The Jungle

Ben and I took a walk today down the road from the Marina. It goes into the dense jungle past an abandoned church. There we walked among huge date palms, manchineels and banana palms. The paved road was abandoned and covered with large leaves and fronds. At one point we stopped at an "Ant Crossing". At our feet hundreds of big red ants were lugging pieces of green leaves across the road and along the curb. They had made a path over the road that was bare of leaves. Hundreds of toiling insects carried the foliage of countless trees across the road and up the hill to some unseen mound. Further up that same road we spotted huge bright blue butterflies fluttering among the smaller trees. I noticed manchineel apples on the ground. I had forgotten what the tree that produces these poisonous fruits looked like. Glancing upward high into the forest canopy I was startled to see monkeys moving among the branches. Never before have I seen wild primates. I believe the are Colobus  monkeys. To me down in the hot sun they seemed very comfortable lounging on shady branches high above. We watched them for a while before moving further up the road past a large stand of Bamboo. Plants that we normally only see in arboretums grow everywhere around us. Banana palms 10 feet tall. Most of the species I don't recognize but they look familiar in a potted plant sort of way. 'We walk around the ruins of what must have been the living quarters of  some of the better paid staff when the canal was being built. Manicured grounds with fresh mowed lawn surround foundations of large building that are no more.  Palms line the lawns as though a landscaper had planted them there. It has a strange missing something feel to the whole place. I wonder if Teddy Roosevelt stayed in one of these when he visited the Canal?  We turned around and headed back to the boat. I kept a lookout for Toucans, but did not see any. Perhaps tomorrow.