Up into Tatama

About an hour after leaving the little town of Ipiales finally the grassy hillsides that have been carved by man's machinery to have accessible paths for vehicles had now started to become over grown with lush flora of the rainforest.  I was starting to get geek out when I began to see familiar genus' of plants (spare me - it was my first time!) and as the ascent continued onward I only saw more and more.  A perfect example of a plant I managed to find while we were taking a break was a special peperomia crotalophora, the same species that was given to me by a friend many years ago when he first inspired me into collecting tropical flora.  

Peperomia Crotalophora

After a few miles more into our trek up to the mountains Jaime and I came across a peculiar patch of heliconias where we heard a peculiar sound from a small sized amphibian.  That call was without a doubt from some sort of andinobates which a type of the famed poisonous dart frogs from the latin tropics.  These creatures are very small in sized and can easily be overlooked for that reason but with their vibrant colors and unique pitch in vocalization from their calls will draw anyone's attention once  they are noticed.  We spent a good half an hour trying to track one down to see which species it could be but alas we were unsuccessful and we had to press on before we lost sunlight.  

Kohleria sp.

A mile more up our trek, surprise - I had another nerd moment when I spotted a particular plant I was very fond of since I grew some back home.  It was non other than the famous Philodendron Verrucosum which can vary in color forms and is a one with a very wide distribution range throughout central and south america.  This philodendron is special to me because it was the form know as the "red back" verrucosum which is rarely seen in cultivation.  The typical form will have a slight red velvet pattern behind it's leaves but the red back will have a more dark red color and is usually a little bigger in size in regards to foliage.  Needless to say I was stoked about finding it!