The hill at Parque de la Paz. One of my outdoor running routes is around (but not up!) this hill, although people do come here to do hill sprints! The path itself is about a half a mile and does have a slope to it as well, as you can see.
The Basilica in Cartago comes into sight after over 20 km of walking!
I visited a more upscale neighborhood that included some more modern houses. This neighborhood reminded me a bit of southern California.
We toured some more of the downtown parks today and took some photos
Translation- In this neighborhood we don’t have a single extra kid- drive carefully!
A wild sloth, or “kukula”, as the locals called it, was just a few feet from the cabin where we stayed!
A baby sloth at the sloth sanctuary
Driving through the Parque Braulio Carrillo- no, I did not take the photo, I was driving!
I don’t post a lot about it here, but a lot of my time is spent at “work” in some form or another to facilitate the program. This is a meeting I attended today. This photo features the universal “sit in the back and play with my smartphone” guy.
One of the things that my daughter and I did when we were getting ready for our trip was to watch videos taken in Costa Rica. We happened upon some videos from the Sloth Sanctuary in Cahuita (on the Caribbean coast), and were enchanted by the adorable, slow, gentle creatures that lived there. So getting to see a sloth in person was one of our goals.
It was a fantastic experience. There are so many places around the country competing for tourism dollars, but every indication I got from this place is that it is the real deal- they are in the business of rehabilitating sloths to return them to the wild, and providing a safe and caring home for those who can not safely live in the wild. They are also partnered with a US University to add to the research base about sloths. They are solitary animals who live in a relatively small part of the world, so not much is known about sloths at this point.
For our tour, we could either choose the 1-hour tour for $25, or the 4-hour “insider” tour for $150. Although the insider tour was spendy, we were coming all this way to see the sloth sanctuary, and we wanted to get as much out of the opportunity as possible, so that’s what we opted for. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience!
We arrived at the sanctuary, and first up was “Breakfast with Buttercup.” Buttercup is the first sloth that they received, and the reason for the sanctuary’s existence. She needed a home, and the grandmother took her in. They learned through trial and error how to take care of her, and over time people brought more sloths to them. That’s how the whole program got started. Buttercup was raised as a pet, since they didn’t know any better at the time, and she now lives in a hanging wicker chair in the dining room. She is 22 years old, and is still doing great!
Buttercup was asleep in her chair when we came in.
We had an hour to enjoy breakfast, get to know the others, and take pictures of Buttercup. They served us cheese and tomato omelettes, fresh fruit, and toast. Yum! The whole mood at the place was so calm and relaxed. Grandma was making and serving breakfast, her daughter was checking people in, and the grandson was the one who would be leading the tour. Everybody there just had a very kind and relaxed air about them. Even the dogs were mellow! One was a puppy, though, and I accidentally got her riled up by petting her, so she got the zoomies and had to go calm down for a bit. But even that was handled so gently.
Cypress in the dining room.
An hour seemed like a long time, at first, but then Buttercup woke up, and it was time for her breakfast.
She woke up and looked around at us. Since she is a three-fingered sloth, she has a tail that was hanging down through the chair. The two-fingered sloths are bigger, and don’t have a tail.
She got started eating her fresh leaves.
We all gathered around to watch her. She would take breaks from eating to check us out, too, then swivel her long neck around to eat some more leaves.
After breakfast, we joined one of the “regular” tours to meet some of their resident sloths and learn a little bit of basic information about them. These sloths were some of the ones who had been there the longest, and weren’t candidates to go back into the wild. One of them had only three legs, for example! When he came to the sanctuary, he had a terrible infection and gangrene, and the leg had to be amputated. Another just didn’t do well at feeding herself when she was released, and would always end up sick and hungry after a few weeks. This is probably because she came to the sanctuary as a baby, and they haven’t had success in teaching sloths who were not raised in the wild by their mothers how to survive.
We learned the basics about sloths, their diet, and their anatomy, and got to ask questions. Three-fingered sloths are smaller and darker in color than two-fingered sloths. And they are not as closely related as you would think.
One of the resident two-fingered sloths.
Although sloths are usually solitary, these two were a bonded pair, since they had grown up together. I also noticed that lots of sleeping sloths like to keep at least one leg hooked around a branch as they rested, even if they were on a platform.
From there, we went into the area where they keep the young sloths (but not the true babies!). The star of the show was Jemima. She was born at the sanctuary, but rejected by her mother. Apparently, this is common when there is a deformity or other problem with the baby. In Jemima’s case, she is growing very slowly, but appears healthy otherwise. She is two years old, but is still the size of a baby, and needs a bit more care than the other sloths around her age.
Jemima coming out to get some food and for us to get a closer look. The sloths really like having a stuffed animal or rolled up towel to hang on to.
They asked us not to touch the sloths, which I think is fair. This is a rescue organization, not a petting zoo, and because of sloths’ slow digestion, any fragrances, chemicals, or diseases we brought with us could do them harm, especially considering how many visitors they get on a daily basis. We did get a really up-close look at Jemima! Here she is eating a hibiscus flower.
An iguana came running by the path.
Some of the sloths in that area also had injuries or other disabilities. One had become a paraplegic after a fall onto coral during a strong storm, for example. In the background, we also got to see several sloths out for exercise on the jungle gym.
After that, the “regular” tour group went on a canoe ride, and we got to go up to the nursery. Without a doubt, that was the best part of the tour. That was the room with their tiny, tiny baby sloths who had just come in, or who needed special care. They each had an incubator, but today was warm enough that they were out in plastic tubs on the floor instead. Apparently, they don’t climb out because they don’t like being on a flat surface.
It was heartbreaking watching all of those poor babies, most or all of them orphans! But they were absolutely adorable.
Look at that baby fuzz!
Pria was the only three-fingered sloth baby.
The babies who were awake were all clamoring for attention. When I went to see Pria, the three-fingered sloth, she was trying to climb out on to me. She also really wanted to know about my camera.
At that point, I had to stop the video and apologize to her for not picking her up!
This next sloth was so new that it hadn’t even been named yet.
Finally, we had to say goodbye to the babies and go to the main area where the adults were housed. Some of them were just being kept until they recovered from an injury and could go back to the wild. The ones who can’t be released will either stay there, or go to a zoo. We got to wash our hands, and feed some hibiscus to a couple of the adults. The sloths definitely will do their best to get your attention and get you to keep feeding them one they know you have treats! Their claws are better for hanging than grabbing, so you had to put the flower petals pretty much right by their mouths for them to be able to eat them easily. The one I fed did lick me a little bit when he was trying to get the flower.
Another pair of sloths hanging out together.
Then, we got to see their medical room and xray equipment. They also had several jars of sloth fetuses that had died in utero or were stillborn. Again, the point is to increase knowledge of sloths in general so that they can be better cared for and rehabilitated.
Two-fingered sloth and placenta.
This three-fingered sloth died when almost old enough to be born! Compared to many mammals, sloths are pretty well-developed when they’re born.
From there, we got to go on a canoe tour of the property. It was a good chance to get a feel for the lush, tropical rainforest that we were in! There were little crabs all along the bank, and every tree was covered in other plants that were growing on it. There were howler monkeys in the trees howling at us, but I didn’t get any good photos of them.
Bananas and their unique flower.
Quite a few of the rainforest plants are recognizable as houseplants in our area.
The bird of paradise, of course.
I have no idea what kind of flower this is.
This plant was in their garden by the riverbank.
Overall, it was a fantastic and really memorable day. I highly recommend this place to anybody who is interested in learning more about sloths.
Our family has a tradition of trying out a slice of pizza from a local place when we travel. We rate the pizza and the place, with the goal of collecting everything into a pizza/travel blog. That’s still mostly in the works, but I knew I’d need to have some pizza while I was here to carry on the tradition.
The problem is, with such a limited amount to time to try all the foods down here that aren’t available in Oregon, I just haven’t been feeling like going out for pizza. But I was sort of intrigued, because the cheese down here is so different from the cheese we have at home, so I was wondering how that would affect the pizza.
Finally, my opportunity came. I was in downtown fairly late (for me), and was likely to get home after dinner. My bus drove past an open pizza place, about a block from my stop. Nice!
Looks like the perfect place to try out my first slice of Costa Rican pizza!
It was pretty similar to any other city pizza place I’ve been to- slices up front, you order what you want and they reheat it in the oven. And it was cheap! A huge slice was a bit less than $2.50, and it was about 20 cents more if you wanted the drink of the day with it (in this case, iced tea),
The slice itself was good but not great. The crust was excellent- thin and crispy, but bready enough to fold. The sauce was pretty good, but a little sweeter than I prefer. In general, it seems like Costa Ricans like their foods to be very sweet, so that makes sense. It had a good onion flavor.
The cheese was a disappointment, though. There just wasn’t much of it. The white specks you see on the slice were cheese, plus I think there was a little bit of another clear, melty kind on it, but very light. In general, the cheese here doesn’t have a strong flavor, so especially since it was really light, it just got lost in the slice itself. I even tried to pick off some cheese to eat it separately, but it still didn’t have much flavor to it.
The good news, I guess, is that this means the slice was not very greasy at all and probably pretty healthy. But I still would have liked to have had more cheese on it! I will have to try another place now just to see if it was a trend, or just the way that they made it at this particular place.
Nice big holes in the red pepper shaker’s lid.
Condiments were your standard red peppers and parmesan cheese.
The “pizza” part of the menu.
It’s tough to see from this shot, but in addition to the pre-made combos you can order, they also had hamburgers, hot dogs, and (of course) gallo pinto for breakfast.
As far as the pizza goes, one thing I noticed was that they didn’t have a plain cheese slice available, or a plain pizza on the menu with any sort of “build your own” toppings. It was buy one of their combos, or nothing. The margarita would be the closest to plain cheese pizza if you ordered a whole pie, but they didn’t have a slice of it. I got a slice of their veggie, of course. It will be interesting to see if other places do it the same way.
Somewhere there is a rule that all pizza places need to have historical black and white photos on the wall.
Looking forward to trying a second place out and having a comparison!
In Costa Rica, there is a tradition of walking to the Basilica in Cartago on or around August 2. It’s believed that a miracle occurred at that spot on Aug. 2, some 400 years ago. Over 2 million people do the walk each year, which is pretty significant in a country with fewer than 5 million residents! People walk to give thanks, or they walk to petition for something. Or, they walk for the experience. Some people walk barefoot at least part of the way. People generally walk from their homes if they are physically able to do so.
My family was planning to do the walk Friday night. My host sister worked that day, so the plan was for her to come home and grab a nap before heading out. I decided to do the same. I had already covered about 12 miles earlier in the day between my run and an errand, so getting some rest would be a good thing! My family prefers to walk at night because it’s cooler and less crowded.
We left just before 9:00 PM. I walked with my host sister. Her mom and a neighbor walked at a slower pace. The first part of the walk was pretty quiet, because we were just walking through the regular neighborhood at night. Gradually, we started to see more and more small groups of “romeros” (pilgrims), but we were all pretty spread out.
We walked for about an hour before we joined up with the main route that was full of people. They had closed off the “old highway” between San Jose and Cartago, and this was where people were walking. This part was also the route by the start of the half marathon that I ran a couple of weeks ago, but in reverse. So all of those nice downhills from the start of the race were now gradual uphills. Still, it’s not such a big deal when you’re walking. We walked at a brisk but not killer page, enough for me to have a light sweat in the humidity. As we got closer, the crowds made it tough to keep pace.
There were distance markers every kilometer once we joined the main route. The first sign I saw showed 16 km to go, about an hour in.
We met up with two friends of my host sister at a grocery store. I got a Nescafe and some bread to munch along the way.
The mood along this stretch was pretty festive.
In general, it felt like a big party. The people who were out were generally young, healthy, and excited, although I think that has a lot to do with the time of day more than anything. There were a bunch of street vendors, or course, selling water, meat-on-a-stick, rosaries, and various other snacks. There were a couple of people selling shoes or bags, in case yours had worn out along the way. Bars along the route seemed to be doing pretty brisk business as well. There were also stages set up along the way with performers who alternated between singing, encouraging people, and asking for donations.
As we went, it started getting steeper, and people got quieter. The area around Ochomogo was particularly desolate and steep. Every now and then, a happy group would come through singing or praying or something,
This house had homemade cheese or bean empanadas, coffee, agua dulce, and a bathroom you could pay 60 cents to use.
We stopped a few times to use the bathrooms. The lines got longer the closer you got.
The Red Cross had several aid stations set up.
As we got closer, my heel was starting to bug me. I had dealt with some plantar fasciitis in the winter, and could feel it sort of creeping back. I stretched my calves every time we stopped. My hip had also really been bothering me on my run earlier in the day. I could feel it on the walk, but it didn’t really hurt. I do think it gave me a funky stride.
My walking companions were doing pretty well. They, and apparently everybody else, used a lot of some stuff that smelled like Vapor Rub on their sore muscles. It seemed to come in a gel and a spray, and the air was thick with it. But as we got closer, one of our group got pretty bad stomach cramps. She was walking and clutching her stomach. We slowed way down, and made several stops.
This was about the time that my “I’ve covered a ton of miles today” hunger started to kick in. Plus, now that we were coming into Cartago, there were more and more places selling food. But with my host sister on a diet and one member of our party feeling sick, this wasn’t the time to start eating like a marathoner in training. I bought a small package of cookies while we were at a potty stop, and hoped we would maybe get food at the end.
Finally! I could see our destination in the distance.
The Basilica, with the plaza all filled with people trying to get in, taking pictures, sleeping, or praying.
Once we arrived at the basilica, my companions looked at the crowd and decided not to try to go in. It was almost 3 AM, so we had been walking for about 6 hours, including the stops, of course. I am guessing that it would have been another hour to actually get inside. According to mapmyrun, I think we covered about 13.5 miles, and with a total elevation gain of 1,370 feet.
You can’t really see it from the picture, but there were two entrances, one to enter on foot, the other on your knees. The truly devout go on their knees from the doorway to the altar.
Without going in, the trip was just sort of over at that point. Maybe because I didn’t take part in the prayer with my companions, it didn’t really feel like we came to the end, it just sort of felt like we stopped.
Then it was time to look for a bus back home. My dreams of food were fading, since the one girl was really not feeling well.
Carnival-style food places like this were all over the place.
Lots of people were sleeping after having finished the journey.
We milled about for a while, then lucked into a bus that was filling up and about to head to San Jose. It was about $4, which is more than double what the regular price would have been. I dozed a bit on the bus, since it was stop and go the whole way back.
We got off at a place I didn’t recognize, and hopped into a “pirate” taxi. Luckily I was with a resident! I kept my mouth shut and pretended to know what I was doing. The taxi was about $6 for a 5-minute ride. Again, way more than usual, but it was really nice to get back home!
We got in a little bit after 4:30. I pretty much headed straight for bed. It’s been a long time since I’ve been up that late, if you don’t count the redeye flight to get here!
1. Talking about doing something and actually doing it are different things.
Meaning, don’t take it for granted that somebody will do something just because they said they would. The world of words and the world of actions don’t always connect; it’s not an intentional slight. On that note, if you really need something to get done, do it yourself rather than getting upset while waiting for somebody to do it for you. At the very least, have a plan B.
This also applies to big things. They tried to build a church in Cartago, for example, but something kept going wrong to prevent it from being completed. So they eventually decided that it wasn’t meant to be, stopped trying to build it, and left the unfinished “ruins” in the middle of town. They are famous and not really viewed as a failure at all. Half-finished was just they way it was supposed to be. The ruins are even featured on one of the country’s bills.
2. When you leave the house, take everything with you that you might possibly need, because you can’t be sure where you will end up going (or what the weather will be like).
This kind of goes along with #1. The plan when you leave the house, and where you actually end up going or what you end up doing might be different. Also, when plans change, people don’t feel the need to announce it or even mention it at all. There might be a text or “WhatsApp” message that causes the plans to change, and no discussion at all.
3. Feel free to enjoy letting the day develop and see what comes up
Because people here are comfortable with plans changing and don’t feel as bound by something they might have talked about doing earlier, if you can relax and go with the flow, you might end up doing or seeing interesting things that you never could have planned.
4. If you’re planning something, people will want to talk about it
Even though you might end up somewhere completely different than what you expected when out for an afternoon car ride, if you are planning to go somewhere a few days off, expect people to want to know every single detail of your plans: when you’re leaving, how you’re getting there (and how long it will take), what route you’re taking, where you’re staying, where you’re going to eat, and how much you are paying.
Every little detail will be open for discussion, and people will happily share their opinion about it. For example, I am planning a trip to the Limón area next week. Naturally, I got advice and suggestions from the people who live in the house here. But, the family also made sure to check in with their son who lives up in Heredia and the neighbor from across the street. Some people’s advice might contradict others’, for example, there are varying opinions on whether it’s easier or harder to drive a stick shift car on the roads around here. But, that just makes for a more interesting discussion, right?
Of course, since the world of words and the world of actions don’t always connect, I can happily listen to the advice, chime in with questions, but then end up doing things differently, and that won’t be an issue. They might roll their eyes if it seems like I’m not getting a good enough deal on something, though. For example, I made a hotel reservation already, and the general opinion seems to be that I did sort of OK, but maybe could have done better. But since it’s done, it’s done, so let’s talk about what time is absolutely best to leave in the morning to avoid fog in the hills on the road, whether it’s worth it to go through Limón on the way back just to see it, and whether tractor trailers on the road are friends or foes.
When I get back, everybody who had an opinion on my plans will also want to know how it actually went, and will be happy to share their opinion on whether I did things “right” or “wrong”! But that’s just the world of words again, and certainly no offense is meant. It’s just that you share those details of your life with those around you, and people talk pretty openly about each other and their opinions.
Zelanie Travels 