January 10 – Mystery music

I slept pretty good. Kathleen wished we had gone to the pharmacy in Tena, yesterday. Her cold was not going away, and we had few drugs to treat the worsening symptoms. Kathleen had woke around 4:30am and thought she could hear a distant thump of music. The closest town was Cosanga (Coe-sahng-gah) some 2-miles away. She believed she was just imagining music as Carmen had said Cabañas San Isidro would be very quiet.

During the night, moths and other insects were attracted to the lights along the paths among the buildings. In the early morning, the birds come in and dine on the insects that remained on the light-poles and adjacent foliage. This makes for a huge feeding frenzy, and a good opportunity to see lots of birds. Kathleen and I got up to watch the carnage and see the birds. The Inca Jays and a Masked Trogon made for easy photos.
By 8:30am as we sat down to breakfast, Carmen came in and we chatted about what Kathleen and I planned for the day. She mentioned her husband, Mitch, said he heard music at 4:30am. Kathleen wasn’t imagining what she heard! Carmen was surprised, too, when Kathleen mentioned hearing music. Carmen asked one of the ladies in the kitchen if Cosanga had some type of celebration. Yes, was the young woman’s innocent reply. Later Mitch said that was the first time in the 15-years he had been working and staying at the lodge to have heard music or any sounds from town.

After breakfast Kathleen and I traipsed about the trails from the lodge. Cloud forests are the true jungle with dense vegetation including hundreds of species of plants. We slowly walked along in no hurry to get anywhere. We spent most of the day in this mode. Walking down to the Rio Cosanga and back, or sitting and watching hummingbirds feed and fight at the feeders.Having not accomplished too much today, we did manage to help Carmen and Mitch make a decision as to what color of strip should be painted on the edge of some steps to make them more visible at night. Mitch wanted yellow. Carmen was wondering whether a strip was needed, and was not keen on yellow for the sake of aesthetics. Kathleen and I suggested if any color is to be used, white would be best for contrast in darkness. Our reasoning was based on motorcyclist safety where all-white helmets were found to be the most visible at night. The discussion is being had here.We finished out our day with another fine meal and looked forward to a good night’s rest.

Mitch had painted a white stripe on the steps.