Exotic Islands

The www.illustrationfriday.com theme exotic inspired me to put together my first Nicaragua post.  It may be the first post.  But it all happened on our last day this January.  And last days can be notoriously sad.  But the post-trip blues melted away as we set sail through these volcanic islands off of Granada.

Here's my "IF" illustration.  This exotic flower reminded me of the water lily in the top photo.  It is one of my early gouache florals.  I don't paint many flowers anymore.

You can see Volcan Mombacho in the background.  One of its eruptions formed these little tropical islands off the coast of Granada on Lake Nicaragua.  It is the 20th largest lake in the world.  And it is the only freshwater lake in the world where sharks live!

Our boat.  As you can see we weren't really sailing.  But for $30 U.S. dollars you can charter your own boat and cruise for two hours.  A great deal.

We cruised by an island inhabited by a family of spider monkeys.  It was the first time I'd seen this species.  But you don't want to get too close.  They have attacked tourists who try to feed them.  Or maybe that is an urban tourist myth.  Either way I just zoomed in!

Reflections.

One of the islands held a cemetery.

And one of the islands had a large amount of Montezuma Oropendola nests.  Do you see them?

They droop off the top of trees.

Here is the culprit.  These birds are fun to hear and see.  They make this loopy kind of coo-chirp. And the males do this drop-dip up and down on a branch during mating season.  This lady is impressed.

A close up.

The crew kept picking water lilies for me.  I hope they aren't endangered!

Here we are heading back to the mainland with my bouquet and lots of memories.  It was a great trip.

And for one more photo in this series visit Toemail!  It's a blog for globe trotting feet.

For more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday