One of the things Becky and I wanted to do in Costa Rica was see a sloth. We’d talked about it for months. We exchanged photos and memes over social media and Googled sloth sanctuaries near our area. Ideally, sloths would’ve been hanging in the trees around the property so all we would’ve had to do was walk outside and look up. Unfortunately, sloths live inland – in the rain forests of Costa Rica, not on the coast, in the dry forests. So, while we had coatimundis, howler monkeys, and iguanas right outside the house, we did not have sloths.
That’s how we wound up at Diamante Eco Adventure Park, about 45 minutes north of Reserva Conchal. The park had ziplining and an entire animal sanctuary, not just sloths, so it made for a good trip all-around.
The sanctuary was lovely – a tropical oasis with lots of shade, thank the Lord.
We arrived in time for the sloths’ morning feeding, which was a slow process, of course! Once Lucy, the main gal, saw that breakfast was ready, we waited another five minutes or so for her to inch her way to the food dish. On this particular morning, she enjoyed green beans.
This is Mia, Lucy’s daughter. She wasn’t interested in breakfast and stayed cozied up in the treehouse.
Still making her way to the green beans! Slowly but surely. Here’s a video:
Obviously, the sloths got a LOT of attention, and the only thing that would’ve made it better was getting to hold one.
When the sloth feeding was over, Mom, Becky, Jackson, and I visited the other animals – monkeys, jaguars, ocelots, birds, butterflies, and more.
While we enjoyed the low-risk animal sanctuary, Jeff, Jacob, and Jeremy enjoyed the high-risk ziplines!
It should’ve been a quick morning away with plenty of afternoon left for beaching, pooling, or napping. However, on our way back to Casa Breeze, buzzing from all of our activities, we were stopped on the curvy, rugged, un-lined road and told to find a different way home. Apparently a truck had overturned and it was going to be five hours of waiting for the recovery truck and clean-up.
How *exactly* do foreigners with limited cell service find an alternate route out of a Costa Rican forest?
They use spotty cell phone maps and hope for the best!
Note my screenshot below: We were the blue dot headed for the coast. We SHOULD HAVE BEEN on the blue line headed south to Casa Breeze and “My Guanacaste Vacation”.
Major props to Jeff (who drove) and Jacob (who navigated) for getting us back to Casa Breeze in one piece. I was not calm, and Jeff’s Apple Watch recorded his heart rate as being higher while driving in a Costa Rican forest than ziplining above one. I’m using the word “road” liberally here. Sometimes we were driving on trails that weren’t fit for vehicles. This crazy detour added an hour to our trek home, but we got home safely and that’s what matters, praise God.
I’ll tell you what though – I was stressed. As soon as we got back to the house, I abandoned everyone, poured a glass of wine, and retreated to the back patio to decompress.
