Buts Attenborough, more SLOTHS and wow RED frogs!

Continuing caribbean stylie in Puerto Viejo, decided to check out rave reviews Stashu’s Con Fusion for some yummy grub.  Walk in and hot guy singing.  So far so good.  Only table is right in front of him – ah not good.  Decision time.  Sit directly facing him or sit side on to him. Decided I couldn’t cope with full on frontal as I would have been twitching all over the place, so went for my side peripheral. Bum! Now he has side view of my upturned nose and also have to hold my tum in – great.  On the food front, it was amazing and lived up to said rave reviews.  Anyway matey boy continued to warble away (actually he did have a good voice) and half way thru my meal finished his set.  Having exchanged a few smiles and clapping appropriately, he breathed ‘have a beautiful night’ as he ambled past.  I gave him a sultry gaze and purred ‘you too’.  Oh sorry, earth to JB … I squeaked minnie mouse stylie ‘you have a lovely voice’ and got whiplash looking back down at my food #musttryharder.  Let breath out and tum was back on my knees. 😀

Then it was off exploring via pedal power – yay.  As I wobbled off a random stranger shouted ‘you’ll be a pro by the end of the day’ … hope he was referring to the pedal power and not adding to my tally of twice being mistaken for a hooker. By chance I had chatted to some canadians when I was coming back from the beach the previous day and happened to bump into them part way thru sleuth – also on bikes so joined forces.  Ended up doing about 40km – had to turn back when my botty started to twitch on ‘highway’ with juggernaults – ok not exactly M25 but enough for wee Buts who didn’t want to end her days splattered on the tarmac.

So the lovely canadians – Mafalda, Martin and Tom, had another set of wheels … aah luxury, a car and invited me to the Sloth Sanctuary with them … yay diddy yay!  By fluke we arrived in time for the 11.00am tour which was guided by the educating and entertaining Ben.  The sanctuary whose mission it to is rescue, rehabilitate, protect and educate regarding these beyond cute creatures was born when ‘Buttercup’ an orphaned three-toed baby sloth came into their care.  Buttercup is now 21 and is in the last pic shown here.  I dare you not to aaaah.

As well as said cuties, a one-hour guided canoe ride through the Estrella River Delta was included in the entry price.  Fab is all I can say  and what a visually stimulating way to spend an hour.  Spot the camouflage of the super cool lizard in the first pic, iguana (close up included to help you out), another chilling sloth and stunning scenary.  Clicking on any pic enlarges it to enhance your enjoyment – or maybe that’s just me!

Nick and some newbie volunteers, come on down Julian, Natasha and Freddie, did hmmm come on down for a weekend visit.  With yet another good fluke they timed it for happy hour at my favourite bar – Koki Beach Bar.  Have to admit that I spent a fair few nights here, in situ within the funky wire rocking chairs, due to said happy hour providing 2 x Cuba Libra for 3000 colones aka $6, plus having a view of watching the world go by.  I had to laugh when they who will remain nameless, in pursuit of a certain substance, asked a dreadlocked bod ‘do you like Bob Marley?’. Classic.  Yes there was the smell of said substance but I was far to busy going red in the face, holding my breath for fear of just secondary breathing it in would have me keeling over with my legs in the air.

During said weekend Nick, Julian and I went off on a 4hr hiking tour in Manzanillo complete with guide.  Now to be fair, the original plan of action was dolphin watching, but as the dolphin tour was kinda combined with a farm visit and swimming, we were concerned that watching said dolphins might be a tad sparse.  There had been a heavy downpour during the night and for our 07.00hrs meetup it was hmmm still raining.  Nick looked resplendent in his moccasin type shoes with no tread as did Julian in his sandals. The mission, as far as Nick and I were concerned was Toucans and more Toucans and in addition for moi, red frogs. Off we set and our first sightings were wonderfully colourful, tweeting birds.  I wish I could name them all but the best I can do is … Woody Woodpecker – the little red headed one here who is hmmm pecking the wood.  Then, brace yourself, poisonous viper snakes – a brown one and white one.  Goodness Attenborough eat your heart out with my evocative descriptive powers. Should you be unfortunate enough to get bitten you have 3 hours to get anti-venom prior to meeting your maker … eek.  Numerous butterflies of varying sizes and colours, spiders with their 3D webs, red frogs, OH YEAH BABY, RED FROGS!!!  These are teeny weeny weeny and are also, cue back to eek, poisonous.  Check out my howler monkey action pic. Oh and that there Toucan.

The hike took us through varying terrain which was not assisted by the rain earlier, cue one stage JB laughing out loud to the rapid sounds of slip sliding behind me – can you believe Nick told me to foxtrot oscar?! 😀 Hey I had already taken a fall with a gracious yelp and side slide on my left buttock.  Ha no one saw thou.  Anyway I digress, back to the hike which was made more special by the opposing sound of the crashing waves from the adjoining beach.  On the beach side, below are some images of the juxtapose and once outside the locals, for a Sunday, were enjoying the beach as they would anywhere else in the world.

Costa Rica is an amazing country with spectacular scenery and is indeed a tropical playland.  The sun is super hot, I mean laser beam.  Every local I met was extremely helpful and lovely.  Yes you do need to be a bit savvy with regards to petty theft, for example on bus travel but even the driver tells you to keep your belongings at your feet (if you doze off leaving it on the overhead luggage rack you might wake minus said goodies).  Yes it is more expensive then I and indeed others I met, thought with some things (particularly supermarket shopping) being cheaper back home – 8000 colones aka $16 for some cheddar anyone?  Eating out varies but on average you are looking at 5000-8000 colones for lunch though at Sodas (CR name for local cafes) you can pick something up for 3500 colones.  Alcohol – well happy hour is good and beers are on average 1000 colones aka $2 for a bottle.

To sum up,I have had a wonderful time and enjoyed every experience from the Intercultura Language School in Samara, the fabulous homestays with my lovely tica mamas, Xinia and Grace, the humbling fulfilling muscle aching volunteering and the soul enriching travelling.  A special thanks also to smilie John @ A Safe Passage http://www.costaricabustickets.com/ who provided an excellent TLC service, making sure I was safe and sound from airport pick up to drop off along with other local knowledge and helpful services. To end, here are some sunsets with love from Costa Rica PURA VIDA. Jxxx p.s. now it’s Buts the Business! 😀