MY Birthday Part 2

10am - Spontaneous decision to go to Jaguar Reserve with Jim, Marge, Jennie & Nathan -

Actually only 40-50 jaguars live on the 200 mile reserve so are rarely viewed by visitors but plenty of hiking trails to enjoy with wonderful vegetation, birds and bugs to observe.

Came upon several trails of working ants carrying leaves across the paths...  you could also see the line of ants returning for more leaf pieces.  Traced back to the actual bush where the worker ants were cutting the pieces (approx ¼ inch in diameter).... They had quite the system going.  On one of the many we saw, there was one ant that was running a sprint !  We saw him pass 5-6 ants at full speed.... He was definitely in a hurry.

Got caught in a torrential rain storm in the middle of the rain forest which made the paths very VERY muddy.  I was wearing my Crocs... (no tread) so did to 2 giant pratfalls (not a pretty sight !).... Unfortunately, we never made it to the waterfalls.  None the worse for wear... ego was more bruised than my backside... luckily nothing was broken.

Stopped at a local food stand on the way back home and had some FANTASTIC burritos !  Owner was born/raised in Honduras, learned to cook in NYC and now has a fast food business on the main highway between the Reserve and Maya Beach.  Lots of construction & fruit hauling trucks stop for lunch here.

Once home, found that April had made a batch of Sangria (YUMMY !) so we indulged until  dinner time.  Whipped up some burgers, dogs and some baked beans and topped off the evening with the wonderful cakes Jennie's Mom picked up from a local  bakery - Chocolate with Chocolate icing and Chocolate with Peanut Butter icing  -  Tony brought birthday decorations and party favors so Jennie and I blew out the candle and we all had cake.

Great Day !