News That Stays News

Bridge June 27, 2018

One of the easiest cool places here is the Stone Bridge, which is actually a metal suspension bridge named for a for past director. It crosses over the river that separates the administrative center of the station from the laboratories and the vast majority of the forest. As a result, the bridge is a highway not just for people, but all sorts of other animals. A few days ago, I saw four howler monkeys taking a break from crossing the suspension cable, each one resting over one of the vertical cables so that they could wrap their tails around them for security. Then there are the animals in the river, including so-called “fruit piranhas”, turtles, iguanas, apparently at least one otter (seen by someone else), and a goldfish that someone dumped in the river, which my supervisor insists on calling “MagiCarp”. I won’t even mention the birds and bats that fly by.

The bridge and the river also offer long lines of sight, which are very hard to find here, given the dense forest and low terrain. It’s not flat–in fact, there are a lot of steep slopes cut by streams working their way to the river—but the overall elevation change is small enough compared to how tall the trees are that you never really see very far. So I find it relaxing to stand on the bridge and run my eyes along the riverbanks. Of course, it also reminds me of the marsh at Palo Verde, which doesn’t hurt.