Oh the Flora! Oh the Fauna!

Bex! and I have experienced a pretty good variety of plants and animals thus far in Nicaragua.  While we don't have pictures of everything (e.g.: crab in the bed), believe you me you just can't make this sh** up.

For example, we had just been on Ometepe a day or two and one afternoon between morning and evening classes, we decided to go for a walk.  One of us tries to remember to bring a camera each time we wander about.  This time, we both were packing.  We had stopped to take a picture of this sign:

The volcano erupted!  The volcano erupted!

The signs are funny to us because if Volcan Concepción blows up big time, the only thing I'll be evacuating is my bowels.  We're on an island - there are only so many places to go.  To be fair, the Maderas end we're on is dormant and this is a large island.  Everyone could gather on the south end and wait for the ferry to show up.  I'm sure that would be utter chaos (especially on "Nica" time).

So, I took the picture (above) and Bex! was trying to get in position to get the shot she wanted, when she just about stepped on this:

You put your left foot in, you pull your left foot out...

Thank goodness it was dead!  This is my size 13, by the way.  Use it as a reference.  Then shudder.

On another walk in the first week, we decided to go the opposite direction up the road (toward San Ramon; away from the dead snake) when we came across this young boy herding cattle.  Kids in this part of the world, as in many others, have to work way too young.

Spanish speaking cows say "mu"; Spanglish ones say "mu-moo"

On this same walk, we heard what we thought was a pig grunting but didn't see one anywhere.  Hearing the noise again, we looked up and saw three monkeys in the trees above us.  Even though they ignored us, we didn't stick around.  We moved out from underneath them lickety-split.  We tried to get pictures but didn't want to be too close and they were obscured in the branches anyway.

Speaking of monkeys, there is a small island just off Ometepe called Monkey Island.  There are a bunch of capuchin monkeys that were released there from captivity.  Some were chained in zoos or were private pets that outgrew 'cute'.  We kayaked out there one morning and saw them in the trees.  Or more accurately, they saw us coming long before we spotted them.  Visitors are warned not to get too close to the island because its residents can be aggressive, even trying to jump into your boat.  As we approached, we could see the branches moving a la the T-Rex scene in 'Jurassic Park'.  Suddenly, the monkeys appeared!  As we paddled around the island, they followed along in the trees.  It was cool - and a little eerie, too.  "Just a little closer.  Come on.  Let 'em get a little bit closer.  Everyone act cuddly."

There are squirrels on Ometepe!  Yep, pretty big ones, too.  And, weirdest thing, they chew holes in the coconuts, holes large enough to fit their heads inside and they eat the coconut meat!  All around Hacienda Merida there are holey coconuts on the ground. 

Color coded to match the coconut tree

They really work to get as far inside the nut as possible, scrambling to get the right position.  Bex! was sitting at one of the picnic tables one afternoon and a furry blur fell out of the tree and landed on the bench seat opposite her.  The very surprised squirrel jumped up and scurried  back up the tree while an equally surprised wife tried to get a grasp of what had just happened!  [Attention!  Foreshadowing alert!]  This would be the first of three different animals that would fall from the sky in our presence.

Bex! is good at taking pictures of flowers and insects, trying to capture the latter inside the former.  Here are five shots - bees, flowers, butterflies:

Injury works to the photographers advantage (this guy had a shredded wing and was less flighty)

There goes my bee

There goes my bee.  Again.

There we are

There are about 500 pigs in Merida.  Like the rest of the livestock and wildlife here, they have the run of the place. 

Just expressing my innate pigness here

We've seen pigs on the playground at the school up the road and had pigs walking ride by our table when we were eating lunch in San Ramon.  

Let's see - what else... oh, yeah!  I picked up a suitcase in our room and there was a huge toad sitting there.  Gross!  He wasn't a cute little frog - he was a fat ugly toad.  To me, he looked a little like this:

Ya koon tacha poonoo nee sah, gee (Your powers will not work on me, boy)

I walked out and told one of the staff about it.  He handed me a broom and dustpan.  I said, in my clearest body language, "Hell, no - you do it."  He smiled and de-toaded our room.  

There is an iguana who wanders about the grounds.  There's a Russian guy named Yuri who works here.  Told me "Iguana good food".  We've seen Iggy a few times and here is a pic of him:

Things are getting prehistoric up in here

We now come to Fiona, the resident mascot donkey here at Hacienda Merida.  We had dinner with her one night, in fact.  But that's a story (and a video) for another time.  She loves posing for pictures.  Here is a classic:

Buenos Noches, Fiona

In addition to Fiona, there is another resident mascot at Hacienda Merida.  This guy definitely took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.  While there are many rabbits on the island, there is only one like this 'pretty boy' - Maximus.

Why aren't you wiggling your nose?

At sunset, the lightning bugs come out.  And sometimes they join us in bed.

On the list of things we don't want in our bed:  Bex! got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.  I woke up to take my turn when she was done.  We use a flashlight to get from the bed to the bathroom and thank goodness we do, because when she came out of the bathroom, her light picked up one of these guys scurrying across the floor:

Not our picture; it's from the innerwebs

He was about 2-3 inches long and disappeared before we could put him out of our misery.  We got the lights on and searched with flashlights to no avail.  Bex! climbed back in bed and I went to the bathroom.  Standing there, I noticed this weird textured spot on the stone bathroom floor.  I almost blew it off but looked closer and, sure enough, it was our little friend.  He blended in with the color of the rock so well I almost missed him.  My flip flop had no trouble seeing him, however.

Just two days ago (Thursday) Bex! was sitting in the common area when she heard a 'splat' behind her.  As she turned around, the stench hit her.  There on the concrete was what was left of an iguana.  By the smell of it, it had been dead some time.  By the looks of it, it had been picked clean by one of the many vultures that live on the island.  His tail and legs were mostly intact but he was nothing but bones and connective tissue above that.  Except most of his head was there, too.  Number 2 on the list of things that fell out of the sky.

Number three on that list happened just today.  Bex! was across the way enjoying some hammock time and I was in the common area writing the previous blog post, when it was my turn to hear something falling from above.  I turned around to see a stick on the ground.  No big deal - until it moved.  Snake!!  This elicited all kinds of excitement, for the gringoes anyway.  It looked so much like a tree branch, as you'll see it the pictures:

It's a branch... with a head!

You lookin' at me?

I can only imagine that wildlife here is embarrassed when it falls out of trees in front of tourists, right?

When I was 7-8 years old, my family lived on Guam.  Dad was stationed there.  I remember bits and pieces, some through memories shared by my older siblings and parents over the years.  But one thing I DO remember is sleeping grass. 

Pat, Jim, Bob, Rich and Susan, this one's for you!!

And finally, the last little morsel to share with you is what happens in Nicaragua if you die here.  This video is fascinatingly morbid and morbidly fascinating.  Bex! found this procession one evening.  The little guy was only 2-2.5" long.  Pretty awesome stuff!  
Note to my buddy George:  Please use any or all of this in your class!

Fun with animals!!