Rain, Exotic Frogs, and Termites by Zipline

Adventure of the week: Tree Frogs, Poison Dart Frogs, and Giant Toads.

I can't say that I have every really been "into" frogs, and it is unlikely that we will start a ranarium when we return home.  But the rain forest of Costa Rica is a really good place to see neat frogs.

Truth is, we didn't see any frogs for the first two weeks, because it was hot and dry.  But with the rains starting again as we approach November, we have seen a bunch in the last couple of days.

Rainy season for most of Costa Rica is May-November.  But the Caribbean coast, (Puerto Viejo), where we are this month, has a slightly different pattern.  It gets somewhat dry (or at least less wet in September/ October).

The Caribbean coast is distinctly more rainy than the rest of the country by total annual rainfall.  Vancouver gets approx 45 inches of rainfall per year.  Playa Coco, Tamarindo, and the Northern Pacific Beaches of Costa Rica usually receive 40-60 inches of rain /year.  San Jose averages 100 inches per year, and the Carribbean Coast (rain forest) averages 160-240 inches per year.  In other words, this particular region of Costa Rica receives about 4-6 times more rain than Vancouver or Tamarindo.

September and October are comparatively dry here in Puerto Viejo (while it is rainy elsewhere in the country). At the end of October there is typically a short transition time, and November is one of the rainiest months.  The frogs seem to prefer the wet weather.

Last night, Meritt took a picture of this red-eyed tree frog which hopped onto our patio in the midst of a torrential down pour:

Today I spotted a black and green poison dart frog next to the compost bucket behind the garden shed.   Seeing this little guy totally made my day.



Tonight, Twy took a picture of a tiny yellow frog. Because of the flash it's a bit hard to tell what species it is.  It might be a yellow tree frog, or a golden poison dart frog, the latter being the most poisonous frog on the planet.   Apparently the golden dart frogs are most frequently seen in Colombia, but if you can see strawberry dart frogs and black and green dart frogs here, it is likely not unreasonable that a golden dart frog could be hanging out in this part of the rain forest.  And the 2 cm size seems to fit the description of a golden dart frog.

Compare that tiny frog to the size of this giant toad sitting on a 6 inch cement wall:




And finally just before sitting down to write this, I saw this little guy with his air bladder right full.  Wow, he is noisy.

It really is like National Geographic here.  You never know when you are going to see a sloth, monkeys, a tree frog, blue morpho butterflies, or a toucan on a short walk to the store or even in your backyard.

It's a bit of a quirky paradise though.  Here are three of our
Misadventures in Costa Rica thus far:

- Meritt left his Nook (e-reader) on the bus.  We disembarked (at dusk) quite suddenly about 6 km south of the main bus stop in Puerto Veijo town when we saw the sign for El Duende Gourmet grocery near Playa Chiquita beach.

- Public Utilities in Latin America...are somewhat unreliable.  Apparently, due to the dry season, this area was under an extreme water restriction upon our arrival, and the property we are renting utilizes a cistern system to get through dry times (we were not informed of this)  How extreme?  Well, late October is one of the driest times in this region.  Water was scheduled for delivery T, Th, and Sat for only 5 hours each morning.  BUT, after the October long weekend, they didn't have enough water to send down the pipe on Tuesday, so they didn't send any until Thursday.  So we were without water for 15 hours on Wednesday until the property manager convinced his buddy at the hotel to deliver 1500 liters with a truck.   If this was my property, I would likely develop a rainwater collection system.  Seems strange to run out of water in the rain forest.

- Meritt sat on a shelf made from 3/4 inch plywood. A terrifying crack ensued and he found himself sitting on the floor with his knees wedged up to his chin because his legs were still suspended by a (less rickety) 2x2 at the front of the shelf.  I pulled him out of the tight position.  The interior of the shelf had been completely devoured by termites. Crazy.