After another lazy morning and a late start, we drove to our first adventure of the day - Sibu Chocolates, a company that makes high end artisan chocolates. They give tours, but unfortunately, the person who does the tours was off that day. So we had to content ourselves with shopping for chocolates, and eating lunch at the cafe:
We had some time to kill before our next stop, so we took a drive, just heading up the highway, until it was time to turn around and go back. The drive took us through one of Costa Rica's many National Parks - Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo. The scenery was lush and tropical, but unfortunately, I was too busy driving to take any pictures.
We then went to the Toucan Rescue Ranch, a wildlife rescue facility. We met our guide, Pedro:
...who began by telling us the history of the ranch. Its co-founder, Leslie Howle, was born in Costa Rica, but her parents were from the U.S. Later, she returned to Costa Rica, married a Costa Rican man, and together they founded the center. It originally focused on birds, primarily toucans and parrots. Then one day, someone brought them an injured baby sloth, which began the transformation from a bird rescue facility to a more general wildlife rescue center.
After the history lesson, Pedro took us on a tour of the facility. And once again, I'll let the pictures do (most of) the talking.
All of the animals and birds at the center have names, but of course I don't remember all of them. The first one we met was Josie, a goose:
Most of the animals and birds were in cages, but Josie apparently has the run of the place.
Whenever possible, the center tries to release its "customers" back into the wild. The problem is that animals that are injured and brought to the center at a very young age may not have learned the necessary skills for independent survival in the wild. So, among other projects, they have something they call Sloth High - a simulated environment in which baby sloths can learn how to... be sloths:
It's makeshift, but it apparently does the job. Yes, there are some baby sloths in there:
We then met an adult sloth, which Pedro fed with hyachinth petals:
Yes, they really do hang upside down. And yes, they really do move s-l-o-w-l-y. Watching this guy was like watching a movie in slow motion.
Of course, there were lots of birds:
...including a large number of owls:
...and of course, toucans:
...and many other animals:
An otter
A porcupine
Monkeys
I don't remember what this one was called
There was also a kinkajou, but it was asleep under a blanket, and we couldn't see it.
The center also has a guest house, or as they call it, the human habitat. Terry's knee was hurting, so she sat down on the porch to rest, and stayed there while the rest of us continued the tour:
The tour finished with some more sloths, a mother and her baby. The ones we saw earlier were two-fingered sloths; these were three-fingered sloths:
We then drove back to San Jose for dinner, after which the others indulged me while I went on a shopping expedition. Whenever I travel, I like to bring back music that reminds me of where I've been. So I went looking for a record store. Google Maps directed me to one store, but when we got there, we discovered that the store was closed, because the proprietor was on vacation in Japan. However, someone in the restaurant downstairs directed me to another store a few blocks away.
This store turned out to be a small hole in the wall, selling mostly old vinyl. The two guys in the store looked a little dubious when Don and I walked in - I guess we didn't look like their usual clientele - but when I described what I wanted, they were apparently impressed, and were quite helpful. I came away with two vinyl albums of '70s Costa Rican pop, which I have since listend to. One, by a group called Los Hicsos, has more of a traditional Latin flavor. The other, by Via Libre, is somewhat more generic pop. I must admit that I bought that album primarily because I was intrigued by one track, "El Hombre En La Eternidad" - which turned out to be a Spanish translation of the song "Starman," by David Bowie!
Here's the map:
The highway we drove between our visits to Sibu and the Ranch is Highway 32. We drove to just past where the highway crosses the river, and then turned around and drove back.