So often while we would be looking up at birds, Lynn would be fingering foliage or pinching petals. I would love to take a class from her. She is hysterically funny and I bet her students remember all the information because of the way it is presented.
Begonias grow wild here--up near the cloud forest we found some that were at least four feet tall. Beautiful! We learned that the flowers were edible. Sweet and spicy. Barb is checking out the begonias on the side of the path. In the top right you can see a cluster of blooms taller than she is.
Lynn would find a plant, pick a leaf, taste it, offer it to us to taste and then show us something interesting.
Serious business, sap tasting.
And the something funny? Here she is showing us "the suggestive bud."
She would break open pods and explain what we were looking at, and whether or not we should taste it.
The people on this trip were extremely smart, but didn't mind being silly. Love that! Two mornings in a row we were up, breakfasted and in Land Rovers by 4 am for a two-hour drive to get to birding spots. The roads were about all a Land Rover could handle: a combination of huge ruts, big rocks, steep drop offs. It was probably just as well we couldn't see. Although the second morning, the headlights would not work on one of the cars, so our guide leaned out the window with a flashlight. The driver was not concerned, he said "I know this road, I drive it about 300 days a year." Still. Scary. I know my roads, but I wouldn't drive them in the dark, and they are paved! We were hanging on to anything bolted down to help keep the body from jouncing and being thrown around. I think all of us had our heads banged hard against the side frame of the car. More than once. Aargh. Do you call a Land Rover a car?
Since it was dark, nothing to see out the windows, the folks in my car entertained ourselves by singing rounds and playing word games including I am going to Colombia and I want to see a ____. Colombian birds tend toward long descriptive names so it was challenging. After getting to Z we did it again backwards. My brain hurt. Then, since we still had time left, we did it again changing the first word to something ridiculous. Hmm. I can't seem to remember all the silly names.
Agami Heron Agnostic Heron
Buffy Hummingbird Bodacious Hummingbird
Crested Caracara Chaotic Caracara
Dusty-capped Flycatcher Dingy-capped Flycatehr
Elegant Tern Effervescent Tern
Flame-rumpted Tanager Facitious-rumped Tanager
Golden-breasted Fruiteater
Horned Lark
Inca Tern Iconoclastic Tern
Jabiru Jabbering Jabiru
Keel-billed Toucan Kill Bill 3 Toucan
Laughing Gull Lugubrious Gull
Montane Woodcreeper Morbid Woodcreeper
Neotropic Cormorant Naughty Cormorant
Ornate Flycatcher Obstreporous Flycatcher
Pied Water tyrant
Quail, Brown-fronted wood Querulous Quail
Rufous-tailed hummingbird
Solitary Sandpiper Solicitous Sandpiper
Thick-billed Euphonia Thin-lipped
Upland Sandpiper Uppity Sandpiper
Veery Virginal Veery
White-tipped Dove
Xenops Xenophobic Xenops
Zone-tailed Hawk Zaftig-tailed Hawk
I was quite taken with the road signs, and the group indulged my obsession. When it was possible, Ricardo our bus driver, would pull over so I could get a picture. Since 99% of the roads we traveled were only two lanes, I was trying to get photos as we flew down the road. The caution signs really talked to me. In Utah we have caution signs for deer and cattle, occasionally moose and buffalo, but these? Fun!
My favorite of these caution signs was for an anteater. I would so have liked to see one! Driving was more than a little scary. Two lane roads, fast speeds and many many motorcycles careening in and out between and beside cars and trucks. A quick google search revealed that motorcycles way outnumber cars in Colombia. I was astonished at how quiet the motorcycles were. With so many bikes on the road it was wonderful not to listen to the roar. Loved it. But continuing with my road sign affair... I like this before and after set.
The signs with circles are a bit baffling. Finally figured out the half-black circles meant dim your headlights. Not sure what the other one means.
The falling rock signs are always a favorite of mine. There was a similar sign that had a man walking where the car is in the sign below and his arms were over his head as the rocks fell down.
Not sure if this falls into the funny stuff category or if it is just seriously weird. El Totumo mud volcano. It may be seriously weird, but it is one of the biggest tourist attractions around. Since it is surrounded by wetlands we were there for the birds. Unfortunately it was near dusk and extremely windy.
This is the mud volcano. For about $13US, you can take the stairs to the top, climb down a ladder and get thoroughly covered in mud. For a couple more pesos you can pay someone to give you a massage. A mudsage? Then you climb back up the muddy, slippery vertical ladder, down the stairs and head to the wetlands for a wash.
Other funny stuff? Ladies, here's your sign. 
Then there was the closed Visitor's Center that was built in the shape of a hat. 
This next one is kind of a mystery. A ladder leaning against a palm tree with some fake coconuts newly painted green. Okaaay.
Ever heard of the Seven Minute Workout? It is a phone app that goes through 12 different exercises in seven minutes. It is supposed to be great for people who travel because you can do it in a hotel room. Vivian, Barb and Lynn are in great physical shape and take part in pre-ski season exercises, pilates and more. To our bemusement, they got their exercise in. Nope. Wasn't tempted to join.
In the center of Cartegena's old town is a statue of the founder.
It wouldn't be a proper statue or a birding trip without this. I think the caption is "Really? You had to do that on my epaulettes?"
