Puntarenas was our gateway to the lush heart of Costa Rica. Our day began at the Sloth Sanctuary, where we saw a variety of animals, but the baby sloths were by far the star of the show. Private citizens are not allowed to own wild animals of any kind in Costa Rica as of a few years ago. There were a lot of parrots and parakeets and other animals that had been confiscated, but also animals for rehab. They don’t allow animals to breed at the sanctuary because they don’t want them to bond with humans, but apparently the sloths don’t present a problem because they just hang out whenever they put them back after their rehab.
From there, we wandered through a stunning botanical garden bursting with orchids and the largest bamboo I’ve ever seen.
Sarchí — a living tradition of brilliantly hand-painted folk art that’s been UNESCO-recognized for generations. I visited an ox cart factory. Ox carts are still used to collect coffee beans in some of the fields. They’re traditionally very beautifully hand-painted, and since they don’t use any gas and last for fifteen or twenty years, they’re actually pretty economical.We had lunch at a buffet in Sarchí, connected to a huge gift shop full of hand-painted kitsch. The shop’s beautiful murals also done by the local artisans.
