This is the inside of a tree, if you can believe it.

Bird meets fig. Bird eats fig. About an hour later, while flying, bird, ahem, releases fig remains. Fig remains land on top of a tree, where the division of branches has created a kind of bowl where leaves and twigs accumulate and turn into compost.

And so, the cycle of life, and death by strangulation, begins again.

“What rotten luck to be planted in a small bowl at the top of a huge tree.”

That’s what most tree seedlings would say if they could talk. But not the strangler fig tree. Instead, it send up branches and leaves, while sending down roots. The roots travel the six or seven stories down to the ground and supply the new tree with a quantity of nutrients that couldn’t be found in the bowl.

But the strangler fig is like the house guest that won’t leave, or even peaceably coexist. The roots keep coming, even melding together, covering the tree with a web of roots and slowly choking the life out of it.

The tree - specifically a tree about a 10 minute drive from here - died for a pretty good cause, however. I say this because, if some enterprising human goes to the trouble of cleaning out all the decomposed remains, then it’s possible to easily climb this tree from the inside. Let me say that again: From the inside.

That enterprising person was my pal Eric. That person to climb it was me, joined by fellow volunteers Tony and Kim.

Inside, the tree smells musty, and anyone who goes in is guaranteed to get dirty, but the tangled root network not only provides light for the fascinating view, but also easy footholds for the trek up. It’s a bit like climbing the dark spiral staircase of the Statue of Liberty: You can’t see the top and on the way up, you lose all sense of where you are relative to the ground. But it’s climbing for those who don’t really dig climbing, and even those with a modest fear of heights.

Eventually, you emerge from a hole in the top of the tree and find a small platform. It’s a good place to take in the cloud forest, really feel the quiet, and take a few pictures. It’s also a good place for a bird to drop a seedling, if you know any in the mood for a little poetic justice.