Spiders, sloths and sickness

A bit of a shaky start to the day as Laura was ill in the night with D+V. The first illness of our trip, although I'm sure it won't be our last.... We went on a guided walk and saw green and brown basilisk lizards (very beautiful, especially the green one), monkeys, some large spiders (including the "golden orb", with one of the strongest webs of any spider - see photo) and more lizards. We also saw a 3-toed sloth - she was high up in the tree canopy and difficult to see/photograph (hence the not so great picture!) but worth seeing, after 2 weeks of waiting to see a sloth. Oh, and plenty of ants - many different types and sizes, including the "bullet ant", around an inch long and apparently very painful when it bites. Some of the ants (luckily not bullet ants) decided to explore my trouser leg and they bit me several times, to the point that I had to remove and shake my trousers before replacing them! It brought a whole new meaning to the phrase "ants in your pants"... In the afternoon we explored the forest more, found a cocoa tree and also had a paddle in the Sarapiqui river. We enjoyed the buffet dinners in the lodge - a bit more variety made a welcome change to the ubiquitous beans & rice. In the evening we enjoyed a beer in the hammock again, watching the fireflies come out for the night.Read more