25 March 2010 * Vista del Mar, Nosara

We awakened before dawn to the throaty calls of howler monkeys echoing from the hills and through the forest. Emerging to the veranda, I drank the rich air and listened to scattered birdsong as the sky grew light and the sun emerged above the tree-rimmed ridges to the east.

Coatimundis rustled in the leaves below. Vultures sailed above. Hummingbirds flitted from blossom to blossom along the hibiscus hedge. A mother monkey with two young ones came to eat flowers on a tree near the corner of the patio.

 A large tan and brown frog, with great sticky toes and large round brown eyes climbed the wall, then fell, then climbed again, then fell agin, then climbed a third time.