Travel Date: July 1, 2024

Humidity = 98%. I will never complain about humidity in DC again. That’s a lie. I totally will. But this place is next level humid.

A few of our group went deep sea fishing today. There is not enough scopolamine to make me think it is a good idea to spend 8 hours on a fishing boat. So I stayed home on critter watch.

Luke and Enzo took surfing lessons this am. Enzo totally rocked it, getting up on his first attempt! (Photo is a still from a video Luke took.)

Bad news. Costa Rica is a cilantro country. And there are not one, but TWO varieties of Satan’s Weed in Costa Rica. Will try not to let this ruin my vacation.

Had a traditional Costa Rican breakfast, which I forgot to take a picture of bc I was so hungry. Chef Ronaldo was kind to me (and Anna) and made rice and beans for us without cilantro. Hero. Ronaldo is a hero.

Mangoes are OUT of this world here. They do not taste this good at home. Tried something called Linzano Sauce – super good. I thought it would be like A-1 (which is vile), but it’s more earthy/savory. Delicious on eggs.

The national bird of Costa Rica is the mosquito . They are everywhere, and they are huge. Between the sun and mosquitoes, we are shellacked. Have decided the proper layering order is: DEET sunscreen DEET DEET sunscreen.

Anna spied a sloth in a tree right outside the house, so we spent a good hour watching him. No danger of him running away. They are glacially slow creatures, and they are mostly deaf and blind. Which explains why he didn’t react to our “Yoo-hoo, Mr. Sloth” calls.

Also saw a pair of macaws. Wow are they a stunning contrast flying over the canopy of jungle green. Fun fact: macaws mate for life. Anna took this spectacular pic of one of them.

Final fish tally: 1 sailfish and 9 tuna. You aren’t allowed to keep sailfish, so he just posed for a picture. But we will be having tuna for dinner in every preparation possible for the rest of the week.

Critter count: 2 sloths , 2 macaws , 1 gigantic flying cockroach , 6 iguanas , 3 toucans, 1 sailfish, 9 tuna, several hundred butterflies, and 10,000 mosquitoes 🦟.

Salud!