Costa Rica 2024: La Fortuna Sloth Park

This afternoon's activity was a combination tour of Sloth Park (sloth sighting) and Coffee, Chocolate, and Sugarcane Tasting. The shuttle arrived at the hotel on time and about a very short drive later we were pulling up at the Sloth Park. I was very pleased with this development since I've been very vocal with my desire to visit this particular park every time we drive past it. I'm quite easily taken by the packaging, so to speak.

I love colorful signage.

The first part of the tour was a Sloth Watching. I read that the park has 20 hectares and a 2-km trail. They have 4-5 sloths, so there's 100% chance that you'll see one. In addition, opportunities to see different varieties of birds, spiders, frogs, and a lot more. The fauna is not to be missed either.

Our guide was a 19-year-old dude who had such a fascination with Italian accent and language. His name did not register to me, but that was alright since he preferred to be called Macho Man.

Macho Man

I was told that although pretty in pink, these bananas are not suitable for human consumption.

We were fascinated by the endless parade of leaf-cutter ants.

Hand-crafted by leaf-cutter ants.

Not my first time to see a sloth.

The poisonous red frog was tiny but mighty.

I see you.

The tour was about an hour and a half long, and the next part was also conducted here. I assumed wrong earlier in the day when I thought that the second part was a coffee plantation tour. Inside the park were cacao, coffee, and sugarcane plants. We walked around to see where coffee, chocolate and sugarcane came from. Then we moved to the processing of coffee beans for drinking. Same thing with cacao and sugarcane.

Our tour guide was Joseph, a former surfing instructor and I believe a pastry "chef". He was more of an entertainer than an educator which is why his tour was so fun and ran very long.

Sampling some strong coffee.

In addition to the coffee, he also prepared a beef soup with coffee as a secret ingredient. It was supposed to be for all the workers of the park, but we got to taste it as well. And it was good.

A little fun lecture on chocolate-making.

Truly one of the best hot chocolates.

Extracting sugarcane juice.

Cocktail using sugarcane juice.

Airdropping photos after the tour. As you can see the tour ran long, it was dark outside. When we got back to the office/waiting area, we were told that the shuttles were no longer available. They called us a taxi instead so we could go back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, the matter of dinner came up. We drove back to town to find dinner. We went to 2 sodas that were on our list, but both were already closed. So I suggested going to Soda Rodriguez, the one I found on TripAdvisor, but was nixed by the tour guide. By this time, we were getting a heavy downpour and it was getting very late too. Thankfully, we were welcomed at Soda Rodriguez

Soda Rodriguez is a kitschy, funky restaurant and was nearly empty given that it was raining heavily and it wasn't easy to find. We were not given a menu but was told of the specialties of the night and was told the plates were large and shareable.

While you wait for the food, they give you a wooden plank and paint and so you can leave something in writing. Some of the past customers writings were funny, others were serious. I could stay here longer to read all the planks.

Our contribution.

Tuna casado, really good.

As an added bonus, there were cats and dogs inside the restaurant.

She sat with us and agreed that the casados here are really yummy.

Sir, may I have more tuna?