The zombie wasp!

Big day today - nature walk in the morning and in the evening.

Two of the best walks I have ever done and the guides were essential so that the wildlife was found.

All the land in Monteverde is privately owned and instead of traditional land uses involving deforestation landowners have turned to tourism.

The morning walk was in Monteverde's cloud forest.

Here are some of the photos:

- apparently this is what was found when the tree was cut!
- rare quetzal bird which is Guatemala's national bird and was sacred to the Maya and Aztec
- spot the hummingbird
- butterfly - notice how the top bit looks like a snake's head! Ingenious cammaflage!
- lizard
- dead zombie wasp!

The wasp becomes a zombie when it eats a certain fungus. The fungus eats the wasp from the inside and also sprouts tentacles out of the wasp. Eventually the fungus controls the wasp's brain and it makes the wasp fly around the rainforest so the fungus spore is spread across the forest. Gross!

We also saw lots of beautiful hummingbirds. Besides seeing them in the forest they also have alot of feeders with sweet liquid in them and the hummingbirds buzz around your head. Amazing.

Then back to town - lots of crappy and expensive souvenir shops. Had a nice lunch in a tree house though.

The night walk was great - we saw a tarantula, sleeping birds, snakes, lizards, a sloth and various insects.

So tired had bread and butter for dinner in my hotel room!Read more