No Way San José

San José was never on our itinerary but plans changed when we got to the north of Costa Rica and discovered that the political situation in Nicaragua had worsened. While there were no immediate threats to the personal security for tourists, the number of road blocks had grown across the country and the word was that it was becoming more difficult to travel through the country. Rather than risk getting stuck in Nicaragua, we decided to turn around and head to San José. The only possible way north was to fly to another country, either to El Salvador or Guatemala.

To get to San José from Playas del Coco, we needed to take a one-and-a-half-hour bus trip to Liberia, followed by another five-hour bus trip. We had been warned about San José and told to spend as little time as possible in the city. We were on guard but didn't feel that our personal safety was threatened. We did stumble upon one area that appeared a little dodgy but quickly retreated. The police presence in the area was a little reassuring. What wasn't reassuring was that the Subway manager was wearing a gun on his hip as people casually ate their sandwiches and salads. We quickly scoffed down something to eat and then returned to the safety of our hotel. Now that our plans had changed, there was a bit of re-organising that needed to occur.

The following day, we had a few hours to kill before our flight and, considering that we had only been able to find one sloth in the wild, we decided we would check-out the zoo in San José. Normally, we don't go to zoos but this one was a bit different in that all of the animals had been rescued, including one sloth. The anticipation built as we entered the zoo, walking past a variety of monkeys, coatis and a grey fox before we came upon the solitary sloth. There in an enclosure curled up in a ball was a two-toed sloth. The ball of fur could've easily been an old, disused rug from someone's lounge room. Disappointment set-in but maybe the jaguar would change the mood. Further disappointment came as the nocturnal animal (unsurprisingly) hid away in its enclosure. It was obviously never meant to be. And there will be no other opportunities to see a sloth on the next part of our adventure.

Next stop: Guatemala CityRead more