Day 4: Leap Day!

I try to make Leap Day memorable, and this year wasn’t hard. With our last full day at La Selva, I chose to start the morning with a walk along the trail we took for the night hike. Going a little further, I found an arboretum loop that looked benign (i.e. short path where all the trees have name tags), but soon led to shock. Only a few steps in, I found myself staring nearly eye-level with a dead monkey hanging upside down from a tree. It startled me enough that I almost screamed, but instead just fled the area as quickly as I could. I know the circle of life is a thing, but was totally unprepared to start my day with that part of the circle. In an attempt to calm my nerves, I picked another trail closer to the dorms, and was rewarded with some cool trees and a shy capybara. En route to the day’s workshop, I also found an orchid house with some fantastic-smelling blooms that helped calm me down.

A shy Capybara on the sidewalk

The trail ducks under the tree

The most fragrant orchid wasn't the largest

The day’s sessions had a different format, and I found ways to contribute that made it more fulfilling. Wrapping up the day, I went on a longer walk with colleagues for more spotting, including more monkeys, toucans, motmots, etc. My contribution: finding a poison dart frog that hopped on the trail right in front of me. With coloring that vibrant it’d be hard to miss, but it still counts.

Motmot

Toucan

Mother and baby

Bromeliads growing in delicate balance

Heliconia

Crossing the bridge at sunset brought another prime monkey-viewing opportunity, as a troupe had taken over a nearby tree with some playfully fighting, dangling, etc. A few of them decided to cross over to another tree, so we had a show as they jumped and walked along the bridge cables overhead. In some ways, that spot became my favorite part of this place.

Look carefully to see the troupe along the tops of branches

Crossing the bridge at sunset

That night, we had a celebration to end the retreat on a high note and congratulate all the promotions and big wins of the previous year, and say our farewells to those who’d be leaving on the early bus.