Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

We’re staying in La Fortuna right now, at the foot of Arenal volcano. This morning Nefarious and I were up early and it was clear and cloudless, so we watched the volcano spew ash into the sky before going for a morning swim. In about an hour we’ll be leaving to go white water rafting, and then probably spend the night here, and leave in the morning for a four hour or so drive to go to the sloth reserve. I’ve been getting a surprising amount of writing done as well.

Yesterday we went on a “river safari”, rafting down a very gentle river — Balsa River if I remember right (but I might not) — and when we got there, at our start point, was a big frilled lizard and two sloths up in the tree, a mother and a baby. As we went down the river, which was beautiful with the vegetation alone, lush trees and vines and plants of all sorts and huge grasses and massive bamboo stands and many logs to avoid from the previous day’s flooding, we saw a number of animals including more sloths, lots of birds, and a big turtle. We also saw a few trees full of howler monkeys that make a huge hooting racket as we shouted back at them with the alpha male shaking the tree to scare us off, and we also saw a big (well, a young ten foot long) crocodile basking on the river bed. The water was low, so the crocs felt vulnerable to humans, and we saw less than normal. We also passed under a low tree that was covered in little bats only a few feet over our heads… I took lots of photos and will post them on our return, but unfortunately I did not get one of macaque that I know is everyone’s favorite. Hahahaa…

At the end of the river journey we stopped at a farm for snacks of grilled plantain, which tasted like wonderful sweet pancakes, and fresh home made cheese, light with a sort of mozzarella essence, and Nefarious played with their puppy and together they chased a white rabbit around the grounds of the farm, amid goats, pigs, cows, and horses. That night in La Fortuna we went to an amazing restaurant and I had tilapia, presented whole and stuffed with vegetables and cheese, and possibly fished from the river we had just explored.

It’s been nice staying so online as well. I’m very impressed at Costa Rica’s infrastructure — the power and communication grid seems really thorough, and no matter how remote we get, there still seems to be a cell phone signal as well. Just outside town we drove through a massive wind farm, and the rivers here power hydroelectric stations as well. The roads also seem well maintained, which can’t be easy given how wet the country is.

Anyway… Off to the rapids!