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Okay. We are almost ready to leave and there are some unresolved issues. How do we dry our socks in the tropics? Honestly, it is an issue when we are hiking most of each day. When we went on a birding trip to Ecuador a couple of years ago, we thought we had it figured out. The first leg of the trip was along the Pacific coast and - wouldnachaknow- it was cool and cloudy, meaning humid, for all four days over there in the very dry-looking hills. My QuickDri underpants never did dry completely, even the ones I washed the first night there. And the so-called QuickDri socks - this is the ridiculous part - actually seemed to absorb more water when I hung them up to dry! And things didn't improve even in high elevation Quito, never mind the Amazon Basin jungle lodge where we stayed next. And, yes, we did roll them in towels, "like a burrito" as they say, and stomp on them.
Well, Ron bought some Tilley socks for that trip and was fairly happy with them, so I bought some this time. Now we have 12 socks that look exactly alike, unless you compare the 6 of them that are slightly larger with the other 6 (mine). Here is my solution to that - I embroidered little leaves on the cuffs of mine with my nifty HiTech sewing machine. I don't want to be scrambling for socks that fit at some ungodly hour as we prepare to get outside to see the Rufous Motmot. And really, socks are important. The underwear thing will have to sort itself out some other way... Oh, right. Our underpants look quite different, even when damp.
And one other small thing - the socks available are very short. I think they should be advertised as "Summer Only Socks" in the temperate zone. I put them on today when going to shop for some sandals to take along, and I was freezing until I got home and put on Real Socks.
Now for the Sublime. By chance, today's Adirondack Almanac had a little piece on birds (thanks, Brian!) called Bird Cams To Calm Our Local Weather Woes. What an amazing treat it was to go to the links that took me to the tropics. One was a bird cam in Brazil, where I saw a Blue-gray Tanager (I think - see above to check out the real deal) and some hummingbirds flitting around some feeders in real time. I know they are out there and that we will see them soon!
And the snow continues.
Our trip organizer, Janice Jorgensen, has been sending us photos of birds recently seen in Panama that were taken by Joseph Morlan. Wow! He is a spectacular photographer of some spectacular birds. His colleague Robbie Fischer on their recent Panama bird excursion wrote a description of their experiences. Find both at this link: http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/trips.htm
Here are few of the photos. I guess you can see why Ron is pouring over the Birds of Panama Field Guide.
Bird Photo Labels:
- top right: Rufous Motmot (Morlan)
- middle right: Crimson-backed Tanager (Morlan)
- bottom left: Dot-winded Ant Wren (Morlan)
Welcome to our collection of thoughts, notes, and photos related to our trip to Panama. We leave a week from today, and things are pretty well set for the trip. Just all those little projects that have be done first, like paying my NYS sales tax, stopping the mail, and preparing for potential disasters at home (like ice storms, power outages, etc.). You know - the things that make you crazy getting ready for a big trip! Fortunately, our friends Tom and Lynn are keeping an eye on the house and the weather for us.
Well, Ron bought some Tilley socks for that trip and was fairly happy with them, so I bought some this time. Now we have 12 socks that look exactly alike, unless you compare the 6 of them that are slightly larger with the other 6 (mine). Here is my solution to that - I embroidered little leaves on the cuffs of mine with my nifty HiTech sewing machine. I don't want to be scrambling for socks that fit at some ungodly hour as we prepare to get outside to see the Rufous Motmot. And really, socks are important. The underwear thing will have to sort itself out some other way... Oh, right. Our underpants look quite different, even when damp.
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