Catching up with the Sloths (which isn't hard to do, mind you)

Well, being a couple of days behind (Paul here, by the way), rather than bore you with pages of rambling narrative I’ll kind of meander through bullet points covering our last couple of days here…

-          It’s definitely the rainy season here. From apparent weeks with minimal rain to, essentially, significant bouts of rain every day. They spring up out of nowhere, and are often gone just as fast (with the exception of the one half-day downpour). In fact, I’m writing this just after scrambling across to our room from the volunteer dining table in the midst of a sudden and steady rain…. And yes, it still makes the sloths go crazy each and every time. 

-          Speaking of crazy sloths, we’ve been woken up more than a few times in recent days by the screech of sloth mating calls. It just so happens that when the female sloth is in heat, she periodically lets out a loud, high pitched squeal. Apparently, the need to mate knows no clock, and this squeal has become a viable and predictable part of the ether here. Imagine the patience the females have to have… I mean, they’re sloths. It’s not like the boys can get to them very quickly, amirite?

-          We’ve begun cycling through volunteers rather quickly. In the past two days we’ve lost Nora (New York) and Alice (Australia), and gained Kate (Canada), Brianna (Washington), Mark (Australia), and Jorge & Angela (Spain). Tomorrow, we lose original Angela (Minnesota) and gain Robin (Germany).  Meanwhile, we soldier on with our established crew of Phil & Yvette (Australia), Jorge & Dusty (Peru/New York), and Michael (California). Got that? Good….. Seriously though, it’s a fun group, and the chemistry is good. We spend our days working with the sloths, and (early) evenings joking around the dinner table, which is fun (despite serving as a porterhouse for mosquitoes).

-          Speaking of, on the night of the 7^th we all went back down to Puerto Viejo to celebrate a combination of departures/birthdays, etc…  mastering the all-Espanol public bus system was much easier the second time around. We all headed down as a group after work, walked around the town a bit and had a nice dinner at a place called KoKi Beach (capitalized as they do). KoKi Beach felt out of place in the quaint beach town of Puerto Viejo…. PV itself is very small, very laid back, and devoid of flash or pretension of any kind. Things open late, the pace is slow, and you can literally walk the entire town in a matter of an hour or so. The restaurant, meanwhile, could have been in the lobby of a large Caribbean resort; trendy seating, thumping music, repurposed light fixtures, slick presentation, and an upscale Caribbean menu (not just Puerto Viejo upscale, Upscale upscale). Still, I’m not at all complaining…. Like everything in PV, KoKi was entirely open air… I don’t think there’s A/C in the entire town… and the breeze coming off the sea felt fantastic. And so, an evening with a table covered in steaks, salads, fruity drinks, and cuba libres with a view of the Caribbean (did I mention we were right on the beach?? Oh yeah.. that too.)… yeah, I’ll take it…. A welcome break from the rice & beans of the volunteer kitchen. Also, not to go off course, but you know how you can tell when a place is fancy? When the sink is full of volcanic rocks. That’s how.

-          A quick aside- when cockroaches here lie still on their backs for extended periods of time, they’re not necessarily dead. Just FYI.

-          Today during “baby time” Rachel got to take out Buttercup, the queen sloth herself. Buttercup is the reason this whole place exists, and is the oldest known sloth in captivity at 20+ years. .. she has a special throne (hanging wicker basket) upstairs, and she runs this place and knows it. Rachel was incredibly excited to get to take the Queen for a walk, and Buttercup seemed to enjoy it quite a bit as well. In the Sloth World, it felt a lot like getting some one on one time with a huge celebrity. Big moment.

-          One bonus of getting new volunteers in is the division of work. We’re all assigned sloths to clean up after and feed, and when we get enough volunteers we can split our sections. In the past day I’ve gone from being on my own with 20 sloths to sharing the load with a new volunteer. This allows me to spend more time with the sloths individually and to help out with other chores like hosing off cage floors, washing dishes, helping other volunteers feed, etc… it’s been nice to get the flexibility, and it feels comforting and even a bit surprising to feel in such a rhythm with all our duties. We’ve gone from being virtually clueless and tentative to confidently going about our business in a matter of days (though I’ve no doubt there’s still tons to learn!).

-          Oh, and since Rachel did it, I feel obligated to send a shout out to my crew: Grace, Li’l Angel, Fibo, Dulcinea, Cocoa Bean, Lightnin’, Opal, Pearl, Rosie, Bentley, Nala, Bodhi, Billy, Gabriella, Tippy, Mitzi, Oliver, Snap, Brandy, and Mowgli. That’s my sloth team, and the group that I’ve grown a good bit attached to the past 8 days. They each have a unique and amazing story of how they got here, and they each (really) have a very unique personality I’ve very quickly gotten to know. I’m gonna miss these guys, but it’s a good feeling to know they’re in such caring hands here at Aviarios. 

-          Also, what does it say that I learned my sloths’ names far faster than I learn my kids’ names each fall?

-          Tomorrow is our first wedding anniversary (what better way to say “I love you” than by being surrounded by sloths?), so we’re taking our second day off and heading into town for some shopping and a nice dinner.  We’re equally as excited about not waking up at 5:30am tomorrow, if we’re being honest here.

Well, in short, all is well here. We’ve fallen into a comfortable routine; the sloths are fantastic, as are the people. There are stories around every corner, and there’s nothing here that’s not beautiful and/or very interesting. I’ve come to enjoy unexpected things, like laughing like crazy at volunteer dinners, keeping sloths from bumping into each other on a jungle gym, the feeling on covering my legs in anti-itch cream, and the thrill of finding the spot with the best exchange rate in town (did I mention that PV has a guy who specializes in WORM BITES?? Try finding THAT in Dallas). Off to town tomorrow, with updates soon to follow. Adios!