So, we went to bed at 7 pm last night. And then we all slept for +/- 13 hours!! Even me. The insomniac.
Needless to say, we were all feeling a lot better when we woke up. We went to the lobby for breakfast, and the hotel staff were so kind to the kids: they got balloon animals and swords, bubbles, and banana dolphins.
And one person showed us a fun trick with a cup:
We then got packed up and boarded our little bus van, and we started the drive towards La Fortuna. The drive was gorgeous! Jungle everywhere! There are so many cool plants in Costa Rica; Clara and I were geeking out.
Notice a little face tucked in at the back 
Clara and I love a good plant wall. 
Little pilea peperomiodies growing in the wild (aka Friendship plant, UFO plant, etc.) 
Our little bus van 
So Jungle-y!! 
Oh Snap! Sloth, anteater and large cat crossing. 
We tried some Costa Rican snacks. This was a favorite. 
There was a third seat up front, and at some point Clara came up to the front and she never went back.
We stopped at one point to let everyone stretch their legs and so that we could solidify our plans for the day. We happened to choose a really lovely spot. We all enjoyed our little wander.
With legs stretched, and plans confirmed, we got back on the van bus and drove to our first adventure at Proyecto Asís. It is an animal rescue center that specializes in the rescue and rehabilitation of sloths and other animals that have been injured our exploited. The animals are rehabilitated and then depending on their health, they are either returned to the wild, or kept at the sanctuary.
People can take educational tours and volunteer there. We opted to do the sloth tour, because SLOTHS!
The sloth sanctuary is designed in such a way as to give the sloths minimal interference from humans. So it can be a little hit and miss as to how well you see them. But you learn a lot too.
We dropped by the center, booked our tour and since we still had a while till it started, we went and grabbed quick lunch at a Soda (a local eatery) called Soda Arazu just up the road. It was recommended by the worker we talked to and scheduled our tour with.
The food was absolutely delicious. Jonathan, Clara, and I all got what is called Casado. (Casado means ‘married man’- the story goes that the dish got its name when laborers began to urge the lady in charge of a local soda to serve them more food on their plates, to feed them the way that she would feed her husband in her own home. Could be an urban legend. But that’s what we heard!)
Isaac got arroz con pollo, and the other three kids got pasta. The Casado was delicious, but Isaac’s dish was the clear favorite. It was basically like Tex-mex fried rice. Truly, it was delicious. I’m gonna need to figure out how to make that!
After eating, we made our way back to our tour, where we met up with our tour guide, Bradley and he took us on the sloth tour.
We were super lucky, because there was a baby sloth quite close to the ground, so we were able to see him up close. He was so dang cute! And the kids did a really good job respecting his space and staying super quiet.
We continued on the tour and learned all kinds of things from Bradley about sloths, including about their pooping habits, and how the females use their poop to entice the males. Most of our children are still deep in the potty humor phase and so they especially appreciated this part. They were delighted to learn about “the poop dance”. Sloths come down to the ground to do their business, as you can see demonstrated here, by our children:
We did see a few other sloths, but they were further up in the trees, and so we needed a scope to see them, and honestly they were fairly obscured by the trees themselves.
We also got to see all kinds of amazing photosynthesizing friends:
One of the coolest plants we saw was the beehive ginger plant. It collects water in the sides of its flowers and because mosquitoes reproduce in water, the plants begin to produce an anti-mosquito substance of some kind and so it’s a natural mosquito repellent. Plus, the flowers are just so cool looking.
At one point, the twins were walking over to look at a little stream and Isaac spotted a Strawberry poison dart frog, Logan’s very favorite frog. Everyone was de-lighted by this. Bradley told us that in Costa Rica, the strawberry poison dart frog is called a blue jeans poison dart frog because its legs are blue and it looks like it’s wearing jeans.
We also saw a toucan! But I wasn’t fast enough to take a picture. Alas.
We very much enjoyed our tour. Bradley was funny, we learned a lot, we got to walk through a beautiful garden/ jungle, saw some cool animals, we were supporting a good cause, it was all great!
After our tour was concluded, we got cookies and water and lemonade, and went to the gift shop where Logan and Isaac bought matching frog hats with their allowance. Cute little froggies.
And then we were on our way to the Airbnb, about half an hour away.
The Airbnb that we are staying in is so flipping cool. It is even better than the photos, which never happens. The house itself is comfortable and great for what we need, but the real show stopper is the pool with water slide. And it’s all nestled into a bit of jungle paradise.
When we arrived, we told the kids that they could go swimming after we got the car unloaded. Never has a car been unloaded so swiftly. And after everything was unloaded, it looked like the rapture had happened. All the kids just threw their clothes off, pulled on their swimsuits and they were out to the pool.
We swam for probably about an hour and a half until it started to get dark, because, unfortunately, the pool didn’t have lights. So, we then went and grabbed dinner at a restaurant that was right down the way. Jonathan had done a run to the grocery store with a couple little froggy boys to pick up necessities for the morning: milk and cereal, etc. And they scoped out the local restaurants while they were at it.
I have to say that the American food at the restaurant was honestly a little lackluster, especially the pizza. We had some children come home and eat cereal. But, Jonathan‘s tacos were freaking amazing and Evie‘s chicken sandwich was pretty good too actually.
We put the kids to bed, and then Jonathan and I worked on plans for our time in La Fortuna. I think we’ve got a great itinerary ahead of us!
