Costa Rica - Puerto Viejo
My shuttle journey to Puerto Viejo was far-reaching but of the most picturesque order. Misty mountains, deep nested forestry, running rivers, tropical plantations and the odd cow chilling by the side of the road.
My journey was around five hours with a twenty minute break in the middle where me and a fellow traveller took to a small 'soda' restaurant where I had Costa Rican rice and beans with some root vegetables on the side, as well as a pack of plantain chips for the road, all for the competitive price of £2. Bargain.
The next day I spent most of my time venturing along the main road where I stopped off at a chocolate and coffee store that sold newly baked muffins using fresh bananas and chocolate from the local cacao farm.
Hands down the best muffin I’ve ever had. I bought some chocolate and coffee beans as I left, it would’ve been rude not to.
I stayed at La Chameleon for 3 nights, a boutique hotel with its own private beach and bar, where Sloths are chilling in the trees above and small crabs are hopping in and out of sand holes like the game 'whack a mole.' It's situated on the Playa Cocles beach, a far distance away from the main town.
Just down the road is the Jaguar Rescue center. "The Jaguar Rescue Center is a temporary or permanent home for ill, injured and orphaned animals. With a focus on monkeys, sloths, other mammals, birds and reptiles." You can take small group tours for £17 each with a English, Spanish or French guide ($22 approx).
It lasts between one and two hours where a volunteer tour guide takes you around and introduces regional snakes, reptiles, parrots, deer and a ton of sloths hanging from branches. It was an insightful tour with interesting facts.
A sloth spends 90% of its life hanging upside down. Their organs are attached to their rib cage, meaning their lungs don't get weighed down. It also takes around 30 days for a sloth to digest a single leaf.
Costa Rica was where Jurassic park was recorded and panthers don't actually exist. They turn out to be either jaguars or leopards. Another thing that surprised me was that Costa rica's national animal is a white tailed deer. I know right... of all the species they have.
A lot of the tours I had planned have now been cancelled due to the pandemic, so this will likely be my last blog post for this trip. I’ll spend the last of my days here just relaxing in the sun. But… I’ll be coming back to continue this series in the future!
