Things on the Ground

I'm traveling northward toward the math meetings in Seattle.  Just before I left Panama, though, I thought I'd record some things I find on the ground there that I don't see on the ground in the U.S. 

Things like HUGE tree roots, and new (to me) mushrooms.

Trees have large, exposed roots
because the soil is rich, but shallow.

On the root, a cool mushroom growth.

Also, this Mama/daughter pair.

And this NSFW lacy mushroom.

I don't eat the mushrooms.

There are these things that look from afar like white flowers, but when you get up close, it looks more like blades of grass that emanate from a white center and turn green at their edges.  These are all over, in lawns here,  much like clover is in Pennsylvania.

And anthills, from Leaf Cutter ants.

Once the leaves they've deposited in one anthill have fermented,
they have to move to a new anthill.  So there are lots of these!

There are a lot of speed bumps, used as a way (I'm sure) of enforcing speed limits.  They're on almost all residential and city roads here, much more common than in the US.  There aren't usually signs warning of their presence, but they're painted with visible yellow stripes.  The local name for them is "Policia muerta" (translating as "dead cop").  

What's NOT on the ground in Panama is snow!  

My neighbor just sent this photo of
snow that just fell at my former home.

Or clouds.  Clouds are not on the ground in Panama or in the US (well, I guess, fog would count for both places), but as I fly toward Seattle it's cool to look down and see a floor of clouds beneath me.  

Joint Math Meetings, here I come!