Costa Rica

January 23, 2017 - Limon, Costa Rica

Today I adopted a sloth. No, I'm not bringing one home. It's a symbolic adoption that helps fund the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica. The Sanctuary's mission is dedicated to rescue, rehabilitation, release and research of sloths. It began years ago when a mother sloth was killed on the road in front of a small hotel Judy Avery-Arroyo was building to replace her home destroyed by an earthquake. Someone brought the orphaned baby to Judy and a sanctuary was born. Because Judy was a novice in wildlife rescue and didn't realize that human contact would make the sloth dependent on her and thus unable to return to the wild, Buttercup, that first sloth, is still in residence some 27 years later. Buttercup has her own special woven, hanging nest/chair/bed under the roof overhang of the B & B on site. She was the only animal to react to human voices. When she heard Judy's, she immediately put out her arms for Judy to pick her up and carry her around like a small child. She was also a pro at posing for pictures as we madly snapped away.

The Sanctuary is on the east coast of Costa Rica, about 45 minutes or so from the port of Limon    where the Coral Princess was docked for the day. The Sanctuary has full-time residents, both adult and baby, who because of injuries would not be able to survive on their own in the wild as well as separate group of orphaned baby sloths who are rehabilitated (on staff is a veterinarian who runs the "Sloth-spital") with minimal human contact and eventually will return to the specific area where they were found.

With staff member Marco we visited with select groups of the resident adults and babies. They each have separate, spacious accommodations mimicking the treetops. Because of their injuries they can't hang from the trees so can't be returned there so will live out their life span of 30 to 40 years lolling on little woven hammocks, assisted living for sloths.

Both the two finger and three finger sloths (they all have three toes on each foot) have four stomachs. Whatever they eat spends a week and a half in each stomach, moving from one to the next. Every eight to ten days they come down to the ground, dig a hole in which they poop and pee (a couple of kilos worth!) then they cover the hole and go back up to their tree top. Sloths are arboreal and solitary save for the one year the mother and baby are together, and spend their entire lives in the same tree.

Because they only eat foliage (leaves for the smaller variety with only molars or leaves and unripe mangos for the larger variety with molars and canine teeth), they don't consume very many calories and thus have little energy to move or keep warm. Even though they live in the tropics they have a thick fur coat to conserve their body heat. They also have a low percentage of muscle, only 25%, so their movement is very slow and languorous although they can move quickly if threatened by predators, Harpey (sp?) Eagles in the trees or crocodiles on the ground.

Fascinating creatures who have adapted to their very distinctive living conditions. And such sweet faces. Who could resist adopting a sloth?

Once again, very good tour guide and driver. Our guide, Freddy, told us he was raised on a banana plantation and admitted to being a banana snob, preferring the small, sweet finger fruit over the variety exported to our supermarkets. As Freddy was telling us this, Ronald, the bus driver, pulled over, stopped the bus and ran across the street into a small store reappearing with a stalk of finger bananas for us to try. Freddy was right, they are almost honey-sweet, no bigger than a finger. Now to find them in Kennesaw. Freddy also shared with us oven baked cacao beans (about the size of a large almond) rolled in brown sugar. They tasted like the deepest, darkest flaky chocolate with the bitterness counter-acted by the sugar. I could feel those antioxidants surging through my veins!

On the subject of food (which has been so good on the ship), the other night one of the appetizers on the dinner menu was guacamole served with baked plantain chips. Delicious! I know I can get plantains in Kennesaw so I'll definitely be trying that at home.

Still looking for the quirkiest on board. There is a group of 50 or so from Wyoming who wear cowboy hats and boots, long sleeves and jeans every day -- in the tropics but that's not quirky, just nuts.

We left Limon at 5:30. Tomorrow is a sea day and then Jamaica. The weather has been sunny with blue skies and the seas calm every day. I probably shouldn't have thought that let alone written it down. Probably jinxed it.