The Caribbean Coast

From Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui we headed for Puerto Viejo de Talamanca on the Caribbean Coast. We were told the best way to get there was to take a bus into San Jose and then bus straight out but we wanted to avoid messing around in there if we could which somehow ended up with us and a local family getting a private bus for most of the way.

Unexpectedly we ended up spending 6 nights here. If you're going to bunker down somewhere in Costa Rica here is as good a place as any. There's prime beaches, loads of sloths and a strong Rastafarian culture. It was like what I imagine being in Jamaica would be like. On our first night the owner of the Cabanas we were in showed us how to properly hand wash our clothes (she couldn't stand watching us doing it so badly). She was sure to include the importance of shaking your backside all around for not only exercise but to attract the opposite sex. 

High on our list of things to do was to visit the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica made famous by a documentary and series on animal planet. In Australia if we wanted to pick ourselves up after a rough day we would watch a video from that sanctuary so it was pretty crazy to actually be able to visit. Getting to see Buttercup, Queen Sloth, was like meeting a celebrity.  

Meeting Buttercup - the very first sloth of the sanctuary 

Buttercup reaching for Alex

So many adorable sloths!

As part of the tour we got a boat ride around a weird canal they had out the back. 

The best part of the boat ride was getting to see this guy doing his exercises

Just visiting the sloth sanctuary wasn't enough. The next day we got up early and walked to the Jaguar Rescue Center to see what they had going on. Turns out they don't have any jaguars but they had a variety of other animals. All the animals had been found by locals and brought to the rescue center, where they stay until they are well enough to be released. Some of them will never be suitable for a full release but they have their own part of some primary forest where they can let their animals run free. I can't remember the reason for all of the animals being there but I think the best story was a caiman that was found in a hotel shower when it was a baby and brought to the center. 

I never realised how adorable anteaters are. They're related to sloths. 

Still has his baby feathers

More Sloths!

Baby Sloth!

This is Toucy - the Toucan. Apparently he's pretty mischievous. He likes to run around the center biting people's ankles. He likes the attention. 

After our awesome tour at the Jaguar Research Center we decided to head towards Manzanillo, a small town on the coast about 12km from Puerto Viejo. There's regular buses between those towns so we figured we'd just catch one when it went past. We ended up accidentally walking all the way to Manzanillo! By the time a bus finally went by it didn't even stop for us. At times I was pretty grumpy about this - when I was tired of walking and when we waited in the bus shelter for an hour to go back to where we had come from, but I guess it was worth it because we found an amazing beach and look out and got to spot some sloths in the wild.

The Caribbean

The Road to Manzanillo

Wild three toed sloth 

After the day of walking we spent some days just chilling out. Mostly on our balcony because it rained all day. 

Our next port of call was San Jose, via white water rafting in the Pacuare River. We got picked up early in the morning and driven 2 hours to the meeting and breakfast spot. After breakfast we head out to the river. In the van we are informed that due to all the rain the Pacuare River is actually too high and dangerous to raft so we are going to be rafting another river for a shorter amount of time. The good news is you get $30 off your price.

Although we were pretty disappointed at the start we had an awesome time. The craziest part of the whole experience was pretty close to the start where we headed right into what looked like a crazy vortex of water. We went so vertical when we hit it that I was thrown into the middle of the boat (from the front). We are both pretty keen to give it another go.

The footage is a bit rough but I pulled some stills from the crazy vortex to give you a bit of an idea. 

This is what we were up against

That's me - sitting where I shouldn't be

After a hearty lunch we are dropped off in San Jose where we spend a few un-noteworthy days. 

Pura Vida