In one of my other posts I wrote about the Holland America Cruise’s Zuiderdam. It’s where I was able to stir the cruise ship and meet the Captain. Costa Rica was one of the stops on this cruise. We docked at Limon in November of 2018, and the very first thing I wanted to do was see a sloth. An average of two feet tall, constantly smiling furry, and fuzzy mammal is one of my favorite animals. I think they are super cute! There are two types of sloths; a three-toed sloth and a two-toed sloth. I like the three-toed sloth because it’s slightly cuter than the other.

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I would love to have a pet sloth, but to own a pet sloth I would have to obtain a permit to own one. They would be super easy to care for. They are omnivores so they eat leaves, small lizards, and insects. Then they go to relieve themselves, once a month. They smile the entire time they do it, and they hug a tree or a pole the whole time. You really should see a video of them pooping. It’s like they’re dancing while pooping. It’s really funny, but enough about sloths.

If you look on a map, you will see that Costa Rica borders the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, Nicaragua, and Panama. The top ten largest cities are San Jose (capital), Puerto Limon, Alajuda, Heredia, Cinco Esquinas, Desampardos, Liberia, Puntarenas, San Vicento, and Barranca. The main language is Spanish and the main religion is is Catholicism.We docked at Puerto Limon and my dad did not book ahead for a tour. We usually buy a tour from one of the tour operators at the port. My dad is really good at choosing which one to book and it’s always cheaper compared to the one from the cruise line. We got a taxi that took us to the Tortuguero River boat tours. On the way to the boat tour, I saw the beautiful landscape of Costa Rica. Lots of trees, banana plantations, and some run down buildings due to the earthquake in 2009. When we passed a tree, there was a sloth in it. There was a bus stopped on the side of the road, and the passengers stepped out to admire it. I wanted to see it too, but it was too crowded. I was kind of sad.

The river tour was fun though. On the riverboat, the guide said that if you follow the river all the way up, you would reach Nicaragua! We also saw some kind of black monkeys, a barely visible lizard, and more sloths that just looked like a dark blob in the trees.

Before we got to the port though, we saw a three-toed sloth on a barbed wire fence. It was the same sloth everyone from that big bus was huddled around. During our riverboat tour, it climbed down and climbed up on the fence next to the tree. It was low enough so I could reach out and touch it, so I did! My goal for Costa Rica was to see a sloth. But, nope! I was able to pet a sloth too! The fur was actually soft. I used hand sanitizer after I petted the sloth and I washed my hands when I was able. After the tour was done, we headed back to the port to walk around a little to check out some souvenirs. All in all, Costa Rica was fun! Stay tuned for more!

Photo edited by @roamwithrodd