Costa Rica Imperial

At last we're off, heading for Costa Rica. We leave from Genoa via Paris–Caracas and after 18 hours we finally arrive at the airport of San José. It's 5:30 pm and here it's already dark. We're picked up by a minibus and taken to the B&B La Trinidad in Alajuela. The owner, a German woman, welcomes us. We immediately start bombarding her with questions. We set off intending to go to the Pacific coast and not to the Caribbean coast. Unfortunately it seems the weather on the Pacific is terrible because of the tail end of Hurricane Wendy... we have the impression that our travel plans are going to fall apart. We go to bed early and the next day the alarm goes off at 6... we decide to visit the butterfly farm. After learning everything about these likeable insects we take the bus and go to visit the capital, San José. We eat the first casado of our lives and take a stroll around the city.

As it starts to rain we decide to visit the Museum of Pre-Columbian Gold. Exhausted by the time difference, we look for a bar to drink a beer, clearly the Imperial brand... The next day we'd like to go to the Poas volcano... but it's shrouded in clouds, so we decide to try the aerial tram at Braulio Carillo park. A friendly Costa Rican nicknamed "autistas" comes to pick us up. Stefano launches into Spanish and we leave him to his conversation with autistas... who unfortunately, being new to the job (he used to have a fruit and vegetable shop that he had to close after a shopping centre opened nearby), doesn't know the road very well, even though there's only one... we enter the national park and the cautious autistas drives so slowly that an endless tailback forms behind us and the insects splatter on the minibus's rear window.

Finally, after 3 hours, we reach our destination and, after the usual Costa Rican greeting from the driver, "pura vida", we get ready for the aerial tram... it starts pouring. Equipped with rain ponchos, we spend 1h 30min observing the forest from above, between one raindrop and the next. On the other hand, as our naturalist guide says, "a rainforest without water is like a restaurant without food". We get off and take a walk in the forest. We see 3 toucans and some bats. We go back to autistas, whom we left to moulder for 3 hours by the minibus, but he greets us smiling and offers to take us to the shopping centre to shop. How strange, it's pouring!!! The shopping centre pleases him more than us, though every minute he has to poke his head outside to check the minibus is there... we tell him we intend to go to the Caribbean side... he looks at us in shock.

According to him the Caribbean is very dangerous... we feel quite calm given his level of paranoia! On 18/11 we go to the Caribe terminal, clearly escorted by autistas! We set off for Puerto Limon, where we arrive after 3 hours. It's sweltering hot and the humidity must be 100%. We head towards Moin to try to find a boat for Tortuguero. We're lucky: for the modest sum of 30 dollars each we find a boatman willing to ferry us. It's 1:30 pm; he assures us we'll be ready to leave in 20 min. At 3:20 pm, when two more Spanish lads calmly arrive, we set off. After 10 min we stop again to refuel and to equip ourselves with waterproofs... I have the impression it'll soon pour!! The Tortuguero canal is beautiful; we see alligators, caimans and a group of flamingos, except that lightning, thunder and the inevitable rain catch up with us too.

At 6:30 pm, by now dark, we touch land, soaked to the bone. We go to the Cabinas Tortuguero. Cosy and, above all, dry! After a Caribbean dinner, for a change, early to bed. The next morning we go for a walk in Tortuguero park, where we have our first encounter with capuchin monkeys. I'm desperately looking for the sloth, but so far no trace. At 2 pm we've booked a canoe trip with a Canadian biologist, who has a laboratory at Tortuguero and one at Bahia Drake; since I'm a biologist too I get excited and promise myself to bombard him with questions! Unfortunately at 2 pm the tail end of Hurricane Alpha arrives, forcing us to give up the trip for now. We postpone it to tomorrow morning at 6:00... We go to dinner and to have a rum in a little place on the canal where karaoke reigns; we stop to talk with a Nicaraguan lad who works at the cabinas.

He tells us about the political situation in Nicaragua and how wealth is much better distributed here in Costa Rica. It's 11:30 pm, it's very late and tomorrow a rude awakening awaits us... for a change! At 6, finally with sunshine, we go canoeing together with three lads from Tel Aviv... Three hours cruising the canals. Paddling here and there we meet an alligator, see the ever-present monkeys and the green macaw... but no sloth. We go back to the hotel, pack our bags and board for the return journey, together with the three lads from Tel Aviv. A finally relaxing trip, and above all with sunshine — Tortuguero looks decidedly nicer than the platoon-style journey of the outward leg. We stop to watch the caimans, the green iguanas and the flamingos, and just before arriving I finally see it... my first three-toed sloth clinging to a tree.

I get excited and shoot a whole photo session, risking capsizing the boat! At the pier we find a minibus that for 5 dollars takes us to Cahuita. Travelling with us is a Dutch lad who advises me to stay at the Cabinas Spencer Seaside; apparently sloths wander around the garden! An argument that convinces us to follow his advice. The cabinas is on the sea and in the garden there are wonderfully relaxing hammocks. The owner, "hey man", is a Jamaican who fully honours the customs and ways of his land. Cahuita is a small town with dirt roads and very quiet — how could it be otherwise???? We really like the Jamaican atmosphere. The next morning we go to the beach and for a walk in the Cahuita national park, which partly skirts the beach. It's very hot, the sun is out and the water is warm. In the park we stop to play with a monkey and on the way back we meet about ten spider monkeys.

We spend the afternoon relaxing on the beach, but at 3 pm troops of monkeys arrive to feed right above our heads... I'd say in Costa Rica we're never bored. We go back to our cabinas to take a shower and rest. Outside it's full of children making a great racket; I go out to see what's happening. They're playing with an animal that looks like A SLOTH... it's on the ground and trying to escape the barbarian horde, but something worse awaits it! A child advises me to stroke it... it has bristly fur but is beautiful with its wet little snout! I run to the room to call Stefano and we arm ourselves with all the technology we own... binoculars, headlamp, camera with telephoto lens and video camera... we leave the children speechless, curious, hopping around us happily to see the sloth (actually there are two, but one insists on staying up the palm) from another perspective.

Meanwhile the sloth has climbed the palm... we arm ourselves with patience... sooner or later it'll come down. Meanwhile darkness falls! Shortly after, there it is, reappearing, and it decides to come down; we make our way among the children and do everything you shouldn't do with animals: we point the headlamp at it and film it. It's not that slow after all. But it's stunning. Apparently sloths come down to the ground once a week to do their business... I'd say we were lucky, it a little less! All excited, we go for an aperitif and then to dinner!