The Mystery of Piper

It turns out that there is a Nicaraguan plant biology student named Pablo who is staying here, and he wanted to come out to the forest with me today. So for the second day in a row, I had company. While we were walking to the forest, Pablo was telling me that he studies at a university in France, because there are no PhD programs in Nicaragua. Or something like that. So he learned how to speak French and went to Montpellier. I guess he really wanted to get his PhD. At any rate, we tried speaking French to each other, but I discovered that I do not really speak French anymore. Whenever I tried to begin a sentence in French, I would end it in Spanish. So we spoke in mainly Spanish for the day, with a few French words thrown in here and there.

I felt quite empowered, to be leading the way through the forest—machete in hand—for a Nicaraguan guy. Although later in the day—I don’t’ know if it was machismo or chivalry or just plain getting tired of my inferior machete skills—Pablo said something to the effect of “allow me,” and he took the machete and went on ahead. At any rate, I found South group monkeys with no problem, and the day proved to be quite interesting. Pablo identified a lot of plants and trees for me, and I learned a lot about the forest. At one point, Pablo pulled some leaves off a sapling and ate them, then offered them to me. He told me this was a young Spondias tree, and if I ate the leaves, I would understand why the monkeys like this tree. He was right. The Spondias leaves were great. I tucked some into my sandwich for later.

(Here is a photo of Spondias leaves and fruits. Its not too interesting, but its the only thing I've taken a picture of recently)

He also explained the mystery of Piper to me. This is a kind of plant that grows often in secondary forests and it has a strong scent sort of like licorice (I hate licorice, so I don’t know why I like this scent). At any rate, I’ve heard reports that capuchin monkeys will break off Piper leaves and rub it all over their bodies. People have thus speculated that it has some medicinal quality, perhaps as an insect repellent. I’ve tried this myself, but I haven’t really been able to determine. So I asked Pablo, and he said that Piper is not a repellant, but that it is used to soothe insect bites. I tried it and who’s to say if it really works, but at least I smelled nice.

On our way out of the forest we passed some type of fruiting tree (I think it was called Guayabo), and after I expressed some interest, Pablo cut down some fruits and we ate some. The fruit was very good—sort of like a lime but sweet. I think I have some juice that they make out of this at the Hacienda.

It seems like it has been a long week—a long month even—out in the forest. My whole body feels tired and while walking I have the sensation that I am underwater; I’ve had this feeling before, after running marathons, so I guess this means I’m definitely ready for a break. I’ll be resting for a couple of days and then heading to the airport to meet Rob. Not before another fiesta in Mérida this weekend though! Until later then.