Monkeys and Bugs

One day we were led on a hike through some higher ground near the laguna.  There was such an amazing variety of plants and animals to see. Right at the start of the hike, the guide bent down and stuck a small twig into a half-concealed hole near the bottom of a huge tree. As he fiddled with the twig, pulling it in and out of the hole, he gradually coaxed a gigantic blue and yellow tarantula out, which grasped at the stick with its large front pincers. It was awesome.

We also saw a ton of monkeys. These monkeys were not like the thousands of monkeys roaming around southeast asia that we got used to. These monkeys sat high up in the trees and tossed branches at us. We also heard a bunch of howler monkeys, but never saw them. Along the banks of the rivers we saw probably 5-10 different varieties of monkeys during the course of the week, in all different sizes. But they never really got close and personal like the monkeys in Indonesia. Here they were not so used to people. In the picture below you can see a monkey up in the tree. This was about the distance from which we saw most of the monkeys.




















We also saw a ton of cool bugs. This one was a bit difficult to spot at first because it had such great camouflage.




















Apparently during the night there were huge moths that showed up, but we never saw them. This cocoon was holding the soon to be moth. 





















And this was the caterpillar that would end up being the gigantic moth. We have seen some pretty big caterpillars before, but this one was seriously huge. It was tucked up on the underside of a leaf, and we would have missed it if it weren't for the guide spotting it. I was amazed at the amount of things that we hidden to the casual observer but that the guides could see. I guess it takes some time to learn how to spot things. Too bad we couldn't extend our stay in the jungle for a couple of months...