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We got back into Winnipeg at 11:30 last night after a full day of traveling, getting up at 3:30 am Costa Rican time (4:30 am Winnipeg time). It was a cool 10°C at home, which was quite the contrast to the high 30°s C weather we had in Costa Rica. 

It's good to be home and to see our little monsters. They seemed to miss us....and their dinner....they might have been happier to get their dinner ;)

So now for me it's back to volunteering at the Winnipeg Humane Society. There the rabbits come and go, but at the Sanctuary we grew attached to the sloths in our section day by day. It was great to see them get to know us over the time we were there - from when they just acknowledged us bringing them their food, to when they were eager to come greet us.

It's a place I'd love to go back to. We'd see the babies grown to juveniles and the juveniles grown to adults. How different will they look and how will their personalities have changed? I guess the answers will have to wait for a potential future vacation.

If anyone else is interested in volunteering there, you can find the details here.

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Post-Trip Addendum of Notes

• We spent more time outside the sanctuary than we had expected too; we should have learned some basic Spanish before leaving.
• The malaria prevention pills were likely unnecessary -- we were the only volunteers who were taking them. Regardless, as they were covered by insurance, and we experienced no side-effects, we have no regret taking them.
• Exchange rate of colón to USD was exactly 500 colón for $1 US. We could use either currency in any mixture everywhere, public or private, for services or goods, and change was always given. 
• In most places, you don't flush toilet paper -- there is a garbage can beside the toilet.
• Construction standards were lower than we are used to. This photo was not taken at the sanctuary.

• Everyone is resigned to having bugs and lizards indoors.
• Beers in supermarkets were about $1.40. Beers in bars were about $2.00. In either case, they were always ice cold, and the drink fridges always had the temperature digitally displayed.
• Although it was not explicitly permitted, you could drink alcohol in public without issue. Having said that, almost no-one was. We only seen a few people on the beaches were drinking beers, and a guy manning the bus ticket counter was working on a 6-pack of Old Milwaukee. 
• Cahuita was 30 minutes away, and the bus cost $0.94. Puerto Veijo was 60 minutes away, and the bus cost just under $2.00. 
• There is a government checkpoint of sorts between the sanctuary and the towns; they are apparently looking for liquor smugglers from Panama, and/or North Americans who have overstayed their 90 day welcome. Only once were we asked to show our passports, and when they did, we just showed them photocopies.
• A bar we frequented, Cocos, had urinals in a doorless room within sight of the dance floor.
• Tipping in bars and restaurants was almost always a mandatory 10% -- no more, no less. If you paid with credit card, you often got hit with an additional 13% (government) tax.
• Costa Rica has a mandatory on-site airport departure fee of about $30 per person. If you use a credit card, it is treated as a cash advance. 

Day 14 - Our Last Day with the Sloths

Today we departed the Sloth Sanctuary and are back at Hotel Brilla Sol for the night. Our bus back didn't leave until 2:40 pm though, so we still got to do our morning tasks.

During nursery time today, the film crew was back on set filming us and also doing some volunteer interviews. We thought we'd escape it, but both Mike and I got a talking to. Should be interesting to see if they end up using it. 

For our last nursery time, we had adult bradypus sloths. I had Alex (gender yet to be determined, as they are still waiting to see if a patch develops) and Mike had Samantha. Alex and Samantha share a cage along with Sunshine and even out of their enclosure they still wanted to hang out together. As a result, they took a potty break at the same time...

And then after Samantha climbed back on Mike, Alex decided to as well.

After the veggie prep we said our last goodbyes to the sloths. I had a cutoff time for sloth visits so I didn't draw it out and get too emotional. They are quite easy to form a bond with. It's gonna be hard to go home. And, yes, I miss them already. Here's a snapshot of most of the volunteers. We'll miss them too.

Day 13 - Polish National Geographic

Late post again. The internets were down at the sanctuary, so I'm posting from our hotel in San Jose. For now though, I'll pretend it's still yesterday. 

Interesting day today. Eight people from Poland arrived and are here to film a show, write a magazine article, and write a chapter for some book. They are with National Geographic Poland. While we've never heard of her, the host is apparently a celebrity and is quite accomplished - there was quite a buzz on the compound about her. The show will mainly focus on interviews with Claire and Judy - from what we understand it's about women doing work abroad. However, they also filmed us doing nursery time and prepping the afternoon veggies.

So needless to say, the sanctuary was a bit more hectic than usual. 

Now for something interesting about baby and young sloths. One of the things that I noticed about Ubu was that his hair by his ears was always puffed out and I thought it made him look extra cute. Today I found out why. Baby sloths - and in this case juvenille - will suck on the cartilage of the ear. A sloth pacifier if you will. Below is a picture of Yodo cuddling Ubu and doing just that. 

Lastly, I just liked this photo that Mike took of Capser and Camilla, so I thought I'd share it.

Day 12 - Our 2nd Day Off

Today was our second day off and we actually managed to sleep in until 6:45 am. Then, at 9 am we were picked up to go zip-lining in Limon. It was super fun - neither Mike nor I had even been before. There was 9 lines in total and the maximum height (relative to the ground, not absolute elevation) was 115 metres. We had two guides take us out and they carry your camera for you to take photos and video.

At the encouragement of our guides, we even did it with a little style on the last line....

I also finally got to see a poison dart frog. Interestingly, they are also called blue jean frogs. In the cooler (and I mean that relatively) climates, their legs are blue, making it look like they are forever in blue jeans.

We had lunch back at the sanctuary and then headed into Puerto Viejo for 2-for-1 mojitos (the only way they appear to be sold in Puerto Viejo) and dinner at a vegetarian & vegan restaurant - Veronica's Place. After all the rice and beans we've had here, I don't think I have ever been so happy to have pasta in my entire life. Don't get me wrong, our everyday food is delicious, but I do like variety. Unlike Michael who claims he will be making rice and beans his daily breakfast...

And for your daily dose of sloth, here's a cute close-up of Ubu :)

Day 11

Today was hot. Probably the hottest day since we've been here. Even the sloths were extra lazy today. We combated the heat with some nice cool drinks in Cahuita in the late afternoon. But of course, we still performed all our daily duties. 

During nursery time today, Mike took out Ubu and his room mates Sherlock and Yodo were taken out by Peter and I. They are all such sweethearts :)

While the sloths don't really have much of an odor, every once in a while some of them do need baths. These cuties got bathed by visiting vet techs - sedated first ;)

Now we're gonna act sloth-like and relax before an early night. Aside from acting like a sloth, I guess you know when you've been around them for a while when things even start looking like them....

All in a Volunteer's Day

Some details on the Sloth Sanctuary and volunteer duties.

• There are currently 145 juvenile and adult sloths that the volunteers attend to (although we get time with the babies and infants, they are primarily cared for by staff). 
• There are 6 Sections of cages, with an average of 24 sloths per Section. 
• Each cage has from 1 to 4 sloths in it. 
• There are currently 12 volunteers; over our two week stay, the number of volunteers will range from 3 to 15. 
• Each section is assigned 1-3 volunteers, and you "get to know your sloths".

The volunteer experience is very routine and fairly relaxed -- there is lots of time to get everything accomplished. There are 4 specified times that things have to be done.

• 6-7 am - Breakfast: Go in each cage (say hello) and sweep up (hair, dander, debris, left over food) the elevated platform, and wipe it down with a vinegar and water solution. Collect the plate from last night's dinner, and mark down on the sloth's personal data sheet if they ate all their dinner (and what they didn't eat). Also mark down if they urinated or defecated; if they  defecated, let the staff know if it's not normal (i.e., not in pellet form). Sort the berrohs (greens) and beans that were prepped the previous day into 145 approximately equal piles (no one wants to be accidentally shorted and we don't want waste to spoil). Distribute the breakfast to the sloths. Most sloths like you to feed them their first couple pieces of food. Yes, they're spoiled. All the plates from the previous day need to be washed.  
• 9-10 am - Baby time: Each volunteer gets about 30 minutes with a baby or juvenile. During this time, you play on the jungle gym and go for an exploratory sensory walk.
• 11-12 am - Dinner and Breakfast Prep: The vegetables for dinner (carrots, camote, chayote and beans) have to be cleaned and peeled. The berrohs (greens) and beans for tomorrow's breakfast have to be sorted (to remove bad ones) and checked (for bugs). 
• 2-3 pm - Dinner: Each cage is checked to see if the morning berrohs (greens) and beans were eaten, and the sloth sheets are marked accordingly. The staff at the sanctuary will have cooked the veggies we just cleaned, and the volunteers portion the four vegetables onto 145 plates. Again, we don't want to accidentally short any sloth and we don't want to have waste. Then, the dinner is served, usually a combination of by-hand and by-plate :)

As Aimee has noted, the rest of the day is spent as you like. Eating, relaxing, and spending more time socializing with the sloths usually occupies most of it. 

Day 10

Today I found out something I would have rather not known. There are scorpions here. This fellow is now outdoors, but was originally found in the room next to us.

And now to quickly fill your brain with something much more cute, here are pics of Mike taking Arthur for a walk and of me taking Ubu for a walk. 

My walk with Ubu was very rewarding. Poor Ubu is mostly paralyzed from the waist down. That doesn't stop him though as he has excellent upper body strength. He is also very friendly and comes right to say hi when you go in his cage. During this morning's feeding, he gave me big hugs. So I decided he should come out for a walk. He was so super excited and interested in everything. He even was moving his front arms like he was climbing, even though he was all nestled into my arms :)

In the evening a bunch of us went into Puerto Viejo. First stop was for a quick swim.

After that, we went and had a few drinks and snacks before heading back to the sanctuary.

It was a good thing our table had a couple of candles too, as the power went out in all of Puerto Viejo for about 10 minutes.

A Quick Sloth Education

We have had some questions regarding the two types of sloths and how different they are. So here are some pics of the information boards they have up at the sanctuary. The Bradypus (3-fingered) and Choloepus (2-fingered) are from two different families.

They also look quite different and only the bradypus have tails. Here are some pics of Bradypus sloths.

And here's one of two Choloepus sloths.

If you're still interested in further differences - in particular, check out the differences in gestation times - here are pics with more info.

Finally, this sloth is the most rare of all. And Dave, this one's for you....

To answer some other questions....

The sanctuary does release adult sloths back into the wild as long as they are still capable of surviving on their own. In fact, one was just released today. If they know where the sloth was found, they are released into that area. If not, they are released in the grounds surrounding the sanctuary.

In terms of the plates of veggies we prepare for them here, they are separated into piles for both the adults and juveniles. Picky, picky sloths ;)

Day 9

So far, we have seen quite a few wild sloths, but they have been Bradypus or 3 fingered sloths. We did manage to see one Choloepus (2-fingered) while on the bus home from Cahuita the other day, but it was riding on the back of a police truck and it looked none too happy about it. We assume they were relocating it into the national park. Today however, across the way from our hammock area, we saw one :)

After our shift ended today, we took a walk to Penshurt to pick up some snacks. Along the way there is a Chiquita banana plantation.

Gigantic purple grasshoppers with orange antennae.

Tonnes of chickens and roosters free ranging all over people's yards. I'm pretty sure the guys below are the ones who wake us up every morning....

And simple houses that would just not cut it in Winnipeg ;)

Finally, unrelated to our walk, but super cute, here are two pics from nursery time :)

Bizkit. Yes, with a z.

Shilo.

Day 8 - Relaxation and Rain

During nursery time today, Mike and I passed on playing with the babies. Instead, I took out Arthur - yes, my favorite :) We took a walk together...well, I walked while carrying him and he sniffed everything around him. He took a turn playing on the jungle gym and got to have some hibiscus flower. Then he wanted cuddles again, so off we went for another walk.

Mike took Buttercup for a walk. She was the first sloth that Judy ever took in. Unofficially, she is the world's most photographed sloth and even has her own Facebook page. She is so trusting of people, that when you hold her, she is not holding onto you at all - except for the fact that she has to be holding your hand. Awww.

There hasn't been any rain here for the past couple of days, so there is high humidity on top of the hot temperatures. So for most of our downtime today, we sat in hammocks along the creek. Such a nice breeze flows through...

We also got in a couple of games of pool.

And after our work day was done, a bunch of us went to Cahuita for drinks.

Finally, around dinner time it started to cloud over and then rain. Ahhh. Between the cool air and the sound of rain, we should get a good nights sleep :)