Wednesday, Sept 29 - The Bamboo Trail

(Pics:  Bothrops jararacussu, a hillside farm, crossing the stream,  Bufo marinus)

Breakfast at 6:15 and off at seven. The sky was mostly cloudy with bits of blue which looked very promising! We headed up hill in the van for about 20 minutes and turned off onto a paved road opposite the Theodoro Trail.

As soon as we exited the van we came upon a beautiful golden toad, Bufo marinus, which we took to be a good sign. We slowly hiked past some small houses and gardens one of which was guarded by a particularly fierce pair of Rottweilers, fortunately behind secure fencing and then we were harassed by a Jack Russell terrier with a reputation of nipping at one’s heels!

We entered the park and the trail became very narrow and overgrown. We reached a stream bordered by very slippery rocks where Cirilo, our local, excellent birding guide, and John pulled us across one by one. I managed to sink my foot into the water, but considering all the cameras, binoculars, and packs we are all carrying it’s lucky someone didn’t fall in!

We continued on through a forest of bamboo with bamboo vines with claw-like hooks catching on our clothes, siliconized bark that grabbed at our clothes like Velcro, and vines underfoot trying to trip us up!. The trail was very narrow in places with a precipitous fall down to a stream below, requiring constant attention to avoid being ripped, tripped, or cascading downwards! John and Cirilo kept producing great birds, most of which are unique to this Atlantic forest area. John can identify bird calls from far away and then with his I-Pod plays their call and they usually fly in. We got great views of the Bellbird again, and my favorite, the Blue Manikin, a little six inch metallic blue bird with black wings and head topped with a brilliant red-orange cap!

This was supposed to be an easy half day, but we had been walking and birding without a break for five hours and had covered only two miles - birding is very slow going! John finally turned us around and we got back in one hour more for a late but good lunch. He has actually given us the afternoon off! And we are dozing and watching the fruit trays from our room. I could use a Jacuzzi right now. But it was a fabulous morning nevertheless!
Just before dinner I saw several people by the pool/Ethernet connection, and walked over….at the foot of the steps to the p
ool was a fat, meter-length poisonous snake, later identified as a Jararacussu Lancehead. Bothrops jararacussu…I’ll have to be more careful when I trot out there after dinner to post my blog!!

We did the bird list for the day, drinking Caipirinhas and then had bean, rice, fried local fish and cabbage. For the sobremesa (dessert) we had a really delicious passion fruit mousse!

Right to bed because breakfast is at 5:45 for an early departure and a long day!