Jun 18

Took a walk through the woods by boat.  Because the river is still high, we are canoeing through the woods, where in later months they will be hiking. 

These are bats on the tree.  They line up for protection. 

• They look like knots on the tree due to their color (camouflage)

• They can see each other - if one moves they all move, fooling predators they are a bigger animal

The rules for vegetation / trees back home are not necessarily true here. 

• The trees do not shed their leaves, since they are in the equator, they do not have a cold season. 

• [Pic coming] They grow underwater. Even the leaves grow underwater.

• [Pic coming] You see leaves on the same tree that are green,  yellow, brown, red, etc. Back home, the green would be newer growth, and the others indicating a point of decay. Not here. The leaves that look like they're dying to us, are actually new growth. 

[Pic coming] You can see the under is red/ pink. That is the natural/ original color. As it is exposed to the sun, the leaves turn green.

• [Pic coming] Trees walk. We'll not really. But this is a walking trees. It is all one tree. But it appears to be walking away because the tree's branches grow down to the ground and root. 

○ This also means, is you cut a limb from the tree, it will grow upward,  and then start sprouting is own roots to the ground. 

○ If you want to completely kill the tree and keep it from growing back so you can build a house, you must cut down all the limbs, then dig up all the many, many roots. 

○ Given that roots can be spread well over 20 feet, I recommend just selecting another place to live. 

On the way back for lunch we saw some pink dolphins. This time I got to see more that the disturbance in the water. I actually got to see the back of the dolphin. Interestingly, the pink dolphin, which is popular here, is pink for female, but gray for males. So it was a male (ie. grey colored) pink dolphin.

After lunch, went for a hike behind the lodge. I was warned it would be very wet and muddy. It was.

(Fire ants on tree)

We came across a tree of fire ants (their name is self explanatory). Unfortunately, I will see them several times,  and once accidently picked up a few in my shirt. If not for Nelly noticing, I would have felt the pain. One thing that is cool about them, is they don't necessarily down in water. In fact,  they will group together and float across water if needed. 

[Pic coming] thorn tree, finger

Unfortunately i slipped and instinctively grabbed for something to keep me upright. But mistake in the jungle. I grabbed a branch covered in thorns (there are actually several plants that use thorns for protection). I got out 4 of the bigger ones but the rest were too small to get out until we got back to the cabin. I am so glad I brought needle and tweezers. I got a few more out when I got home, but there were several that where the skin had already covered the thorn.. Nelly told me to wait and they would would work themselves to the surface. That is largely true. (In fact, i found out I had even more thorns.)  But the smaller ones were obstinate, so another guide, Cilla, dug those out for me.