Rainforest 24/7

I'm on the Caribbean coast now, in the southwesternmost corner of Costa Rica, just a few kilometers from the Panama border. I'm staying in a small village called Punta Uva. Punta Uva means "Grape Point" and gets the name from the sea grapes (Coccoloba uvifera) growing on the rocky point sticking to the sea in front of the village. The village is made up of a few dirt roads, a pulperia (a small grocery store), a handful of local residents, a couple of restaurants, and a few small lodges.

The beaches are spectacular. You may want to check out the gallery for some photos I just uploaded.

On arrival I was blown away by the sounds of the rainforest. You hear a squeak here, a squawk there, whistles and howls, screeching, chatter, croaks and grunts, shrieks, chant, buzz, and shrils. And then some. The forest snaps, taps, clicks, and rumbles. It certainly does not whisper.

The forest sounds are just so intense that they overload your senses. It actually took a couple of days to really notice the beautiful butterflies and colorful birds, monkeys up in the trees, or even the tropical plants and flowers just there along the pathway.

Last night there where howler monkeys (Alouetta palliata ) just above my cabin making ungodly howling noises at 2:30 am. Maybe it was the supermoon affecting them, but they usually move around at dawn, that's just after 5 am.

We are so close to the equator here that day and night are almost as long, so it gets dark at around 5 pm. I'm usually up with the monkeys, then ready for bed by 9 pm, unless there was time in the afternoon for a little nap in the cosy hammock on the porch...

The weather here is constantly changing. On my arrival day it was raining all the way from the San Jose intl airport to Punta Uva, a journey that took over six hours due to the weather and crazy traffic. Since then we've had daily tropical showers of rain, but mostly it's been a mix of clouds and sunshine. The temperature easily reaches 30 °C but never drops below 20 °C, and due to the high humidity, the temperature feels higher too.

You'd think that being surrounded with this tropical wonderland, there'd be not much writing done. But there's a screened window with a jungle view above my desk. I'm inspired. Up to 10 pages.