While staying in a cabin on a chicken, bamboo and sugar cane farm, we spent a few days in the Orosi Valley of central Costa Rica. Organic agriculture is making inroads, but without a cold winter to kill off pests, it’s a challenging way to grow produce. (Orosi Valley, Feb 4-7)

Some short walks in the country’s wettest park. Trail maintenance means a steady dose of the weed-wacker to keep the tenacious jungle at bay. (Tapanti Nat’l Park, Feb 5)

This area specializes in producing the artisanal cheese that is a mainstay of Costa Rican breakfasts. We visited a hotel staff member’s family farm to watch her Mom & Dad go through the 2hr cheese making process. They repeat this twice a day - once at midday and again at midnight (!!). (Turrialba, Feb 3)

Rennet was added to the fresh milk (200 liters from only 34 cows!) and within 10 minutes it began to bind. With thoroughly scrubbed arms and wearing gloves, Angie’s Mom slowly moved the mixture around - the slow, purposeful movements are quite an art.

Whatever wasn’t bound together was sifted off as buttermilk and fed to the farm animals. The thin liquid tasted much sweeter than our thick buttermilk at home.

Handfuls of salt were stirred in and then the mixture was placed in tubs where as much excess liquid as possible was pressed away. Two hours later the now dry blocks were moved to the fridge and ready to be picked up by the distributor that day. The soft, mild cheese is delicious!

This little blue heron had to work as patiently as us to finally get this fish/shot. Tomorrow we leave the east coast to head into the central valley.

A night walk yielded a bunch of frogs, spiders and bugs, along with a lone snake. Above: Costa Rica’s darling, the red-eyed tree frog. (Cahuita to Punta Uva)

When a predator is close, the red-eyed tree frog closes its eyes and when the predator closes in, the frog opens its eyes. The hope is that the sudden flash of red startles the predator long enough for an escape.

During the day, the red-eyed tree frog flattens itself out and covers up its colorful legs to prevent attracting predators. When the frog’s bright red eyes are closed, they’re covered with special eyelids to help it blend in with the leaf. The weblike lids appear reptilian - they’re worth zooming in.

Strawberry poison-dart frogs. The belief is that the various species of dart frogs take their name from native Colombian tribes who used them to make poisoned arrows. The hunters rubbed their arrows on the frog’s back and when the arrow penetrated an animal’s hide, it entered the bloodstream and caused paralysis.

Green & black poison dart frogs are poisonous, but not lethal to humans. Unlike others, the dart frogs are good parents. The male picks a leaf, with a low risk for predators and no sunshine, for the eggs to be deposited on. Even a few minutes of sun exposure can be fatal to the offspring. The eggs are constantly watched and once they hatch, the female gently carries the tadpoles on her back to a place where they can safely mature into froglets. While there, the female returns regularly to feed them her own unfertilized eggs.

Female golden orb-weaver spider’s 3-dimensional webs shine like gold in the sunlight. Science has tried to figure out ways to use the super strong spider silk. If wikipedia is to be believed, certain fishermen remove the webs and form them into a ball, which they later throw into the water. There it unfolds and is used to catch bait fish.

Sloth spotting has exceeded our expectations! The beach goes on for several kilometers and along our walk this guy was perched on a tree overhanging the surf. At first this juvenile three-toed sloth was rolled up and looked like a nondescript cluster of leaves. But, we patiently waited him out and after about an hour he finally snacked for a few minutes. (Punta Uva, Jan 29-31)

The green colour on it's back is algae. The mother passes the algae on to her offspring. The algae provides camouflage for the sloth and in return the water and critters that find shelter in the sloth's fur provide sustenance for the algae.

The howler monkeys were especially loud in this area. They don't like noise and at certain times of the day when they heard a car in the distance they'd start howling.

South of Cahuita sit quiet Punta Uva and Manzanillo with nearby Puerto Viejo for a few blocks of restaurants and activity. Pristine beaches offer kilometres of walking. In this time of overtourism - that we’re a part of - it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find such spaces of solitude. Above: a tranquil bungalow in Punta Uva.

Our first experience glamping.

Always interesting to learn (or relearn:) how and where everyday foods grow ... these nutmeg fruits are used for 2 spices. The fruit is sun dried until the nutmeg seed shrinks away from its shell and the shell is used for mace. Fun fact: In large doses, nutmeg can cause a psychotic episode that could last up to 3 days.

As we were checking in to a new place the owner’s kids got all excited and told us a two-toed sloth was on the ground. They said it’s such a rare sight even for them. By the time we reached him, he was on his way back up the tree and well camouflaged. (Manzanillo, Jan 27-29)

The east coast’s black sand isn’t pretty to look at, but it’s very soft and shared by few. A flag is flown indicating that the beach is kept to the highest ecological standard. And the bonus is the snorkeling nearby in one of Costa Rica’s few remaining live reefs. (Cahuita, Jan 23-26)

This sloth was in an animal sanctuary along with other animals found injured or confiscated by the government from homes where they were kept as illegal pets. The injured are often returned to the jungle, but unfortunately the former pets usually haven’t learned the skills needed to fend for themselves. Over lunch in the village we watched a wild one lumber about in a nearby tree trying to find a peaceful spot away from the pesky birds. Interestingly, it takes sloths a month to digest a single meal and they only come down from the tree about once a week to dig a hole to urinate and defecate before returning back up to their perch. This separates their scent from where they live to make them less vulnerable to predators.

A trio of wild capuchin monkeys visit the sanctuary for casual hook ups with a troop of females. The hope is that once the females are well enough, they’ll take off with the males for a better chance of integrating back into the wild. The impressive thing about the sanctuary was that the public was only allowed in for 1.5hrs on a once per day tour, so there weren’t any tourists teasing or feeding the animals - always a sad sight.

Olingos are way up there on the cuteness scale which makes them popular, but illegal pets and valuable for their pelts (wallets & horse saddles - who knew). They’re related to the raccoon, but far more elusive. A fleeting sight of one during its nocturnal hunt was a real treat.

The Cahuita National Park is packed with wildlife and an 11km hike showcases the best - half following the coastline and half in the jungle.

Thrilling to see a collared aracari toucan in the national park! (So many of the animals/birds are safely tucked wayyy up high, so photos really stretched our camera’s limited zoom lens).

Rich brown termite nests are a thing of beauty and their denizens taste good too (we even had seconds:). The termites here don’t bite, they taste citrusy with a bit of crunch and if you rub them between your fingers, the sap-like resin provides relief from mosquitoes. They’re listed on a website noting 7 [protein rich] insects you’ll be eating in the future.

A juvenile yellow-crowned night heron hunkering down in the drizzle. His parents are close by, but juveniles don’t recognize them. Instead, they beg from whatever adult is close by. Eventually the youngsters make their way to their nest where the parents feed them.

Protected land covers over 25% of the country. So when this main east-west thoroughfare intersected with nature, the tree dwellers got their own bridge system - netting strung between trees on each side of the highway. The nets appeared to extend into the forest, presumably to make the crossing as natural as possible. Tunnels provided safe crossing for other wildlife. Sadly (for nature and independent travelers), the highway from San Jose to the relatively undeveloped east coast is being significantly widened as part of a pact the country reached with China and its Silk Road Economic Belt initiative. (Bajos de Chilamate, Jan 22)

Enroute to an eco-lodge in a cloud forest reserve, the landscape was shrouded in a heavy fog. Only 1% of the worlds woodlands are considered cloud forest. After heavy losses in the past few decades, many are now being protected. (San Ramon, Jan 19-21)

My 59th birthday was spent traipsing through the reserve’s virgin forest. Literally walking through clouds left our skin feeling dewy plump. Rufous-tailed hummingbirds are the aggressive ones of their species. There was a lot of time spent chasing each other away from food sources and occasionally dive bombing close to our heads.

At dusk a band of coatis appeared, busy tearing out clumps of grass in search of insects. it’s no surprise that homeowners don’t appreciate the animals destructive foraging habits. Their cousins, the raccoons, are plentiful as well - signs everywhere ask people not to feed them.

Milking one of the lodges dairy cows was a lot of fun for a couple of city folks.

I had my milk straight up while Rick opted to have some chocolate powder added to his - warm and delicious!!