We expected that Puerto Viejo was going to be mainly a staging point on our way to the Bocas del Toro islands in Panama. It was a long day crossing the country from the Pacific to the Caribbean coast. We passed through San Jose en route and it gave us a brief opportunity to scout out the city before returning to it in a couple of weeks. As our taxi driver said it, “well San Jose, it isn’t anything special…have you been to Monteverde yet?…that place is great!” He was also the equipment manager for one of the local American football teams (as we found out there is a competitive league in Central America which is pretty good).
So back to the trip to the coast. After San Jose, heading east on the highway we climbed up into a mountain range and passed through one of the very cool tunnels that always feels like a video game moment similar to those in British Columbia. As we came back down towards sea level it was obvious that we were somewhere else. The air changed and by the time we got to Limon, we saw miles of banana plantations (Chiquita) and 3-mile long surf breaks with no one on them. It was still another hour until we got to our next stop, which was a fun little town with a wide variety of people, including dreadlocked hippies, Rastas, travelers and other interesting characters. Puerto Viejo has some incredible hostels and a beach town life that seems to leave people in a perpetual staging point in their lives. It definitely felt like a place where you could get sucked into and swing life away in a hammock. In fact the sloth seems to be the defacto symbol of the area.
The highlight of the town, and potentially one of greatest highlights of the trip to date was a trip to the Jaguar Animal Rescue Center – www.jaguarrescue.com – we didn’t know exactly what to expect, but my niece Olivia is always telling me about Diego and Dora and their animal rescue center from the cartoon. It was absolutely phenomenal!! The Centre is a private group (with no government funding) and run by a biologist couple – the guy loves snakes and the lady loves monkeys, so it was amazing right from the beginning. Their mission is to help animals who are sick, injured or abandoned and take care of them until they can be (re-)released.
We had a tour of all the snakes that they have and are currently taking care of and breeding for release into the wild. So, that is cool, but did not sit well with everyone because some of these snakes like the Fer-de-lance can kill someone with a bite in a couple of hours and they actually like picking fights.
They also had a margay (a wild cat) that they have been working with for over a year. The training involves hunting mice and other smaller prey so that the cat can develop enough skills without a mama cat so it can be released with a reasonable chance of survival. Well, in a classic Lisa Simpson moment, they let the cat out of its cage for its morning training and unbeknown to the biologist, one of the beautiful spectacled owls who lived in the next cage had gotten out during the night. The cat must have known, because once the gate was opened it charged and took down the owl in one attack. The biologists had also been working with the owl for a couple of years and it was part of a pair. The female owl has been in her house crying for almost a week now and we could only see the top of her head and eyes as we walked by. That was certainly the Circle of Life. It is sad and funny at the same time.
So next were some birds; no big deal. Especially because the biologist told us that we are not only going to see the juvenile howler monkeys up close, we are going to get to visit their holding area and play with them. It was the most exciting news I have had in a long time. We went into their home and there were about 8 young monkeys that were relatively used to humans and like people; some were interested in us and others didn’t care. They all showed distinct personalities – some were shy, some wanted to show off their jumping abilities, and others were clingy (especially the youngest one, Frida). One of the monkeys climbed up onto me and was on my shoulder and then started to climb down my front and wrapped his tail around my forearm and hung there. Its tail was so strong that there was no doubt that he could hang from it for the whole day. Catherine had another monkey climb onto her shoulder and immediately start eating her hair. We played with the monkeys for a while and got to meet all of them before we left. We were all supremely jealous of the volunteers whose work it was to cuddle and play with monkeys all day. I am still smiling now.
Next was the red-eyed green tree frog that is the famous symbol of Costa Rica. We went to an area where the frog gang hangs out and found lots of eggs and remnants of the party that the crazy raving frogs had the night before. One of the biologists then pointed out one of the frogs – it looked like a light green lump on a leaf. It looked nothing like the pictures we have seen (for example, on the Vancouver Aquarium swag). But then, our guide touched the frog and it came to life like a cartoon character. It was incredible to see how vivid the red eyes were that protruded from its little face, its legs were orange and it was doing its best Zoolander poses, like it knew how freaken cool it was. Then it happened…it looked right at me while the others were taking its picture…and jumped onto my shoulder. I froze as it looked at me and then in a moment it decided to jump off. One of the other people on the tour freaked out and caught the little guy mid-air like he was attempting to end his life. The whole time I am pretty sure that it was putting on a show for everyone.
While all this was happening a deer (who is basically the equivalent to a pet dog at the Centre) was hanging out with us watching the frogs and looking for someone to scratch behind her ears. It was so cute that you really had to laugh. I am sure that Diego and Dora (and all of the kids that watch the shows) would be very proud to know that people are actually making a difference and working with animals while creating a small significant impact for not only the animals but people that leave the center with a new relationship with the monkeys and an unforgettable experience.
So our staging place ended up being another amazing highlight in the trip. It continuously seems that you can never underestimate places and people. Often, it is the places that you did not have any expectations about that end up creating the most profound and lasting memories.
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