Back in the Osa, CR

Back in the Osa.  All the familiar sights, sounds, smells. The heat, the humidity. I am struck by how the once-exotic has become familiar, common, comforting.

• The melodic sing-song sliding notes of the Clay Colored Robin announcing the coming dawn
• Followed by the insistent call of the pipsqueak Riverside Wren, "the sun is up, the sun is up…"
• The raucous squawking arguments of Scarlet Macaw couples passing overhead
• The haunting call of the toucan
• The guttural growly huffing barks of the Howler Monkeys claiming their place
• The comic acrobatic ease of Spider Monkeys passing through the canopy
• The startling electric blue flash of of a Morpho Butterfly winging erratically by
• The improbable purple-orange hustle of Halloween Crabs in the leaf duff at night
• The magic of glowbugs in the dark
• Fruit setting on the mango trees--monkey bait and promise of mischief to come
• A carpet of yellow; freshly fallen flowers of the Cortez Amarillo