Kayaking in the Jungle

Our naturalist guide, Priscilla, led us in our kayaks up a large creek that empties into the Tortuguero River.  No motorized boats are allowed up this arm of the river so it was a very quiet and peaceful journey.  We saw several of the same animals as we saw yesterday from the motor boat but most were spotted by us and not the naturalist.  We watched spider monkeys climbing  up tree limbs and then suddenly dropping down to catch and swing on a lower branch.  John J. scared a Jesus Christ lizard so we could watch it 'walk' across the water.  

Priscilla and I eyed a long caiman (btw it is pronounced 'kye-man' in Spanish).  We learned that a particular tree with large hand-shaped leaves is the McDonalds of the jungle; another tree is hollow so that ants can live inside of it and keep parasites off the tree; and the fig tree has large, wide roots that help secure the sediment and mud to the river banks. A large peace lilly or calla lilly had a spider centered on its while flower making it look very special.

It rained off and on all morning but it is so nice and warm that no raincoats were used. It was very quite but occasionally we heard the howler monkeys, toucans, the spider monkeys and other birds.  We almost saw a river otter but he was too fast for our slow responses.  We also learned that a small orange snake will coil around certain flowers so that he can catch hummingbirds when they move in to get the flower's nectar.

The rest of the day was spent in leasure.  Thats easy to do when it is raining, warm and quiet.