Evolutionary Plume

A review of This Mobius Strip of Ifs by Mathias B. Freese :: The Compulsive Reader :: A Haven for Book Lovers

A review of This Mobius Strip of Ifs by Mathias B. Freese :: The Compulsive Reader :: A Haven for Book Lovers.

Mathias B. Freese is always thoughtful, questions reality and has interesting remarks to make about many stages in life; he, in fact, offers up his belief that life is somewhat like the Mobius Strip used in his title, circulating round and round and sometimes offering up a bit of magic insight. 

Panama Trip Day 18: Finca Lerida to Bocas del Toro via Ancon Expeditions Guide and Driver

This morning we woke up and dressed, went to breakfast, checked out and headed to David by way of the scenic route down to Boquete, heading south (I think) from Finca Lerida and heading toward Sendero de los Quetzales, then following the road along the river. It’s quite beautiful and this time I managed to get the pictures taken in bright happy sunlight.

When we reached Boquete, it was 10:00 and that gave us just enough time to make it to the airport in David where we turned in the car and met our guide and driver from Ancon. On the way, we passed through the massive highway contruction project (turning a two-lane road into a four-lane divided highway). It wasn’t very scenic but then again I hadn’t seen it before. Bob wanted to talk so I didn’t work like I planned.

At David, we found McDonald’s for lunch and filled gas and turned in the car at Hertz. Our guide, Sergio, and driver, Orlando (they both thought his name being the same as the city we lived in funny) immediately helped with the luggage, offered up water, and allowed Bob to explain we wanted most of our birding experience on the Caribbean side of the mountains. This matched their plans well.

Our route followed our previous trip to Gualaca, then turned toward Bocas. I got one picture of the dry cattle range lands and the hilly land formations. Our first stop was at Fortuna Dam which we were told was over 100 meters deep and quite wide. We picked up our first birds (except for the Caracara in flight) at the dam, although we were a bit slow and missed two birds (one a siskin and the other a wren). We then reached our first birding stop in the Palo Seco Protected Forest. It was raining very hard and though we both wore our Harry Potter plastic ponchos and hat’s, our legs and feet got wet, our glasses and binoculars speckled with rain so we gave up since the birds hate rain for the most part. We did get excellent pictures of flowers, one a native orange orchid that grows all along the roads. Our second birding stop was at the Anam station for the Palo Seco Protected Forest. The station is hosted and has a nearby coffee shop and lots of flowering plants. There’s no hiking trail like the path up at the top of the pass, but we walked along the road, across the river and spotted a white hawk, then tons of toucans. We didn’t see any lifer toucans but we did get other birds and it was an excellent experience to see the toucans in flight, hopping up and down the bare trees, eating and of course pooping. The lighting was pretty difficult to make out colors.

Birds:

Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret, Chestnut-collared Sparrow, Blue-and-White Swallow, Yellow-faced Grassquit, Spotted Sandpiper, Montezuma Oropendula, Scarlet Tanager, Panama Flycatcher, White Hawk, Keel-billed Toucan, Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, Collared Aricari, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Broadbilled Motmot, Great-tailed Grackle, Crested Caracara

Animals:

Hoffman’s Gray Sloth—three-toed (all curled up in his favorite tree)

Panama Trip Day 18: Finca Lerida to Bocas del Toro via Ancon Expeditions Guide and Driver

This morning we woke up and dressed, went to breakfast, checked out and headed to David by way of the scenic route down to Boquete, heading south (I think) from Finca Lerida and heading toward Sendero de los Quetzales, then following the road along the river. It’s quite beautiful and this time I managed to get the pictures taken in bright happy sunlight.

When we reached Boquete, it was 10:00 and that gave us just enough time to make it to the airport in David where we turned in the car and met our guide and driver from Ancon. On the way, we passed through the massive highway contruction project (turning a two-lane road into a four-lane divided highway). It wasn’t very scenic but then again I hadn’t seen it before. Bob wanted to talk so I didn’t work like I planned.

At David, we found McDonald’s for lunch and filled gas and turned in the car at Hertz. Our guide, Sergio, and driver, Orlando (they both thought his name being the same as the city we lived in funny) immediately helped with the luggage, offered up water, and allowed Bob to explain we wanted most of our birding experience on the Caribbean side of the mountains. This matched their plans well.

Our route followed our previous trip to Gualaca, then turned toward Bocas. I got one picture of the dry cattle range lands and the hilly land formations. Our first stop was at Fortuna Dam which we were told was over 100 meters deep and quite wide. We picked up our first birds (except for the Caracara in flight) at the dam, although we were a bit slow and missed two birds (one a siskin and the other a wren). We then reached our first birding stop in the Palo Seco Protected Forest. It was raining very hard and though we both wore our Harry Potter plastic ponchos and hat’s, our legs and feet got wet, our glasses and binoculars speckled with rain so we gave up since the birds hate rain for the most part. We did get excellent pictures of flowers, one a native orange orchid that grows all along the roads. Our second birding stop was at the Anam station for the Palo Seco Protected Forest. The station is hosted and has a nearby coffee shop and lots of flowering plants. There’s no hiking trail like the path up at the top of the pass, but we walked along the road, across the river and spotted a white hawk, then tons of toucans. We didn’t see any lifer toucans but we did get other birds and it was an excellent experience to see the toucans in flight, hopping up and down the bare trees, eating and of course pooping. The lighting was pretty difficult to make out colors.

Birds:

Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret, Chestnut-collared Sparrow, Blue-and-White Swallow, Yellow-faced Grassquit, Spotted Sandpiper, Montezuma Oropendula, Scarlet Tanager, Panama Flycatcher, White Hawk, Keel-billed Toucan, Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, Collared Aricari, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Broadbilled Motmot, Great-tailed Grackle, Crested Caracara

Animals:

Hoffman’s Gray Sloth—three-toed (all curled up in his favorite tree)

Panama Trip Day Seventeen: Finca Lerida, Boquete, Panama

Unsure that we’d actually see the Resplendent Quetzal, I tell Bob we should take a tour at Finca Lerida, just in case the guide can help us find one. After breakfast, we meet up with our guide,  Alberto. Alberto, it turns out, is quite knowledgeable about Finca Lerida operations and growing coffee, but less about birds.

From him, I learn that coffee trees can last up to 25 years, but if they start to look diseased, they plant a new tree beside and cut it down. Finca Lerida uses very few chemicals if none—I think they might use an anti-nematode chemical, otherwise nothing. The coffee plants sometimes get nematodes or another insect. To grow the new plants, they take a seed, plant it, when it sprouts, they move it to another container for 7 months, then transfer it into the ground. The coffee is picked and packed in 30lb bags by the pickers (mostly indigenous), who are paid a minimum of $425 for the season, $3 for each 30lb bag, and all of their housing and food supplied. Panama has a state medical insurance. The Panamanian President’s family owned Finca Lerida, but it was sold and placed under a non-profit management. The hotel was built in 2004, but an addition is being built now. At one time, Finca Lerida had a dairy operation, but apparently it couldn’t compete against Netherland butter (a possible exchange for all the Chiquita bananas we see shipped back?) and the area has been replanted. No more trees are cut on the property. The coffee is sort of shade grown—some large trees within the coffee plants provide shade to many plants, and the hedge row/forest fringe provides more. They often sees a light mist of rain.

After wandering past many coffee and other trees and a vine called “kill tree” that will cover a tree and kill it within 1-2 years, we reach forested area. We take a walk (missing most birds but surprisingly see the nightingale out in the open and then although we hear the song many more times, never see it again) up to several lookouts where we can see the Pacific Ocean and the farm operations on Finca Lerida and a neighbor that has truck farm operations—this is where the irrigation water flowing down the property in pipes goes partially.

Then we head down the Cascades path—which is rocky and has some difficult places on the trail where one can slip. The trail leads eventually to a lookout of another waterfall. Then we start hearing the Resplendant Quetzal. We see three different males—what a treat. The blue tail looks turquoise against the native greenery, the red bright, the tail curls on the end. He’s simply stunning while his mate is just prettier than a Trogan. We hear the Bell birds and others see it, but not us.

After our return along the Cascades path, we take the el Roble trail which is much narrower and follows a huge number of old trees down to the coffee trees. The hike is a delight and we find others staying at the hotel sign up for a coffee tour.

After a good lunch, we return up to where we hiked in the morning with Alberto and bird the forest fringe in search of all the birds we heard and missed and find quite a few, but it rains, then gets chilly so we wear our ponchos. When Bob’s feet start hurting, we head back, finding the Acorn Woodpecker as a surprising close to the day—the picture in the bird guide is far too white compared to the yellowish faces we see.

Chestnut-capped Brush Finch, Ruddy-capped Nightingale Thrush, Black Vulture, Resplendent Quetzals (male), Yellowish Flycatcher, Green Violetear (hummingbird), Slaty Flower-Piercer, Rufous-collared Sparrow, White-naped Brush Finch, Yellow-bellied Siskin, Yellow-faced Grassquit (in nest), Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Slate-throated Redstart,   Flame-colored Tanager, Black-cheeked Warbler, White-tipped Dove, Acorn Woodpecker, Clay-colored Thrush, Blue-gray Tanager

 

A Rainbow of Lilies Marching Toward Easter - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com

A Rainbow of Lilies Marching Toward Easter - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com.

A Rainbow of Lilies Marching Toward Easter - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com

Panama Trip Day Sixteen: Finca Lerida, Boquete, Panama

We woke up excited to look for Quetzals, not our first try by any means. We’ve looked for Quetzals in Mexico and Costa Rica and Peru, but they like mountains with cool tropical rainforest and apparently according to one of our fellow travelers, specific trees in flower.

We ask if it is safe to park at the trailhead next to the bus stop, but the office manager is unwilling to commit to potential liability and suggests we walk or take the local bus. We drive down (4km from the hotel) and pull into the trailhead, finding a place to turn around and park. The caretaker for the trailhead has us sign in and pay $3 each.

I didn’t believe that we would see a Quetzal—the trail starts through agriculture land, but slowly it begins to rise. Luckily, most of the trail is rocky so the continual rain hasn’t left the trail very muddy or wet. Soon we start spotting birds we found at Finca Lerida, then new ones—mostly warblers or warbler look-alikes by size. We miss one small bird again and again. Worse, while documenting a bird we’re viewing, people come up and start asking questions—a sure guarantee of failure. Then while we’re looking at a warbler, a group of three young guys approach and ask us about our birding—they tell us they’ve just seen the Resplendent Quetzal 100 meters up the trail. We decide to pay attention to the possibility we might actually see a Quetzal. We start hearing two voices calling back and forth but can’t find either bird. Finally, we pause and stand quietly a few places.

A female Resplendent Quetzal swoops up and lands on a tree branch above my head. I tell Bob, quick, get the picture.

He does so, approaching nearer while I stand back. I don’t realize he has seen the male until he’s taken several pictures then mouths to me, quick, he’s about to leave. Both birds swoop 100 meters away into the forest and I never do see the male, although Bob spots it twice more.

We continue to get what birds we can, telling others where to look and at what height. Most of the people we run into are hiking fast and hard. We spend 6 hours doing the trail up to the waterfall and then slowly back. What a delight to see the environment—so many old trees and blossoms and ferns and so much water as the trail follows the creek. Bob’s eyes get tired and he starts only wearing his glasses when I find a bird.

We return back to Finca Lerida well pleased at our day. But I have a headache from lack of food and someone sends me a message about a blog that had nasty things to say about me,  but no way to contact him, so I quit following this person. What a mean thing to do. 

 

Sendero des Quetzales

Birds:

Silver-throated Tanager, White-throated Mountain Gem (hummingbird), Flame-throated Warbler, Yellowish Flycatcher, Resplendent Quetzals (male/female), Three-striped Warbler, Slate-throated Redstart, Long-tailed Woodcreeper, Chestnut-capped Brush Finch, Common Bush Tanager

 

 

Panama Trip Day Fifteen : Boquete Area around Finca Lerida—Total Rainout

Yesterday’s storm continued today. We woke in not so bad drizzle, went to breakfast—continental with cereal, Passion Fruit juice, plate of fruit and homemade bread toast and jelly and coffee and tea for me. After breakfast, we decided to skip our tours due to the rain and try for Volcan Baru. The office gave us a map. We followed the road up as far as we could go, but the graveled part of the road looked washed out with huge boulders making it difficult to head straight up. So we continued on to Volcancito (the town) on the return loop to town.

Once in town, I asked that we head back to Finca Lerida via the road to San Ramon where there is rock climbing (in good weather).

The road there follows the river, shows many geologic formations—sediment layers uptilted I think. They look like hexagonal rods piled on top of each other with a bit of a twist upward. The river, too, is scenic, with many waterfalls. Lots of flowers in bloom now, but the birds are uncooperative disliking the rain.

We return to Finca Lerida for a late lunch (and beers for Bob although I have one two). We split chicken fingers and fries and Lerida Decadence – a mocha brownie served with carmelized bananas and cashews and a dish of rum raisin ice cream. Delicious all.  We meet Dave and Dave the boatmen traveling from Costa Rica south who are hanging in the region. Dave is from Princeton and the other Dave is from New York. Then we meet Woody who is beside himself and traveling from San Francisco area. We tell everyone we have been promised a bar with a wood fire tonight.

We take a nap while the rain falls, but as soon as it lets up, I urge Bob out to do the Misterio Falls road. Five minutes down the road, the next cloud hits and the rain is once more torrential. By the time we get to the Sendero de la Quetzales, we find too much rain but a Black Guan under the canopy posing for us. Great way to end the day.

Birds:

Silver-throated Tanager, White-Naped Brush-Finch, Flame-Colored Tanager, Rufous-Collared Sparrow, Panama Flycatcher, Common Black Hawk (Immature), Blue-Gray Tanager,  Buff-throated Saltator, Clay-colored Thrush, Tennessee Warbler, Slaty-Flowerpiercer, Black Guan, Cattle Egret, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Violet Sabrewing, Green Violet-Ear, Snowy-bellied Hummingbird

 

 

Panama Trip Day 14: Flight to David and Drive to Finca Lerida, Boquete, Panama

We skip breakfast, shower and pack up. No taxi is waiting so Bob sees a guy and waves him down. The cab looks dangerous to my health—bald, skiddable tires that are a bit low and very limited brakes. We get to the airport just fine, passing others wanting to flag him down. We ask him where to eat in David, but he tells us eat tamales, fruit and a special spiced meat. He tells us he goes swimming in the hot summers at the Grand Canyon and takes his young son and says, yes, there is crocodiles—his son fell into the river and they both got quite scared.

At the airport, I watch people sit near each other and share pictures of their families on their telephones. A lady asks me if we are going to David and I reply yes, she said, she had just come for the day to see her daughter. I ask if her daughter is married, and if she has grandchildren, she says yes. I tell her Bob’s kids haven’t given us grandchildren.

The flight to David is remarkable smooth via Taca Airlines Aeroperlas. Bob wasn’t able to get the Panama Airlines website to work. While we waited for out flight, many people arrived without luggage, bought tickets, then left again at the Panama Airlines ticket counter. Aeroperlas wasn’t as busy—they must be the late comers to town. The airport is expanding another wing and another floor.

The Hertz people are super nice to us and get us set up in a four-wheel drive vehicle and give us directions through town. They laugh when we verify the location of McDonald’s—we’ve struck out on the internet, and with three or four people asking where to eat in David. McDonald’s worked—while we ate, I convinced Bob to take the alternative road to Finca Lerida by going north from Chiriqui—it’s the same one to Bocas del Toro for a short time, but part of the way will be new since we’ll take the other route back to David.

The road follows Chiriqui River and eventually we come to a dam, muddy water flooding over the spillways. I think that’s highly unusual since this is the dry season. The road has several places where we could pull off and do a little birding. By the time we get to Finca Lerida, it’s raining quite hard—no wonder the water was rushing over the dam.

We found Finca Lerida with ease, signs pointing at the key places one might wonder. We check in wearing our Harry Potter plastic ponchos—the guy at the desk laughs at us, and haul luggage to our room wearing the same and using the umbrellas they provide.

Finca Lerida has a bar, restaurant, café—all sell locally made gifts of jewelry, coffee, cosmetics, and cute mugs and other stuff with hummingbirds and toucans. Our room has a private porch with a couple of padded chairs that looks over the garden—we immediately get four lifers.  Then we check to see if the bar is open, yes, restaurant open, yes, and pick up a trail map at the office. We delay our tour possibly in case it is still raining in the morning. The man at the office helps us identify the tanager. The lighting is awfully weird tonight due to the rain and all the birds wet and low light.

They open the bar for us and we try to bird but finally it is too late. Then we try dinner at the restaurant. I have the pork chop and Bob the River Trout with cashews. Fresh made bread is a win. The meal tasty. The rum cake with strawberries and oregano and ice cream is wonderful. Our room is chilly, the rain mostly stopped but the wind is blowing quite fiercely even knocking the greenhouse roof over the coffee machinery off. There’s a spare blanket, robe and slippers, full screen tv, and the internet is accessible from our room. Pretty nifty.

Birds: Great-tailed Grackle, Clay-colored Thrush, Cattle Egret, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Blue-gray Tanager, Panama Flycatcher, Smooth-billed Ani, Fork-tailed Flycatcherx3, Variable Seedeater, Rufous Collared Sparrow, White-naped Brush-Finch, Violet Sabrewing (hummingbird), Green Violetear (hummingbird), Flame Collared Tanager, and Yellow-headed Caracara

 

Panama Trip Day 13 : Melia Panama Canal near Colon to Country Inn and Suites, Panama City

Today was a laundry day—everything we have is dirty. We wake up late, have breakfast, shower and head to Panama City. Bob skips any side trip. Instead we go to Amador Causeway and try the Buffalo Steak House. It’s okay—my fish comes with tasty stir fry but no garlic. Even the garlic bread has little garlic. Bob’s Brochette’s of filet, chicken and prawns is cooked just done, the meat tender, and he eats it with the grilled onion and is happy. We skip dessert until later.

We find that we can check in early by an hour and immediately set to work sorting laundry. Bob finishes all the loads while I work on this week’s essay—it doesn’t fit the assignment. I expect they will shoot me, just kidding.

(Gorgeous trees and views along the Amador causeway offer shelter from the intense heat, protection from the rain, introduction to unusual trees, and places to rest, fun.)

After the laundry is finished I cheat with peanut butter cookies, Bob with chocolate chip and then go for a walk up the waterfront and back. I write some more (mostly planning i.e. seeing how many word on how many scenes and adding scenes).

Then Bob is ready for drinks—I cheat and have the Ultimate Mud Slide, Bob is defeated by the bar being out of limon, so he settles for gin with a jigger of margarita juice.

Easy day, quick night to go to bed, we have a flight in the morning.

Birds: Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, Spotted Sandpiper, Little Blue Heron, Great Kiskadee, Rock Pigeon

 

Panama Trip Day Twelve: Gamboa Rainforest Resort to Melia Panama Canal near the Gatun Locks

Today was a transition day, move out of one hotel, move into the next. We wake late (8:30) and head for breakfast. On our return, I shower while Bob futzes with the bags. We check out fairly early and decided to just head to Colon area and try out the famed Achiote Road that a birder we ran into told us was the hot spot of the San Lorenzo National Park. We quickly found the right road and then saw a lavanderia which we are getting close to being desperate to have, but decided to wait for our next stop at the Country Inn and Suites.

After filling gasoline and buying water at McDonald’s we soon found a sign pointing to the Melia Panama Canal, our hotel for the next two nights. They kindly let us check in, so we dumped our bags and went to lunch. Meals at the Melia are all buffet—breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have a small candy, snack and gift shop. I had garlic Sea Bass, noodles, vegetables and salad, Bob the same, except he ate the mussels off my SeaBass and had the three cheese chicken.  We were amused by the people who quietly accepted their Atlas beer—Bob told them it wasn’t real beer and could he please have a Panama or Sabal or Heineken—they caved. The servers made sure the label of the other beer drinkers wasn’t visible to us.

Then we were off down the road, past the Gatun Locks which look delightedly stair stepped and complete with several large container ships enclosed. On past the Gatun Locks (the traffic waits on either side for their turn to go on the one lane drawbridge. The dam was impressive even though the water wasn’t being allowed out. Then the road passed alongside Gatun Lake which is eerily turquoise and sets well above the seashore seen across the road. Achiote Road may be a good birding road, but there is precious few places to pull off and most of these we found trashed and or burned out. At the turnoff onto Achiote Road, the roadside was onfire. Most people continued past since only the dried out vegetation seems to burn. It doesn’t take long to get to Achiote Road and once there you find the Toucan Center which seems to be a campground/place to get a guide and someone’s private home. We skipped it and continued on to Pina which is the small seaside town at the end of the Achiote Road. Round trip took about 3 hours and we only stopped to id a few birds. The area from Achiote to Pina is private farmland, low grazing fields for cattle with rivers running through separated by native treed areas. The stench of smoke was overpowering and even miles away, I still smell it on me.

One the way back we got to witness some local culture. Ladies had set up a roadside stand selling drinks and sandwiches. Stopped at Gatun Locks, the men on their way home, one by one caved to the temptation and went over and bought sandwiches, which they immediately began to devour. Also, the small Mitsibuishi truck (front seat with two men, back hole with a couple more, and tailbed with two benches made from wood planks housed another five men. After one of the buses (not the one with a line of shark fins down the top) crossed the Gatun Locks, the driver pulled over and a mother was allowed to place her son at trees edge to empty his bladder, then all drove away. The doorman at the Melia wanted to know why the Toucan was yelling his head off, it took him awhile to translate my English “he’s saying hey ladies, look at me, I got the fruit” before he smiled. Many of the people we are running into are speaking Spanish as a second language.

(The Panamanian buses known as the Red Devils for their wild ways and fun decorations were due to be replaced in just 15 days, however, even the Taxis drivers--like this one-- have caught on to the fun of making their home away from home fun to visit.)

We returned to the hotel to find a Toucan yelling his head off, and for drinks—Bob bought snacks, just in case he got hungry. I’m still eating less than normal, hopefully it will take a pound or two off before I return home. Tonight we plan to swim in the glorious pools that are open 24 hours a day, no restrictions. The hotel itself is almost deserted except during lunch when the buffet attracted busloads of people.

We got drinks and now Bob amused himself watching a young lady remove her bra and put on her swimsuit top without revealing anything. Her babies were then encased in floating swim suits, one, the youngest was held with his toes touching and he immediately took up kicking. Once both were in floating swim suits, they also got to have a floating ring. The eldest cries if mom pays attention to the younger or leaves him alone. The Melia property is surrounded on about 270 degrees by river/lake.

Birds:

Blue-Crowned Motmot, Summer Tanager, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Magnificent Frigatebird, Cattle Egret, Woodstork, Smooth-billed Ani, Little Blue Heron, Great Egret, Great-tailed Grackle,  Crimson-backed Tanager, Panama Flycatcher, Thick-billed Seed Finch, Yellow-headed Caracara, Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan, Palm Tanager, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Blue-Gray Tanager, S. Roughwinged Swallows

 

Spring Reading List Offers Poetry, Culture, Sex, Science Fiction and Essays - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com

Spring Reading List Offers Poetry, Culture, Sex, Science Fiction and Essays - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com.

Spring Reading List Offers Poetry, Culture, Sex, Science Fiction and Essays - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com