Log #49, Nacapule Canyon
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Updated January 15th, 2007
An Oasis
Desert road to the oasis, waiting behind the
cactus - other things were lying in wait, as well.
Only a mile long, Nacapule Canyon is plenty deep. At the top is the Water's Eye, a spring that trickles down the slope and provides this jungle in the desert enough to sustain itself - as well as an abundance of animals, as we were to learn.
Steep walls shield the canyon from the sun.
Without the beating sun to evaporate water, vegetation flourished.
Park signs placed along the path described flora and fauna.
Our Spanish is good enough that we could understand most of the information signs. One played a little guessing game of who's who, describing a large, tawny animal whose hunting method is to lie in wait, un-noticed, and then to pounce on its unwary prey, prey as large as deer and hare.
The park sign describing a large animal that
lives in the canyon, blending into the shadows.
So, with a creepy feeling on the back of my neck, checking back over my shoulder every minute or two, I clambered up a rocky tube only to find an unwelcome surprise at the top.
Tube of rock circumventing the pools of water below.
There in the dust at the tube top were wet footprints the size of a large dog...or a small puma?
Who's been fishing in the pond next to the rock tube?
A guide we met on the way back down the canyon did nothing to ease my fears. He said that he'd never actually seen puma in the canyon, but he had seen coatis. The track we described to him, he said, was most likely that funny raccoon-looking guy with the monkey tail.
