his house. The only friend the guy has is the owner of the place we’re staying at (an almost 3 hour walk away). Incredible.

The hike back to the station was mostly uphill and not as fun as the way down. I was walking behind Kim when she started screaming “Get it off me, Get it off me!”. I found a really spiky caterpillar piercing through her pants and stinging her. I dragged it off with two sticks since I’m a hero. Kim promptly removed her pants to find a lovely raised and red bite area. Professor Shepherd caught up with us, looked at the caterpillar, said she’ll be fine, and hiked away without us. Very amusing.

A bunch of us decided to sleep on the hammocks on the porch overlooking the volcano since it was our last night at San Gerardo. It was beautiful out. Saw several bats fly by and the bugs don’t really bother anyone at night. So, I fell asleep, in a hammock, in the jungle, in view of a volcano, and it was magical.


Quote
"I feel the need to endanger myself every so often."
-Tim Daly