After starting the day off right with coconut scrambled eggs we set to the road again. I had two more Lepidoptera moments before we even left the resort. I found another deceased Hermeuptychia sosybius (Carolina Satyr). Aside from that I saw a cocoon that appeared to have a chrysalis inside. We loaded up and headed over to the Caracol archeological site. We climbed the tallest stairs I have seen- more so than the scary Wortham Center top tier. I was chasing butterflies (I haven’t identified any moths so far) and have found I can identify some of the butterflies quite easily, but am having a hard time with fast-flying butterflies. They never sit still long enough for me to get a good look. There’s also been a few that I don’t have on my Identification sheet. So far I have positively identified an East Mexican Banner, White Northern Segregate, and a Banded Peacock butterfly. We have seen a lot of interesting birds like the Oropendula with hanging nests and bright yellow tails. We also saw a coati while driving. After leaving the Caracol site, the van started to struggle even harder.
And it died when we reached the Tapir military checkpoint.
On-the-spot backup plan: load everything [and everyone] into two pickup trucks and make the rest of the drive to Las Cuevas Research station. From the back of the truck we saw more Oropendula and a few toucan. A bit dusty-but in one piece-we arrived at the research station in time for dinner. I am hoping to see a macaw at the research station while we are staying here. I still haven’t seen some of the butterflies I am hoping to either (I want to see a blue morpho).