December 31, 2014: Bonfire Ziplining Into The New Year

Ahhh, New Year's Eve...every year I imagine I will spend the evening in a long, black evening gown and high heels and sparkly jewelry with my hair up in a fancy do (even though I'm rarely naturally inclined toward any of that, ha ha!). I imagined myself wearing long white opera gloves, sipping a glass of champagne and laughing with friends after a great New Year's toast. 

Not me...but kind of how I imagine I would be dressed :)
Source

Of course, this has rarely, if ever, been the case for me because this evening of celebration has always snuck up on me which, of course, is not hard to believe considering all the holiday celebrating prior to NYE! Usually, by the time I am thinking about planning NYE, I've missed my chance to join in any well-planned festivities, either because event tickets are sold out or the price is beyond what I would want to pay for what often feels like a bit of an overrated evening. 

And this vision of a NYE celebration could not have been further from the truth this year but this was one of my most memorable NYE's in a long while (although one of my fondest NYE's did involve a long black gown and sipping champagne...and winning a trip to New Orleans :). This year my good friend had invited me to one of the many wonderful bonfires her and her partner have at their cozy cabin-in-the-woods home in Langford, just outside Victoria.

 

Christmas lights on the cabin-in-the-woods

So, I recruited a couple of my 'townie' girlfriends, who seemed to have the same lack of NYE planning skills I have (ha ha!), and instead of a long dress, jewelry and a fancy hairstyle (we kept to the champagne tradition though :), we pulled on wool underwear, rain boots, gloves and wool hats to head to the woods. I whipped up a spinach dip to contribute to our bonfire fare which even included venison stew which my friend made from a deer she shot, cleaned, prepared and cooked herself! A true back-in-the-woods kinda gal!

This bonfire celebration was such a fun way to bring in the new year...and I think firmed up my desire to spend more time out-of-doors in nature enjoying the wonderful places of my home on Vancouver Island, Canada. We had a wonderful evening sitting around the fire, drinking local craft beers, stuffing our bellies with great food and delicious holiday treats and keeping warm by the fire. 

Oh and when we were brave enough to pull ourselves away from the warm fire we went flying through the darkness of the woods. The host, hostess and their friends had constructed a zip-line in the forest beyond the fire and we all had a fantastic time zipping between the trees through the dark forest, wind whistling in our ears and the single point of light from the torch on our heads illuminated the forest to create dancing shadows of forest branches and tree trunks stretching and twisting on the dark canvas of night beyond. Then it was back to the warmth of the fire and a hot chocolate and Baileys...until the next time :) 

At times the fire did get quite large...and warm :)

Pallet bonfire

Spark trails

Their Christmas tree was awesome!

Gorgeous Christmas tree!

December 11, 2014: Goodbye Costeño Beach

This was our last morning at Costeño Beach Surf Camp  and though I was a little sad to leave I was looking forward to moving on as we were heading back to Santa Marta for our last ocean adventure...scuba diving with Quimera Divers in Tayrona National Park!  

Our taxi was not arriving until noon so I went for one last walk to spot any wildlife lingering in the area. This proved to be fruitful because, although I re-sighted many bird species from previous days, I also spotted some new ones to add to my Costeño Beach wildlife list, and these included: a Red-crowned Woodpecker  (melanerpes rubricapillus), a Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus), Crimson-backed Tanager (Ramphocelus dimidiatus) and Greater Ani (Crotophaga major).

Overall, I had a great time at the camp and though I didn't do as much surfing as I'd hoped, due to my injured shoulder from an overenthusiastic first day out, I still gained further knowledge about surfing. I also had a great time chilling on the beach, hanging with fellow surf campers, tubing in the Palomino River, watching fireflies (and their glowing larvae!) in the dark of the night and observing  birds and other wildlife of the Caribbean coast of Colombia. I was pretty happy with my final list of wildlife species observations and I identified 18 bird species, 5 insect species, 2 mammal species  and 1 reptile species.

Here's the final list of species I saw these past five days:

Birds (18 species, 13 new):

Orange-chinned Parakeet (Brotogeris jugularis)

Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus)
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)
Bi-coloured Wren (Campylorhynchus griseus)
Yellow-headed Caracara (Milvago chimachima)
White-tipped Dove (Leptotila verreauxi)
Palm Tanager (Thraupis palmarum atripennis)

Blue-grey Tanager (Thraupis episcopus)
Streaked Flycatcher (Myiodynastes maculatus)

Female Green Kingfisher (Choloroceryle americana)

Squirrel Cuckoo (Piaya cayana)
Panama Flycatcher (Myiarchus panamensis)
Clay-coloured Thrush (Turdus grayi)
Orange-crowned Oriole (Icterus auricapillus)

Red-crowned Woodpecker (melanerpes rubricapillus)
Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus)
Crimson-backed Tanager (Ramphocelus dimidiatus)

Greater Ani (Crotophaga major)

Insects (5 species, 3 new):

Gulf Fritillary or Passion Butterfly (Agraulis vanillae)

Immature Common White-Tail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia)

Blue Morpho butterfly (Morpho peleides) 
Crimson-patched long-wing buttefly (Heliconius erato hydara)

Golden silk orb weaver (Nephila clavipes) 

Mammals (2 species, 2 new):

Red-tailed squirrel (Sciurus granatensis)

Red Howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus seniculus)

Reptiles (1species, 1 new):

Colombian Black/White/Gold Tegu (Tupinambis teguixin) 

Not bad! 19 new species for me :)

By the way... if anybody sees a mis-identification of a bird species feel free to let me know...I still consider myself a novice birder so appreciate any input!

Streaked Flycatcher (Myiodynastes maculatus)

Clay Coloured Thrush (Turdus grayi)

Clay Coloured Thrush (Turdus grayi)

These Red Ginger Lilies (Alpinia purpurata) is an ornamental herb and invasive species in Colombia. It is native to Papuea New Guinea and the SW Pacific

Red-crowned Woodpecker (melanerpes rubricapillus)

Red-crowned Woodpecker (melanerpes rubricapillus)

Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) likely scanning for insects

Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus)

Yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) on a palm frond

Yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) getting ready to take off

Yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima)...launch time!

Yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) in flight

Red-crowned Woodpecker (melanerpes rubricapillus)

Palm Tanager (Thraupis palmarum atripennis)

Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus) 

Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus) 

Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus) 

Red-tailed squirrel (Sciurus granatensis)

Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus) 

I love this view of this Lineated Woodpecker's (Dryocopus lineatus) feet clinging to the tree!

Crimson-backed Tanager (Ramphocelus dimidiatus, Probable female) 

Red Howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus seniculus)

Red Howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus seniculus)

Red Howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus seniculus)

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)

I believe this is a Greater Ani (Crotophaga major) which is the only Ani species found exclusively in forested habitat adjacent to water 

December 10, 2014: Michelin Men In The Darkness...a final day of adventures around Costeño Beach

Today Hugo, my co-worker Marine Mammal Observer (MMO) friend who I was working with here in Colombia, and I spent our last day at Costeño Beach Surf Camp and I must say we ended it with quite the adventure! 

But first, the photos of today show more of the gorgeous scenery and the wildlife around the camp. In addition to photographing the beach and waves  I went looking for more wildlife and my final list of the day's species included:

Squirrel Cuckoo (Piaya cayana)

Panama Flycatcher (Myiarchus panamensis) 

Clay-coloured Thrush (Turdus grayi)

Orange-crowned Oriole (Icterus auricapillus)

Blue Morpho butterfly (Morpho peleides) 
Crimson-patched long-wing buttefly (Heliconius erato hydara)
Red Howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus seniculus)
Golden silk orb weaver (Nephila clavipes) 

In addition to the birds, I came across an open forested area full of Blue Morpho butterflies (Morpho peleides) feeding on rotting fruit on the forest floor. I was delighted to see so many of these beautiful butterflies and in such an easy-to-photograph situation. The first time I heard of the Blue Morpho butterfly was when I watched a Canadian independent film, The Blue Butterfly, about a boy who has a brain tumor and convinces his idol, an entomologist, to take him to the rain forest to catch a Blue Morpho butterfly before he dies because he believes it is magical. Ever since I saw the film I felt I would be very lucky if I was to ever see this butterfly...and today I saw many! I also spotted some Red Howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus seniculus) hanging around in the trees in the forest near the road to the camp!

Despite the birds, Blue Morpho butterflies and Red howler monkies that was only the start of this fun day which ended with one crazy adventure for our last full day in the area of Costeño Beach on the Caribbean coast of Colombia ...we went for a tubing adventure down a jungle river, and this was definitely not your usual jungle river tube ride :)

The beautiful Palomino River. Without a waterproof camera on hand I couldn't get my own photos but found some online images of a slightly sunnier experience than we had (Image Source)

Now I'm not normally one for going on adventure with big, loud groups but when the staff at the camp informed us there was a trip planned to go tubing down the Palomino River I thought "heck, why not? I'm sure it'll be fun and I'll take it for what it is despite the crowd". It ended up being no normal tubing adventure and would likely not have been approved of at home for eco-tour experiences in much more regulated countries like Canada! 

Out adventure began after yet another delicious lunch served at the surf camp; everybody going tubing headed to the camp entrance where the moto taxis were waiting to take us along the sandy track up to the main road to catch a local bus to Palomino, about an hour down the coast. Hugo and I piled in our seats behind our moto taxi driver and, despite the fact our moto taxi driver was keen to be at the front of the pack, which resulted in us speeding along over the sand and weaving in and out around the other moto taxis, it was a fun ride and I would've been happy to go a little longer. At the highway half of us waited on the side of the road for the local bus as big trucks flew past while the other half went to Palomino crammed in the back of a pick up truck.

I should have known there was a potential for things to get a little crazy when, after we boarded the bus a couple of bottles of Colombian Rum started going around with everybody taking big swigs straight from the bottles which were emptied well before we even completed even half the bus journey (was that actually legal?!). I joined in and had some of the rum but just enough to make the bus ride a little more enjoyable ;) Even without the rum I still would've enjoyed watching the passing scenes of the rain forest covered hills, the glimmering ocean and local Colombians going about their day. 

Palomino appeared to be a small town of shops and restaurants sprawled along the highway but there was likely much more to it as we were only there long enough to wait for the pick up truck to take us to our tubing adventure starting point. It was now our turn to pile into the back of the pick up truck where we endured a very bumpy but fun ride. Fortunately, I was one of three of us to stand near the front of the truck behind the cab so avoided most of the pain as we were jostled around on the muddy, potholed track. Of course, I did have to keep a look out for overhanging tree branches before they hit my head as we passed under them!

Upon arrival it was nearly time to go tubing but there was still another 20 minute hike through the rain forest to where we'd finally start tubing. I quite enjoyed the hike and it was especially entertaining watching all of us weaving through the forest with large inner tubes draped across our shoulders or balanced on our heads all the while trying not to slip in muddy patches of the trail. When, at last, we reached the river we plopped our soon-to-be-soggy butts into the tubes and floated around as a mass of bodies and inner tubes and waited for the last of our group to catch up. Soon we were all in our tubes and released from our starting point drifting smoothly along the wide brown river with little more than rain forest covered hills surrounding us. 

Fun times! (Image source)

The ride was beautiful, amusing and a little nerve wracking at the same time. The ride was beautiful because we were tubing down a river surrounded by the jungle... and birds and bats and fireflies (we'll get to the last two shortly!). The ride was amusing because we were quite the sight, 30 of us drifting down the river, flopped in our inner tubes with limbs akimbo or paddling busily trying to stop our tubes from heading towards the vegetation draping over the sides of the river...forgetting the fact you could stand up in most parts of the shallow river, ha ha!

Tubing on the Palomino River...in the sun! (Image source)

Finally, the ride was nerve wracking because, by the time we departed our launch point, the sun was already setting and we spent almost half the ride in the dark! It was kind of fun tubing in the dark; the darker it became the more bats came flitting out around our heads and fireflies could be seen flashing in the vegetation along the shore. The only problem was that myself and my friend Angela, who I'd just met at the camp, somehow ended up at the front of the pack and soon we could see the lights of the vehicles passing over the approaching bridge of the highway we had crossed on the way to Palomino. We could also hear the waves crashing on the ocean so knew we were close to the end of the ride but we had no idea where we were to leave the river from and we certainly didn't want to get washed out to sea at night! 

Fortunately, we soon heard a Spanish voice coming at us from behind and discovered our young tubing guide (who looked no older than 16!) swimming towards us just in time to drag our tubes towards the darkness under the bridge. As our guide showed us the way to shore, we stood up to wade to the river's edge feeling the sand and mud squishing between our toes, dark liquid water swirling around our legs and the occasional unidentified object brushing our skin in a way that couldn't help but make one feel a little squeamish at what might be there. We scrambled out of the river and flopped the tubes into large piles which in the dark under the bridge reminded me of dark, shadowy Michelin men. 

In the darkness under the bridge we could barely make each other out in the little light left of the day, except as dark shadowy forms. This was one of the rare situations when nobody had a mobile phone to use for light (you don't want to bring one on a wet, tubing adventure!) and I have to admit it reminded me of the days when I was younger and would go on night adventures, like a late night canoe ride or swim in the ocean or a lake, when we only relied on our senses to get around. I think not many people experience this nowadays; the heightened sense of awareness of your surroundings, straining your eyes and ears to see into the darkness or locate the source of any sound near you. I actually find this quite exhilerating!

Shortly after we pulled ourselves ashore  I heard random squeals and yells emitting from the darkness nearby where my fellow tubers were waiting with me on shore. Something was biting them and soon enough I too felt the sharp, pinpoint shots of pain, a feeling I had felt when ants bit me in the forest in Africa and I was sure we were now feeling the consequences of having invaded the habitat of some Colombian forest dwelling ants. The only thing I could do to get away from the sharp pain was hop around in the darkness and hope it would prevent more ants from climbing on me or I would land somewhere away from their path of travel. Fortunately, the last of the group was soon ashore and we were clambering up the slippery trail of the embankment to the top of the busy highway bridge. As the number of us standing along the side of the bridge increased as we all reached the top of the path we had just enough room to pile the tubes and wait in the dark, the only light coming from semi-trailers and busses roaring past. We didn't want to hang around there long so said our quick goodbyes to the tubing guides and went to catch the next bus home. 

The bus ride home was full of laughter and relief and amusement. We were high from the excitement of this unexpected adventure in the dark. When we arrived at our stop on the highway near the track leading to the beach and the surf camp we were once again immersed in darkness. The final half hour walk to the camp was a great way to end the day...we were again in the dark surrounded by flashes of fireflies flitting around in the fields of tall grass and forest, the night sky full of stars behind the silhouettes of palm trees. 

On the final leg of this journey we also observed something very cool that I've never seen before. As we were walking we passed a pool of water on the side of the road and oddly enough the pond was full of glowing bioluminescent points of light and looked as if it was full of stars! This magical observation was something none of us had come across before but now that I've done some online research I believe we might have observed firefly larvae which is known to emit a light to warn would be predators that they are not tasty. So cool!

Upon arrival back at the camp a wonderful dinner of homemade lasagna (including a delicious vegetarian option!) was waiting for us and I inhaled the biggest, yummiest piece of lasagna I'd had in a long time. What a wonderful day and way to end our last day in Costeño Beach!

Here are the photos I took from around the camp before we left on our tubing adventure:

One of the great things about Costeno Beach is how quiet it is...almost nobody on the beach

Early morning peace on the beach :)

The cute little puppies still hanging around the camp :)

Squirrel Cuckoo (Piaya cayana)

Squirrel Cuckoo (Piaya cayana)

Panama Flycatcher (Myiarchus panamensis) 

Panama Flycatcher (Myiarchus panamensis) pearing down at me :)

Panama Flycatcher (Myiarchus panamensis) 

Panama Flycatcher (Myiarchus panamensis) 

Clay-coloured Thrush (Turdus grayi)

Crimson-patched long-wing (Heliconius erato hydara) 

Orange-crowned Oriole (Icterus auricapillus)

Orange-crowned Oriole (Icterus auricapillus)

Blue Morpho butterfly (Morpho peleides) 

Red Howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus seniculus)

Red Howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus seniculus)

Red Howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus seniculus)

Red Howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus seniculus)

This female Golden silk orb weaver (Nephila clavipes) was hanging out next to one of the camp's kitchen area...beautiful and although considered fairly harmless I have to admit I wouldn't want this guy on me! Oh and she's missing a leg :(