We were up and out for a pre breakfast walk around the grounds by 6am but due to the coolness and the cloudy conditions not a lot was moving about - guan, rufous collared sparrows and a long tailed tyrant made brief appearances alongside a few others but that was it so we decided to be the first into breakfast at 7am and then start our next exploration by 8am. Breakfast at Caraca is a new experience - everything is self service including cooking your own eggs on a very large hot plate over a burning fire - 6 of you could cook at once if necessary but as we were first to arrive it was just Fred and me - I fried John an egg which he put in a roll and I scrambled mine which I similarly put into a roll - yum - I then warmed a roll on the hot plate and which I ate with honey - coffee, fruit and a small fresh cheese bread ball rounded off a very different breakfast.
By 8 am we were off on the famous grande tranche trail looking for any birds we could find but our special focus was primates - the masked titi monkey and the black tufted ear marmosets. For the birds we saw see the list - and yes we found two very quiet titi monkeys seemingly on their own - we surmised it may have been because one had a very tiny baby on board which could not have been very old. The titi monkeys are small,with round faces and seem to be wearing thick fluffy coats - their fluffy tails are just for balance - not prehensile. We watched them for probably 20-30 minutes before they moved off.
Due to the coolness everything seemed subdued and needed the sun to get up and warm them before they got going. I did however see a long thin black cat like creature cross the path - the others missed it albeit Fred saw its tail end as it disappeared up the bank and into the forest - it was tayra - they are related to otters,can swim but are mainly on the land and often climb trees- wow never thought I would see one of those!
As we walked along we could hear other titi monkeys vocalising in other parts of the forest. We continued on the trail and instead of retracing our steps we took a different path back to the Monastry - while on this path Fred could hear the whistles of marmosets - eagle eyed John spotted them and we then watched these little animals scurrying through the trees - often stopping and looking at us looking at them - in an interested marmoset sort of way!
A really good morning and we got to see the species we set out to see so at 12 noon it was back for lunch. As we didn't restart until 2.30pm I took the chance, via the wifi link, to catch up on the Olympics and find out more about our ever increasing medal tally.
In the afternoon we walked a trail near the outdoor swimming pool and almost to the top of a hill looking for the endemic humming bird - the hyacinth visor bearer but sadly to no avail - we did however spy some ant birds and tanagers and had fun trying to photograph them especially the Serra antwren.
Back for a shower before supper and as it was Saturday there were a few more people so a few more for wolf square and the feeding at 7.30pm. Dinner again was very good and set us up for wolf watching . I decided to try a different tactic to keep warm - 4 layers on top - running shorts, track suit bottoms and trousers on the bottom together with a snood to put over my ears and head. I have to say I did feel alot warmer even if I did look a stone heavier! Tonight everyone was given a briefing and the whole atmosphere seemed more conducive to nature watching -however there were no wolves waiting tonight to eat; after 30 minutes or so one wolf appeared a couple of times under the archway beneath the steps and started to walk towards the square but then moved off through the car park without visiting. By 8.30 still no wolves - so John retired - I decided to stay until 9.30pm and see what happened - whatever happens they will come and the meat tray is always empty in the morning apparently on a previous evening this week they arrived at 10.45pm! Even I was giving up hope and then at 9.20pm the wolf with the haematoma appeared and stayed for 15 minutes or so - eating from the tray, going to the steps and looking for other wolves then returning to the tray for more food. As it left I noticed another wolf and the bottom of the steps looking up but it didn't come up instead it followed our wolf who left with a chunk of meat in it's mouth through the car park and off into the night. We witnessed two very different styles of watching the event; the previous evening which was noisy and chattering with a lot of moving about and the nicer quieter more respectful atmosphere of tonight - interestingly the crowd behaviour seemed to have no impact on whether the wolves came or not - it was just more relaxing for the humans present - amazing really! My warmth strategy did help me keep warmer albeit when I left for bed at 9.40pm it was much cooler and when I climbed into bed the impact on John was the same - the human hot water bottle was great for me - not sure he relished the equivalent of an ice pack though!