"This is where the tadpoles are," someone explains. I know that means The Tadpoles, the jackpot offspring of the seldom seen Agaslychnis Craspedopus spawned and thriving at a certain spot known to Bill Lamar. "I've been looking for that frog for twenty years," Lamar explained earlier in the day. "And there it was, one day in August." "Is it rare?" I ask. "It may not be rare, but it is hardly ever seen. I've only seen two photos of it ever." Lamar's discovery becomes ours and we follow him into the night jungle.

I walk with Segundo. He sees things I don't even know to look for. He shows me termites nests in high trees above. "Don't mistake the termites nest for the three-toed sloth, they look alike in the branches of a tree." I try to imagine myself climbing 200 feet up a tree in search of either a nest full of termites or a three-toed sloth. Still, it is good to know. "In the rainy season," he tells me, "people around here feed these termites to the chickens. Then they burn the termite nest under their houses to drive away the mosquitos." It is the first of many Good Tips for Forest Living Segundo reveals to me.

We hear the loud knocking call of the Amazon Bamboo rat, "cono-cono." Crested owls and choruses of frogs sing out. There are scorpions and tarantulas and some carnivorous fungus. A parade of leaf-cutter ants tend their compost beds. I see a stick- mimicking insect that shoots a foul smelling dust if you get too close. Behind a Lacona tree we spy a copper brown and chubby rodent with no tail. It has a sweet Beatrix Potter appeal but for local hunters makes a nice supper.cont->>>>