Day 2 in San Blas

The next morning we headed out of town before dawn.  We drove through deserted streets where we passed sailors in crisp white uniforms pedaling ancient bicycles to the naval base at the harbor.  We drove past deserted roadside stands that would later be fragrant with the smell of freshly baked pan de platanos, or banana bread, made with bananas from the nearby fields.  Pink sunrise was mirrored in the lagoons just outside town.

Singayta is a small farming cooperative a short drive from San Blas. We turned our van onto the rough dirt track that intersects the orderly village.  As we bumped slowly through a neighborhood of homes with walls woven of mangrove saplings, smiling children leaned through open doors.  Pigs rooted behind fences next to fields of Brahman-mix cattle. A few chickens and dogs shared the road.  Bougainvillea looped and draped everywhere, absorbing the dim early light.  As we left the village behind, forest surrounded us.  Our guide pulled to the side of the rutted road.  The air was still cool and fresh as we climbed out of the van and began our walk.

Groove-billed ani's flitted and bobbed on the barbed-wire fence, and a pair of masked tityras landed high in a giant fig to catch the sun's first warmth.  Squirrel cuckoos called and soon appeared over us; a pair hopped up the branches of a kapok tree just like squirrels.  A big cleared meadow with a few banana trees yielded a small flock of brilliant stripe-headed sparrows and their drabber cousins, lark sparrows. Farther on, a well-hidden happy wren (its real name) enchanted us with its song.  A lineated woodpecker flashed his bright head in the morning sun and a summer tanager completed the picture.  There were many more birds that we happily added to our lists.  At the far end of the road, a collared forest-falcon perched silently at the margin of the forest.  The stock pond at the village had the only black phoebe we saw in the state of Nayarit.

As we birded the road, men carrying water bottles and machetes passed us quietly.  Making their way to work by foot or bicycle, they greeted us with smiles and wishes for a good day.