Puerto Viejo is one of those places where you can get stuck and never reappear. A good friend of mine has been here before and told me to expect aged hippies and a chilled out, herbal infused environment. Never a truer word has been said.
When I used to go the gym at lunch time in Croydon, I was usually half stoned by the time I had completed the 100 meter walk courtesy of the Ganga crew that used to smokes tons of weed outside the YMCA which was right next to the gym. And people thought I went there for the exercise....
Needless to say, walking down the main drag here in Puerto Viejo I am transported back to lovely old Croydon. No-one seems to smoke normal cigarettes here, they are all of the herbal kind, purely medicinal I'm sure. I had planned on approaching a local dealer, parting with a few dollars and lighting up. However I soon realized this is all free if you hang out in the right place. I headed off to the loudest reggae bar, stood behind the Rasta with the biggest spliff and breathed deeply, man it brought back Croydon!!! I had a sudden craving for pizza after about half an hour bur luckily these folk know their clientele well. EVERYONE sells pizza in this capital of Costa Rican munchies. Damn it tasted good.
Talking about hippies, there is this really sweet old dude who trundles around on his red bicycle through town on what seems to be a mission that only he knows of. Everywhere I go, I see him. His scrawny hippie surfer limbs slowly pedaling his clapped out bike. His hair is down to his butt and his beard is almost too. He looks so chilled out I'm sure he has to remind himself to breathe every now and then. I'm guessing he stopped off here 30 years ago and never left. The lady who looks after the hotel in the evening here is the same, she came here a year ago to volunteer at the animal sanctuary and has never left. Must be the food and the weed, both of good quality!
So sloths! After battling to see them in the wild in Tortuguero I eventually saw a 2 toed and then a 3 toed sloth on opposite sides of the river. On the trip we also found an anteater that I swear was zonked on Red Bull or something. This crazy dude was literally frolicking in the trees, jumping, climbing and generally behaving like a lunatic anteater, amazing to see. I could not get pictures on the phone so they won't be on the blog. However I did get a chance to visit the Jaguar rescue center today, so named as the original rescue animal was a Jaguar.
This is the place where loads of people come to volunteer for a minimum of a month. Personally I think it is because they get to hand feed and play with baby monkeys and sloths all day long but what do I know. The young animals are impossibly cute and even stir an old cynic like me, especially considering how much I love animals.
There is a whole process from when the sloths are absolute babies through to juveniles and then adults which can be released back into the wild. Wherever possible the animals are set free into the centers own private reserve. This is very similar to Moholoholo in South Africa. These guys have Pelicans with attitude along with a crazy deer who spent 10 minutes licking off all the deet lotion from me as she has a thing for sweat. Man I was sticky afterwards.
Sloths don't do an awful lot, that's why they are tough to see in the wild. There is no movement to give them away. As you can see from the pictures of the busy teenage sloths, life moves at a slow pace. Fortunately I now have incredible close up shots of sloth faces taken with my 400 lens, happy days. I would definitely recommend a visit to this place for anyone planning a trip to Costa Rica, it's well worth the effort.
Well that's it for me in Costa Rica. I head back to the capital tomorrow then fly on Saturday morning to start what is arguably the most dangerous part of the trip, Honduras.
Right now I'm off back to the Rasta bar to freeloading off the dude smoking the largest spliff. Afterwards methinks pizza.....
Hasta Luego
When I used to go the gym at lunch time in Croydon, I was usually half stoned by the time I had completed the 100 meter walk courtesy of the Ganga crew that used to smokes tons of weed outside the YMCA which was right next to the gym. And people thought I went there for the exercise....
Needless to say, walking down the main drag here in Puerto Viejo I am transported back to lovely old Croydon. No-one seems to smoke normal cigarettes here, they are all of the herbal kind, purely medicinal I'm sure. I had planned on approaching a local dealer, parting with a few dollars and lighting up. However I soon realized this is all free if you hang out in the right place. I headed off to the loudest reggae bar, stood behind the Rasta with the biggest spliff and breathed deeply, man it brought back Croydon!!! I had a sudden craving for pizza after about half an hour bur luckily these folk know their clientele well. EVERYONE sells pizza in this capital of Costa Rican munchies. Damn it tasted good.
Talking about hippies, there is this really sweet old dude who trundles around on his red bicycle through town on what seems to be a mission that only he knows of. Everywhere I go, I see him. His scrawny hippie surfer limbs slowly pedaling his clapped out bike. His hair is down to his butt and his beard is almost too. He looks so chilled out I'm sure he has to remind himself to breathe every now and then. I'm guessing he stopped off here 30 years ago and never left. The lady who looks after the hotel in the evening here is the same, she came here a year ago to volunteer at the animal sanctuary and has never left. Must be the food and the weed, both of good quality!
So sloths! After battling to see them in the wild in Tortuguero I eventually saw a 2 toed and then a 3 toed sloth on opposite sides of the river. On the trip we also found an anteater that I swear was zonked on Red Bull or something. This crazy dude was literally frolicking in the trees, jumping, climbing and generally behaving like a lunatic anteater, amazing to see. I could not get pictures on the phone so they won't be on the blog. However I did get a chance to visit the Jaguar rescue center today, so named as the original rescue animal was a Jaguar.
This is the place where loads of people come to volunteer for a minimum of a month. Personally I think it is because they get to hand feed and play with baby monkeys and sloths all day long but what do I know. The young animals are impossibly cute and even stir an old cynic like me, especially considering how much I love animals.
Well that's it for me in Costa Rica. I head back to the capital tomorrow then fly on Saturday morning to start what is arguably the most dangerous part of the trip, Honduras.
Right now I'm off back to the Rasta bar to freeloading off the dude smoking the largest spliff. Afterwards methinks pizza.....
Hasta Luego
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