Frog Pond & Soda Bonanza

Day 4--Friday, February 14
Frog Pond & Soda Bonanza

We got up at our usual 5:15, dressed, and at 6:00 ate a delicious Lodge breakfast of eggs Benedict with salmon and spinach. Then we walked a trail below the entrance road and admired the forest vines and plants. We discovered a single leaf cutter ant, a tiny one (a media?) carrying a wee bit of leaf. No others in sight and no leaf cutter trails. This trail forked, the left fork taking one to a large compost pile. The lodge is trying hard to recycle and remain “natural”—no fruit feeders, no feeding the wildlife, etc. and is doing a good job of it.

Rebecca on Compost Trail; that was not really the name of the trail.
We named it that because it had a compost pile off it.

A strangler fig embracing a tree. This species begins at the top of a tree when its seed is dropped by a bird or mammal. The strangler lowers its many roots until they touch the ground and root. Then each root begins its climb back to the sunlight, entwining the tree that it started from. Eventually the original tree is replaced by the strangler fig. Because the original tree cannot get enough sunlight or nourishment it dies, decays, and leaves a hollow strangler fig tree.

The embrace

The buttress roots of a mature strangular fig that has "strangled" the original tree

After breakfast, and our walk, we returned to the room and I touched home base to wish Jeff a Happy Valentines Day. Then we took a taxi into town to Frog Pond.

This was one of those accidental "live" photos--Rebecca's clothes and hat are blowing in the wind.
Though it has an arrow for making it come alive, you will have to view it "dead," I think.
That's a red-eyed tree frog we are posing with, by the way

Frog Pond contained rooms filled with large terrariums in which 28 species of Costa Rican frogs were displayed. During the day most of these frogs were sleeping and hidden, so on the tour with Guide Dennis, we played a game of who can find the frog first. This was no easy task as many of the frogs were tiny—maybe an inch and a half to half an inch or so. Also, generally the frog was sleeping on the underside of leaves or snugged into corners or rock crevices.

We toured the facility with Dennis, our guide, and got the general facts about each species. Those who tour in the daytime while the frogs are sleeping (see my pix below) are invited to come back at night when they are active, and that we planned to do. The entry fee covered both afternoon and evening visits.

Suddenly Dennis sprang to the back door and rushed out. He'd heard a keel-billed toucan and knew we'd like to see it. It was nowhere in sight. He pointed to the roof, which had panels to let in daylight, and said that white-faced capuchin monkeys had been on it the day before. Two misses for us, but we get to see both species later in our travels.

Below, I have charted some of the frogs I remember. There are interesting facts about each. I will give you a couple but you will have to google the rest if interested. The Milk Frog (6), for instance, is named for the sticky white substance it secretes when stressed; the Coronated, Crowned, or Spiny-headed Tree Frog (10) is named for the sharp, bony projections on its head. It is the only frog in its genus and lacks toe webs. Crowned frogs are nocturnal and live in bromeliads, so are rarely seen. 

1) Blue Jean Frog; 2) Granular Glass Frog, 3) Yellow-striped Poison Dart Frog,  4) Brilliant Forest Frog,
 5) Hourglass Tree Frog, 6) Milk Frog, 7) Lancaster’s Short-snouted Tree Frog, 8) Common Dink Frog,
 9) Green-and-Black Poison Dart Frog, 10) Crowned Tree Frog, 11)  Red-eyed Tree Frog, 12) Dry Forest
Leopard Frog, 13) Rufous-eyed Brook Frog, 14) Emerald Glass Frog, 15) Splendid Leaf Frog

The Red-eyed Tree Frog (11) is perhaps Costa Rica's most iconic resident. Its vivid red eye color is a natural defense—known as startle coloration—against potential predators. If disturbed, the frogs open their large red eyes and expose their brilliant orange feet. Birds and snakes are often so startled by the sudden flashes of color that they hesitate momentarily, allowing valuable seconds for the frog to escape.

American Airlines departure gates at Costa Rica's San Jose Airport.

Frog Pond also had an insectarium. This was a small collection of pinned moths, butterflies, beetles, walking sticks, etc. that we learned had been acquired from a museum. The butterfly collections below were at one time vibrant and artfully displayed but they had faded and some of the pinned insects were ragged because pests had gotten into the display. I noticed that each had a couple of moth balls in it. In the center of the room were several terrariums with tarantulas and other arachnids and insects in them, several species being raised for food for the frogs in the adjoining room I believe.

THE SODA BONANZA STORY:

After we'd toured Frog Pond, we asked Dennis, our Frog Pond guide, where he would eat and told him we wanted to eat local not touristy. Dennis told us that he loves a soda called Soda Bonanza and gave us a business card for it. (I joked with him about getting a commission.) He assured us that the soda was less than a kilometer from Frog Pond and the food, particularly the fish dishes, delicious.

     We crossed the street and immediately started a long uphill. At the top, we hung a right and climbed more uphill. At the top of this second hill, I showed the business card to a couple of old men who directed us left along a street crowded with tourists and touristy shops. We walked to the end of street. No Soda Bonanza.

     We turned around and stopped in a tourist info shop. There, the woman told us: “See that church? Walk down. Soda Bonanza is 100 meters past.” We retraced our steps, stopping 100 meters past the church and were again at the corner where the old men had been. No Soda Bonanza.

     I asked a passing woman. She directed us back down the hill we’d climbed and gestured “around the bend.” We used our cane and walking stick to negotiate the steep downhill, people, cars, and motorcycles, stopping at its bend. 
     I asked in a nearby restaurant. They told me to continue down a steeper dirt/gravel track to a t-intersection on a bend.We very carefully negotiated this dirt/gravel track.

     Rebecca thinks the woman gestured that we should turn right and I think left. We choose right and climb uphill on a paved, shoulderless, no-sidewalk road. Wrong direction. No Soda Bonanza. 
     We descended the hill and tried left, which also was a steep uphill. At the bottom of this uphill, I stopped and asked for directions at a cabin rental place. The man told me to retrace our steps, climb the gravel portion we’d come down, climb the paved portion we‘d come down, get to the church . . .

     I asked him to call a cab. 

     The SUV cab stopped at the bend at the bottom of the hill at the edge of a sloped cement drain and we struggled to get in. I give the taxi driver the Soda Bonanza card. He drives around the curve and maybe 200 feet before we find ourselves at Soda Bonanza.

     We struggled to get out of the cab, paid the taxi $2 or about .10 cents per foot, and entered Soda Bonanza. We are the only customers. Two large-screen TVs are playing an over-the-top soap opera: a lot of big breasted, overly made up women and macho men. 
     There are no menus in sodas, but our young teen serviceperson, whose English is about as good as our Spanish, is prepared for tourista. He points to pictures of entrees on his cell. I have fish in a sauce with shrimp on top, French fries,and a delicious salad. Rebecca has shrimp and rice and salad, both dishes recommended by Frog Pond Dennis. We can hear and see the cook in the kitchen chopping our salads and preparing the meals. The food is delicious and we, as Rebecca reminds me, do not need to worry about the calories.

     After we are finished, we have the young boy call a taxi to get us back to the Lodge. Forget climbing and descending the hills. While we are waiting, I ask the boy what is in the big bottle on our table. Tequila in cherries. His eyes light up. We must try. On the casa. He gets a couple of shot glasses and pours samples which we chug. We introduce ourselves by name. He is Alejandro. We give the handsome cook the thumbs up and tell him primo!—oops wrong language excelente! 
     The two are probably still talking about the two panting American grayhairs who were their last lunch customers that day.

Soda Bonanza in all its authentic Costa Rican glory

That evening we returned to Frog Pond around six. Since it was  raining and dark we took a taxi ($2) there and back. We used flashlights to see the frogs which are more active at night. Though we were solo, we passed Dennis who was leading a night tour, and thanked him for his  Soda Bonanza recommendation.

Back to room, shower, edit pix, write up day, lights out.