Aracari Lodge

Field notes

Journal

Notes from Cahuita. The park, the birds, what is in the pot.

Photo: LG Nyqvist, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Wildlife

Seven to a Hole: The Collared Aracari Around Cahuita

The lodge is named after a bird that travels in company, sleeps in company and raises its young in company. It is rarely alone.

· 5 min read

Places

A Gate That Asks: Cahuita National Park and Its Donation Entrance

A park with two entrances and two prices. At one of them there is no fixed fee, and the amount is left to the visitor.

· 5 min read

Seasons

When the Alisios Drop: Why September and October Run Drier on the Caribbean Side

Two coasts, one country, opposite calendars. The rain that soaks the Pacific in September comes from the same weather that quiets this side of the mountains.

· 5 min read

Wildlife

Two Kinds of Slow: How to Spot a Sloth Around Cahuita

Most people look for a face, or for movement. A sloth is neither. It is a shape in the wrong place, and it stays there.

· 6 min read

Food

The Tree That Was a Woman: Cacao on the Talamanca Coast

Cacao arrived here as a person in a story, not as a crop. Four hundred years of export, disease and certification came afterwards, and the story stayed.

· 5 min read

Food

Coconut in the Pot: The Jamaican Kitchen of Cahuita

Rice and beans is not gallo pinto with coconut added. It is a different dish, from a different country, that arrived here by ship.

· 5 min read