Costa Rica Sketch Journal ~ July 9, 2008

The Day of the Sloth. This was a "slothful" day. It started off with a hike with Dan'l down the trail used by Gerardo to take rappelers to the waterfalls. Most people don't hike this trail because it's pretty steep coming back up ~ the rappelers only go down it. But I'd gotten a taste of it in February on my last visit, and I wanted to see where it went.


Watching carefully for snakes (just as one would watch for rattlesnakes in the desert), we moseyed down the switchbacks to the lovely stream at the bottom of the ravine, which is on the south side of the ridge our cabina is built on. At the bottom I sat down to sketch a vine winding its way up a tree while Dan explored along the stream.


Dim light filtered down greenly, and I was glad I had my little sitter pad because the ground was spongey wet. I had a pretty nice likeness of the vine by the time Dan splashed back up the stream. He had hoped to return with me back up the path and trot down to the beach for a nice soak in the tidepools, but I persuaded him to return without me because I had spied a wonderful buttressed tree I wanted to draw. Sitting on a log in the middle of the stream (on my sitter pad, for sure!) I spent the next forty-five minutes drawing the sinewy, sinuous, sensual roots.


Then, at a very leisurely pace, I wandered up the steep trail. I hardly registered how steep it was because I was going so slowly, photographing mushrooms, leaves, seeds, and putting my hand down right next to ..... a beautiful sloth skull! My jaw dropped. What's the likelihood of finding a sloth skull right beside the trail, at waist level, perfectly preserved with all its teeth, completely bare as though someone had scientifically prepared it for display?! It was gorgeous! (Confession: I have been a skull collector since I was a little girl ~ by high school I had more than 60 skulls in my bedroom-museum.)

Carefully packing a plastic bag around it (I keep plastic tote bags in the bottom of my carrybag so that if I set the carrybag down on a wet surface only the plastic bags will get wet, not my sketchbook edge), I tucked it into my bag to take back to the lodge and identify, and continued up the trail past a huge monkey ladder vine, and around the next switchback (in case you don't hike in steep places, a switchback is where a climbing trail "switches back" on itself to continue to another level). There, directly above where I'd found the skull, on the downhill side of the trail, was the rest of the sloth skeleton, nearly invisible as it consisted of tan bones scattered among tan leaves and sticks. The skull being smooth and cylindrical, had rolled down to the next level spot. Squatting down, I poked at them a bit to see what I could see and discovered a claw, nearly three inches long. I tucked that into my bag, too.

I sat quietly on a log awhile, further up the trail, to watch a mixed flock of birds chatter through all around me, totally ignoring me. They were foraging, and I watched a black-hooded antshrike (identified later) feed SOME kind of huge spidery thing to its companion. I looked around me at the log, at the leaf litter, at the sprawling vines and foliage, wondering what I was missing from my human viewpoint. Lots, apparently!


That afternoon, relaxing with Dan'l on our terrazo, I went up to check out the swimming pool for a possible dip and discovered .....well, read about it on the journal page here. It was very exciting! And here's a photo I took through the lens of the spotting scope Gerardo set up for us to look through. I sketched the journal page from a photo that he took, closer to the pair, with my camera.


Like I said, it was a slothful day.


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Yesterday I said I'd try to include a scan of the painting I'm doing for the cover of The Southern Swamp Explorer. I've included it here.

By way of explanation: nothing is finished yet. While I have added color to many areas, I will probably go back and add/change/darken/lighten colors to get the effects I want.

In the alligator area, I've done quite a bit on the mama gator, and I'm now working on the vegetation mass which has sheltered the eggs. The vegetation is old, rotting, and will be darker, but at the moment I am coloring it. On the right I have applied the watercolor pencil, while on the left some of it has been watered already. It's not dark enough, but this underlayment of color will make the darkening look realistic.

Costa Rica Nature Journal/Sketching Workshop ~ 9

With the workshop officially finished, we had some time to explore. Jocelyn and Marilyn headed down to the waterfall and beach (where they discovered this lovely little poison dart frog) while I decided on the Ridge Trail because it has the best wildlife.

I wasn't disappointed. Barely half an hour into my hike I froze at a rustle in the underbrush, sidling close to a tree to conceal my silhouette. Soon, about twenty feet away, a black shape appeared (about the size of a bulldog, I'd say) browsing its way through the forest on a path parallel to mine. I could see, in small glimpses, that it was a peccary, which usually travels in groups, or "sounders," so I held still for awhile after it passed, and sure enough, one by one, five more passed me by without noticing me. The breeze was coming my way, and did they ever s.t.i.n.k! I would have taken that odor for a skunk or a civet cat if I hadn't actually seen them.

Later, to my delight, I was menaced by scowling, screaming spider monkeys in the top of some walking palms, and remembering Gerardo's caveat that they would 1. shake branches, 2. throw things, 3. pee on me, then 4. pee and poop on me .....I left shortly after the curtain rose on the "throwing things" scene.

The Ridge Trail is El Remanso's longest trail, ending on the beach if you take it all the way, but I had scheduled a sketching class with Gerardo (the naturalist) and Elyer (the head waiter) at the lodge after noon, so I only went halfway before I sat down for awhile for some pleine air sketching and journaling. Then I headed back to set up for class.

The class with Gerardo and Elyer was great. Both of them want to be able to draw what they see; Elyer is particularly interested in insects and takes great photos of them. So when Elyer expressed interest last year in learning to draw, I promised a session this year. Gerardo was delighted to join us, and Adri, who took the sketching workshop last year joined us for a brush-up because she seldom finds time to draw.

With Adri and Gerardo both interpreting for Elyer, the class went swiftly, and we got in a couple of hours of class before their duties called them back to work. I'll be interested to see if either of them is able to carve out time to practice and improve their skills. It's not easy to find time when you have a full-time job.

I took a lot of photos of their progress, and I wish I could share them with you. But, of course, they were in the camera I lost to pilfering in one of the airports I passed through on the way home. Adri took the photos you see here, and I am so grateful that she passed them along for you to see. Although they don't show Gerardo's and Elyer's excellent results. Ah well......

We were just finishing up when someone spotted a sloth in a tree near the cabinas. Gera grabbed the scope and set it up on the hillside, and several of the guests trekked down to see. Gera was taking close-up pictures for the guests through the scope, one camera after another (he shot me a great one {sob}) and I think he took this photo for Marilyn, although maybe she took it herself. The sloth is looking toward the left in this photo, with its rear toward us and its head pointing out at upper left.

This was Jocelyn and Marilyn's last day, too, and they had been down to the waterfall and the beach again, and were now, in the waning day, working on their journals industriously, Jocelyn at her little table, Marilyn cross-legged on her bed. It was truly gratifying to think that I have given them some new tools for their sketching and journaling! I spent some companionable time with them, and photographed all their gorgeous journal pages for posterity.

But since I don't have those pictures, here are a few Marilyn and Jocelyn provided, with more from Kathy, in that order:


Marilyn's

Jocelyn's

Kathy's






The next morning, Jocelyn and Marilyn caught the early van to Puerto Jimenez, but my plane didn't leave until later, and Joel, who owns the lodge was also leaving then, so we caught a later van to PJ. But before we left, I took my journal down the trail for one last session.

Now, leaving El Remanso, I was starting off on the second adventure of my journey ~ to culminate in a visit to the Monteverde Cloud Forest ~ my own personal foray into the Costa Rican wilds ~ alone and con solimente un poquito Espanol.

Hiking the Ridge Trail

4/26

5:15am
Well, now the workshop is finished but the fun isn’t over and I’m going to keep sketching, for sure! Last night the masked tree frogs invaded the pool, nine of them, about 3” long, tan and so fearless that we could approach and touch them. They have charming faces, friendly and a bit goggle-eyed. At first, as we sat by the pool with our margaritas and jugos (juices) and cervesas (beers), they’d let out an occasional “wank!” But during the night they came into full voice.

“Bwrawk! Barawk! Brock!” They’d sing awhile, lapse into silence, then sing another chorus -- all night long. After awhile we fell asleep to the raucous lullaby. This morning, clusters of eggs dotted the pool. I estimated a couple of thousand. We could barely see the gel surrounding the little black dot of a yolk The gardener dipped them into a tub and took them away to hatch elsewhere. The frogs left the pond before sunrise and are perched fearlessly on palm leaves by the pool, in plain sight with people passing by barely a meter away. When the frogs dry, they are slightly iridescent.

I managed to photograph a huge iguana through the spotting scope from the restaurant. I think I could really get into this! The lodge also has a box of skulls that have been found out in the forest over the years, and I want to sketch the oddest ones while I’m here. This is a pizote, the coati, long and skinny.

10:44am, 85degrees (I have a little thermometer on my keychain). Today I am tackling the Ridge Trail. It goes back to the head of the ravine to the south of the lodge, then out onto the next ridge to an overlook, then down a steep scramble to the beach. It is humid and the air is very still in the forest, and rather dark – I’ve been trying to photograph things like cicadas and anole lizards without a flash, but I’m having trouble holding the camera steady enough to get a picture. Next time I think I’ll bring a little tripod. Earlier, a troop of spider monkeys were eating from clumps of fruit above me, with most unmannerly insults shouted from full mouths. I had to dodge a branch that came crashing down. Did they do that on purpose?

Right now I’m sitting quietly on one side of a steep canyon trail. For about fifteen minutes I’ve been watching a pizote foraging along the opposite canyon wall about 50’ away. It has no idea I am watching it nose under roots, leaves and into crevices and crannies, snapping up insects, spiders, and other goodies. Earlier three pizotes spotted me and barked “Wuk! Wuk! Wuk!” in alarm then slipped away through the forest.

This part of the trail descends into the ravine at its very head, then turns around and starts up the other side. At the cul-e-sac I spotted an oval wasp nest looking a lot like a potato, hanging from a tiny tendril loop. Approaching closely, I stopped short when I saw little wasp faces peering out at me. No WAY am I getting any closer. Most of the wasps here are gentle and tolerant, but I’m not taking chances. About 30 feet away I lurched into another wasp nest hanging from the underside of a big leaf. THEY got mad, and gathered into fighting formation, so I quickly retreated (without incident).

It may rain – it’s thundering regularly. Hope I don’t get this journal wet! It’s so humid my glasses keep fogging up as I write, so it’s actually bathroom moist, and right here/now it is now 87 degrees. I keep smelling a skunk, maybe it’s some plant like skunk cabbage.

Oh my! I just almost ran into a palm tree with bands of 3-5” spines up and down the trunk! Very sharp and nasty. They surely protect this palm from climbing critters! (I just broke a spine off and am using it as a toothpick. Perfect.)

Noon: HAH! I made it to Buena Vista point and the view of the Pacific and the beaches below is terrific, although it's a bit overcast! I think I’ll lunch on my granola bar and cool down in the cool breeze off the ocean, then I’ll head back up the ridge since I took some loop routes and didn’t get to see all the trail. There’s so much to see.

Speaking of which…as I sit here munching I am seeing something seriously strange downslope about 40’ below the viewpoint. It’s a sphere about the size of an orange, maybe 3” in diameter, but creamy white and it has a fascinating design…..which I have finally realized is wasps clinging to the outside of the sphere. Okay, lunch is done, time to go see.

Well, it’s not a sphere as I thought from above—more a cream-colored disc, but the slope is so steep and crumbly there’s no way to get closer than about 6’ to inspect it. These may be wingless wasps, each about an inch long with black head and thorax and shiny cream-colored flattened abdomen.

The mass looks solid, but while the upper ring of wasps hangs onto the edge of the disc, I can't see what the ones beneath are grasping... There’s been almost no movement for the fifteen minutes I’ve been watching. Wait. I think maybe they have wings, but they’re smallish and pale, and held low. [Later: only by viewing a close-up of the photos I took am I able to see the wings: tan, and, as I finally surmised, held down alongside the abdomen.]

1:30pm I've headed back, and just came through a grove of "walking palms." They're called that because the trunk has multiple legs at the base, and it keeps sending down new roots on the sunniest side, allowing those on the darker side to die -- so it eventually "walks" to a more advantageous spot.

I've also seen more than one magnificent specimen of monkey-ladder vine along this ridge. The biggest one loops and twines around the trees (and itself) in intricate arabesques. It must be ancient, and it certainly gives a junglish character to this forest.