When we arrived at breakfast this morning we were asked by Miriam, the lady of the casa, if we had heard about Matthew. I replied that I didn't know Matthew to which she laughed and suggested we ought to watch the TV which was set to a news channel. We were soon introduced to the fact that a Cat 4 Hurricane named Matthew was currently on course to hit eastern Cuba in a few days time. The picture below shows the dozen or so most likely routes that the hurricane would take according to the Cuban weatherman. We got chatting to another English-speaking Cuban guest who asked where we were going today. When we said that we were going back to our hotel near Guardalavaca this afternoon he laughed heartily and said that was a very bad idea and that we should stay here for a few days. Guardalavaca Is on the north coast right in the centre of the predicted tracks of the hurricane. Staying at Camagüey was not an option for several reasons so we continued with our plan to have the morning exploring locally with Douglas and then return to Guardalavaca. Could get interesting...
We set out to explore another area of savanna grassland at Maraguán. It took a little finding but we were directed to a track leading to the right of Hotel Maraguán. This area was hillier than the grassland we visited yesterday but definitely looked worth exploring and our taxi driver willingly drove along the track and parked in the shade of a tree.
The best finds here were several Nanus Skipperling Oarisma nanus, Mexican Fritillary Euptoieta hegesia, Cuban Broken-dash Wallengrenia misera and two larvae of Orbis Sulphur Phoebis orbis feeding on Caesalpinia bahamensis. We've still never seen the adults but we live in hope.
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