Day 5 - Jaguar Rescue Center

Here's a review of the highlight of our day (left on Trip Advisor):

5 out of 5 stars

You should first know that it is unlikely you will see Jaguars at the Rescue Center. It is owned by a Spanish couple who are Biologists, settled in the area, and began to take in sick and injured animals. One of their first was a jaguar, who has since been rehabilitated and released into nature.

Depending on the month, you might see toucans, birds of prey, owls, ocelots, anteaters, snakes (bred in captivity to repopulate dwindling species in the wild), caimans, deer, frogs and you'll get to interact with young monkeys. The tour is delivered by volunteers (ours spoke wonderful English) for 1.5 hour, who give you a history of the animal, how it came to reside in the Center and what the specific plans for reintegrating it into the wild are. Some are unable to leave the Center due to life-long disabilities. A fun time overall, and allows you to connect to the specific animals there.

I recommend renting bikes to get there from Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, but beware, there is no sign to indicate where this is, so we missed it a couple of times (ended up riding for 6 or so miles more than we had to.) If you have a phone with gps, turn it on :) It is about 4 miles from Talamanca. The GPS coordinates are listed on their website. (Note to owners: the website is difficult to read on a smartphone, most of the text on the directions page is in light lime green with a white background. We had to select the text to be able to read it!). 

Caution: 04:00 a.m. - 07:00 a.m.

Free running wild cats in reintroduction process

And for a bonus: these are the salt shakers they use everywhere here.  Don't they look just kind of like Daleks?

Day 4 - Puerto Viejo de Talamanca

Aaaaand it's another early morning start to get a bus to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca.  Evidently, the 6:15 a.m. bus ride is not a terribly popular time (as evidenced by the absence of people at the stop).

Upon our arrival to the hotel, we embark immediately on a dolphin watching tour along to Coast, and come quite close to the very tip of Costa Rica -- as a matter of fact, my phone cheeringly welcomes me to Panama!

Well this is a rather awkward bus stop.  Life is like a box o' chocolates...

Our hotel!

 Monkey Island close to Manzanillo

Trying to avoid the sun at all cost, on a two-hour dolphin spotting tour.  Sadly, the dolphins were so fleeting, our cameras didn't catch pictures of them

Our guide kindly stops to prepare Pipa (a kind of coconut from which coconut water comes -- but not the coconut milk), which we drink and eat

We must be close to Panama 'cause my phone says so

For the rest of the day, we chill in our hotel, revealing in the fact that the next day won't be another early rise.  And of course, find the only French place in town for a crepe au Nutella.

Day 3 - Cahuita

We wake again at dawn to take a 4-hour ride to the Caribbean Coast to the small beach town of Cahuita.  After a heart-stopping mistake in bus terminals, and rushing through the streets of San Jose, we get to the right place, board the bus, and experience a plush ride through a National Park, and on to the Coast.

 Cahuita at Dawn

 With a serious backpack, a lady's umbrella and a little hipster hat

With two smaller backpacks, a child's umbrella and a little hipster hat

The small National Park along the Beach.  We saw two sloths!

Day Two - Ziplining near Miramar

The next day, we got picked up bright and early (again, sigh) for a two hour ride to Adventure Park near Miramar for a day of ziplining. 

After a zigzagging road, we embark on the adventure.  It's best left to what's said on the lodge's description:

There is no fun participating in zip line and canopy tours in artificial conditions. At Adventure Park Canopy Tour you enjoy your zip line flights inside real forests, over real waterfalls. And not just a couple of waterfalls, you will cross 11 waterfalls in Costa Rica during your canopy tour. While travelling from one zip line to another, you cross the famous Costa Rican mountains and water falls that adorn the ancient rain forests.

 

Our (hopefully) Exotic Costa Rica Vacation

We decided to go to a new country for vacation!  We'd heard so much about Costa Rica that we decided to give it a shot for a week.

All packed and ready to go at 3:00 a.m. for our 6:00 a.m. flight.  Oh what a joy...

And though we seem all bright eyed and bushy tailed...
Coffees were needed to stay functional.

We finally arrived in Hotel Le Bergerac in San Jose and had a quick lunch of carbs and more carbs

I wouldn't say that San Jose is a spectacular city, but it has its charms, despite the non-stop rain in the afternoon.

After a local meal of beans, rice, plantains, fried onions and tough (but flavorful) beef, we walked home in the dark, coming upon an impromptu gay dance routine in a bar.  We got a free eyeful. Fun times were had by all!