Resbaloso

its been quite an exciting week. in addition to the sloth over the weekend, last wednesday i ran across a hog nosed viper. which M decided to poke with a stick to try to make it strike. hmmm. yes, i feel safe with my assistant... i also decided to take some time off (from WHAT i dont know) and went floating down the river for 3 days running. there is a stack of huge inner tubes at the river station. so whenever its sunny and i have time off, i take off for the river and tromp the 20 minutes downtrail in bathing suit and sandals, dragging the inner tube thats bigger than me through lianas and branches. again, i'm probably just asking to get bitten by one of the snakes. so far the most exciting thing, though, was seeing the cayman that lives near the station bridge while floating one afternoon. that and i almost stepped on a fer-de-lance saturday night on my way to dinner. i suppose it could have been a mimic, poised like a fer de lance to strike. but i didnt exactly get close enough to count scales or look at the shape of the pupils to tell for sure. soooo, i'm going to just assume it was a fer-de-lance.

and, if you hadn't already guessed, "resbaloso" is the spanish word for the day, meaning "slippery":

i had decided that i needed another species for my shadehouse study and that monday morning right after the huge lightning and thunder storm, was the best time to go down to the river to collect it. and yes, my Dicranopygium only grows on the slippery rocks in and along the river. which was a good foot or so higher than normal with the rain. here is a reinactment (imagine this is all in spanish):

M: don't grab that tree.
M: it has bullet ants.
(i slip on a rock and grab tree)
M: dont put your hand there either.
M: there are litter snakes everywhere.
M: its dangerous.
(i do it anyhow)
M: that rock is slippery
me: this rock?
**slliiiiiiip**
M: yes, that rock.

M: here... (with an exhasperated sigh)
M: just give me your hand!
then he leads me around saying things like:
"dont step there" and
"watch out for the slippery roots"
me: where?
M: there!
i step.
i slip.
he grabs me.
i end up flat on my back next to the river.
feet in the river.
would have been all the way in the river if he hadnt hauled me up by my arm.