Seven Days to Sloths

Costa Rica June 2014 Brian and I are heading to Costa Rica on Tuesday. He does not know much about our agenda, but he is in for an adventurous journey (animals included). Things I'm looking forward to: *Navigating the pothole-covered roads in a rental 4x4 *Staying two nights at a sloth sanctuary (the sanctuary was featured in Animal Planet's show, Meet the Sloths) *Seeing baby sloths use stuffed animals as surrogate mothers *Getting a private tour at the Jaguar Rescue Center (hopefully, we'll see some big cats) *Taking a boat to Tortuguero to go on a late night turtle mating tour *Rappelling down canyon waterfalls near Volcán Arenal *Going to Jill Brandt's "happy place": the thermal pools at The Springs Resort *A private guided rainforest hike to Rio Celeste and Tenorio Volcano *A private guided night walk in the cloud forest of Monteverde *Relaxing in hot springs and landscaped pools *Eating in a tree-house restaurant *Flying through the canopy on a zipline and walking on suspension bridges through the rainforest *Negotiating conversations with my rudimentary Spanish (and watching Brian fumble with his 10-word Spanish vocabulary--his best: "No fumar.") *Observing big cats, monkeys, butterflies, frogs, reptiles, sloths, and birds *Seeing the painted ox carts in Sarche and the crazy shaped topiary sculptures in Zarcero *Getting a private tour of Manuel Antonio National Park with Johan Chaves *Learning how kids can make a difference at Kids Saving the Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary *Flying first class all the way home Time for some strategic packing! Prepare for some email updates along the way...