Onto the Caribbean

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Geo: 9.91, -83.69

Awoke to a beautiful blue sky with birds singing after a night of Sue not sleeping because the Security Guard was on the prowl with flashlight in full glow! Breakfast to order: fried or scrambled. Dave did the "tipico" with sides of beans and rice while Sue and Brennan ordered toast and some kind of unidentifiable meat. As throughout the trip, we had generous portions of fresh fruit - papaya, watermelon and pineapple.

After breakfast, Brennan had a game of fetch with one of the dogs, a golden lab. He wouldn't fetch a stick but was all over a rock! We tried to walk through the orchid gardens but with the steepness and last night's rain, we didn't get very far. However, the views of the surrounding mountains and valleys below were incredible.

Our drive to Cahuita, would take us through Siquerres and Limon. Between the Hotel Turrialtico and Siquerres, it was all up and down from mountain top to valley floor, with equal measure of jungle and agriculture. From Siquerres to Limon, it was flat with banana plantations and very industrial as we got closer to Limon. The industry was all closely tied to the container activity from the Port of Limon, some were stacked as much as five high. In the banana plantations, all the bunches of bananas had blue plastic sacks over them???

From Limon to Cahuita, the road follows the Caribbean and like everywhere in the region, is a mix of jungle and bananas. Our destination for the day was Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary. We arrived at 1:45 and our tour started at 2:00, great timing!

The tour included an hour boat ride down a creek which was actually pretty boring, but we did spot a sloth and a crocodile.

The sanctuary takes in injured sloths and tries to nurse them back to health and release them back into the wild. Those injured too badly to survive in the jungle (i.e. loss of a limb) remain at the sanctuary the rest of their lives, up to 40 years. The other major population of the sanctuary are the sloths brought in during their first year of life. This group has not learned from their mothers how to survive in the wild, so they too will spend the rest of their lives at the sanctuary. During the tour we got to get up close to many sloths from both categories, though we could not touch. The most common injury comes from electrocution while trying to cross from one feeding area to another on power lines across roads (loss of contiguous habitat). We met Toyota, a three-toed, who had to have her right arm amputated.

In the nursery, Brennan did a perfect mimic of the cry of a two-toed, cat like, while the three- toed is more like a whistle. In the past two months, 15 infants had been brought in and while we were there, two fireman brought in an injured adult. If we heard correctly, the sanctuary now has a population of about 250 sloths. We learned a lot more about life cycle, reproduction, and daily life - a great tour and highly recommended.

Before checking into Hotel Magellan in Cahuita, we had lunch at Ubuntu, a soda right on the main street. The owner was a middle-aged woman with a big afro, very friendly. During lunch she was bartering with a local fish monger for camarones (shrimp). Brennan had a filet of fish with fries; Sue, Caribbean pollo, and Dave a casado filet with a great sauce.

We checked into the Magellan and headed to Playa Negro, just a short walk form the hotel. Brennan loved playing in the big waves, and playing catch with coconuts. Tried to play baseball, but when Brennan would hit the coconut with the driftwood bat, the coconut would shatter.

We stayed at the Magellan three years ago. Little has changed; the rooms, grounds, and pool remain in great shape. The bathroom could use an upgrade and, because none of us have had much experience with a "wand shower", we sprayed the whole area! Loved the parrots in the lobby/breakfast area; one said "hello" and one said "hola". The menagerie was also made up of a brood of chickens (complete with around the clock, alarm clock roosters), three horses, and three dogs, ranging in size from a drop-kick to a Great Dane named Jasper. Terry, the owner, and several staff were still here. Breakfast each day was fresh baked bread and homemade jam. Brennan loved it and we always packed one for each day's lunch - supplemented with our own peanut butter.

After cleaning up, we headed to Puerto Viejo, about 10 miles south of Cahuita, for shopping and dinner. PV is a cool single-strip beach town with lots of shops, restaurants, craft booths and tourists. Brennan got a pair of flip flops.

We ate at Marco's Pizzeria, on the north edge of town - pretty sure our waiter was Marco and the chef was Mrs. Marco. We got a large 1/2 pepperoni and 1/2 Mexicana - excellent, brick oven baked pizza!!! Back to the Magellan, Brennan spent a little time in our open porch's hammock (all six rooms have one) before heading to bed. A great first full-day. The travel nightmares of yesterday, a distant memory!

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