Summary: What do you do, when all your hopes and dreams crumble at your feet? Well, you take a deep breath, put on a clean pair of shoes and start all over, that's what.
WIND BENEATH MY WINGS
Chapter 6: Domingo por la mañana (Sunday morning)
After breakfast the next morning, Ari presented Severus with a replica of his collection kit. "This is for you. It holds 20 stasis jars. If you run out, I'll be happy to lend you some of my jars as well."
"Thank you. When did you have time to do this?"
"After you fell asleep last night. I was still good for a couple of hours, so I made productive use of them."
Ari packed his backpack with a packed lunch, more bottles of water and a couple of towels as well. "I chose some different places I thought that might interest you, so we might hop around a bit, but I wanted to give you a good sampling. Ready?" at Severus' nod, they apparated to the base of a tower.
"This is the Britton Tower. It was built in the 1930s and is 941 meters tall. Look at the orange lichens covering the wall. It looks like fake stone."
After Severus took a sample of the lichens, Ari said, "Come – the view from the top is worth it." At the top, they took in an amazing panoramic view of the surrounding forest, the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and north and east coasts of the island.
Once they descended again, Ari resumed his 'tour'. "This trail has a huge number of palm trees growing along it. There are also a number of nearby streams. There is even a small river pool you could cool your feet off in. It will take us about 45 minutes to complete."
Along the way, Ari gave some statistics of the forest. "El Yunque is nearly 29,000 acres with at least 25 waterfalls. Although the rainforest is one of the smallest in size, it is one of the most biologically diverse. It contains over 200 species of trees and plants, 23 of which are found nowhere else.
"There are a number of native animal species as well. One of those is the coquí frog. It has become the national symbol for Puerto Rico: small island, small frog, BIG VOICE. We might catch a view of woodpeckers or the Puerto Rican parrot. There are also 5 or 6 species of non-poisonous snakes that live in the forest. The largest is the Puerto Rican Boa which can reach a length of 6 feet and climb trees."
Severus continued collecting samples all along the trail, turning the 45 minutes into nearly two hours. Ari helped him label each one, remembering when he did the very same thing on his first visit to the rainforest.
At the end of the trail, Ari apparated them to El Portal Rainforest Center. "The center was built to educate visitors about this unique tropical forest and environment." They looked at the exhibits focussing on the plants and animals of the rainforest, their importance around the world and conservation efforts. Then they followed a walkway set at 18 metres above the ground allowing for a view of the tops of trees, the mountain peaks, ocean and reforested terrain and then another walkway winding along the tree bases where Severus filled his remaining stasis jars.
As a final stop for the morning, Ari apparated them to the Angelito Trail. There was a slightly different kind of vegetation there and Ari was happy to provide Severus with additional collecting jars. Reaching the natural pool off the Mameyes River, they spread the towels Ari had packed and sat down to eat lunch.
First out of the basket came alcapurrias which Ari explained are fritters filled with ground beef. The wrapping is a dough made from yucca and plantain. Next, he pulled out a couple bottles of Medalla, a local beer, for them to drink.
While they were eating, Ari told Severus a bit more about the coquí. "As I mentioned earlier, there is a tiny frog native to the island called the coquí. It is only about as big as your fingernail. They have pads on the tips of their toes to help them adhere to surfaces, like moistened leaves. Sometimes it seems to rains frogs, but the frogs are actually jumping out of the tree as a survival instinct. When the humidity is high, the coquís climb the tall trees of the forest. They are smart creatures, so to avoid the tarantulas who lie in wait to eat them, they jump from the trees instead of climbing back down. Since they are so light, they just float to the ground. So if you are unlucky enough to be under a tree when they decide to jump, you could get caught in a coquí shower.
"Anyway, coquís are unique amphibians in that their fertilized eggs undergo direct development, rather than passing through tadpole stage, so they don't have to lay their eggs in water as other amphibians do. Their 'tadpole' stage occurs entirely within a terrestrial egg. Thus, a tiny, but fully functional, froglet hatches directly from the egg.
"There is a legend that tells of a beautiful goddess who fell in love with the tribal chief's son, whose name was Coquí. She always provided him with good luck. When he went fishing, she would make sure that he came back with a big catch and when he went hunting, he always caught the largest. Coquí was grateful and he would sing praises to her.
"One evening, she came to him in the form of a Taíno maiden and they fell in love. She told Coquí that she would come back the next evening at moonrise. But the next evening brought the jealous Juracán, the god of chaos, who is believed to control the weather. The sky blackened and the winds became stronger. The goddess tried to protect her lover, but Juracán snatched him away and she never saw him again. The goddess could not go on without her beautiful Coquí, so she created a tiny frog who calls his name, "Ko-Kee, Ko-Kee," in the evenings when she is most lonely."
Ari put on his teacher's voice, "And that's your biology lesson for today. Yesterday we studied bioluminescent bacteria and today we covered the native frog species. Now we will move on to cover some of the local edible vegetation."
He pulled quenepa and carambola from his backpack. "The quenepa, which is also called mamoncilla, is a tart, citrusy fruit related to the lychee. To eat it, you bite into the skin causing it to burst open. Then you pop it in your mouth, suck off the tart fruit and spit out the seed. The carambola, or star fruit, are also kind of tart," he ended his impromptu lesson. Continuing in his normal voice, he said, "I usually eat it like an apple. They look really pretty when they are cut up because of its star shape." Severus collected the seeds from both those fruit as well and thanked Ari for 'lecture'.
It was mid-afternoon by the time they cleaned up their lunch and apparated back to the cottage.
0-0-0-0-0
Please review!
(A/N: Where necessary, I have tried to use simple Spanish that can easily be understood from the context and/or from responses. I hope I have succeeded, but please let me know if I have not.)