Name a creature that Costa Rica is known for. Okay, unfair question, it's got about 5% of all the world's biodiversity (ie tonnes of stuff lives here), but there is one particular animal that people tend to think of - the Sloth.
Or in Spanish, the Peresozo, which, I kid you not, translates directly as the word 'Lazy'.
Today was all about trying to see one of these little beasties. To make it as easy as possible we went to the Sloth Sanctuary (as in the wild right now they tend to disguise themselves as moss, and there is a LOT of moss in the trees. I even spotted a bunch of moss the other day and thought 'that looks like a sloth'. Turns out I could have been right!).
This place has a number of females who have all been saved from the wild for different reasons. Seems they could only have females in there as it's illegal here to breed in captivity or so our guide told us, not sure why?!
Okay so I couldn't leave that like that, this is why:
In 2016, a new regulation mandated that wildlife centers like the Sloth Sanctuary must classify themselves under one of three categories: zoo, breeding center, or rescue center. Under the latter two classifications, the public cannot visit the animals.
So we were officially at a sloth zoo.
To begin with we thought they were all asleep...
But then one woke up to have a snack
Which gave them enough energy to actually go for a walk!
PLEASE NOTE: THIS is NOT filmed in slow motion. It just IS slow motion!
After this we headed to the Butterfly park next door. Don't worry I won't share yet MORE pics of butterflies here apart from this one because Esme made a 'friend' who stayed with her most of the way round :-)
After all that walking around, staring up at stuff and holding a camera (which is strangely exhausting) we decided to grab a bite to eat.
They know how to position their restaurants here (and how to charge tourists who have no other food options to choose from) and this one was no different. In a garden, planted with many different types of plants to attract wildlife we finally discovered a hummingbird that stayed still for long enough to take some photos. In fact this little fella was so intent on staying still that I had to get Esme to go down to the bottom of the tree and give it a little shake to wake it up. I swear in the shot where it's flying away that bird is giving me a dirty look!
We also saw a surprise armadillo! It kept scuttling away (possibly because there were 3 excitable kids running after it). So I kept getting pics of, basically, an armadillo's bum. But I finally positioned myself in the right place and gave the little critter a touch of a surprise as it emerged from a hedge, before it finally gave up and agreed to pose.
I have to say that one thing I'm truly loving here in Costa Rica is the wildlife - both the animals and the beautifully colourful plants. It's beautiful. Yes you may have to go through various grotty things to see it (buildings, pavements, big holes etc) but I love waking up in the morning and being greeted with the jewels of nature.
Pura Vida everybody.