Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Why Did the Sloth Cross the Road?

Every moment of the past two weeks has been an adventure. Some moments were thrilling, some were so beautiful I wanted to cry, some were. . . well, how can I put this delicately. . . uncomfortable, some were relaxing, and there was one moment that left all three of us cowering under our sheets in fright. My total numbers ended up like this: 9 mosquito bites, 1 puking-on-the-side-of-the-road hangover, 2 bitchin bruises, 14 straight days of rain, 1 call to the front desk at 1:30 in the morning about a bug in our hotel room, 1 minor sunburn, and 0 diseases/parasites. The rain I won't complain about too much. We knew we were going to a rain forest in the rainy season (I took this picture in the Monteverde Cloud Forest) but by the end of the trip, our suitcases were smelling more than a little dank and I was really hoping to be able to dry out once I got back to the States; but alas, the weekend I spent in Indiana was just as wet as the Costa Rican rainforest.

I have been itching to sit down and get these stories down on (virtual) paper before I start forgetting details, but now that I finally have my laptop open in front of me, it seems like such a monumental tasks. So many things to remember, I don't even know where to start.

I'll start with the sloth
On our way to the river to go white water rafting, we came upon a sloth in the road. We stopped in the street and got out, though I assumed it was road kill because he didn't appear to be moving much. Lucky for the sloth, he was quite alive. He was just having a rather difficult time crossing the road because when they are not hanging from trees, sloths use their arms to pull themselves along on their bellies, and there are not many handholds for a sloth on a paved road.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket


And although we had traffic stopped on our side of the road, he kept trying to cross to the other side where the traffic (which included a large number of Mack trucks) was not showing any signs of slowing. Our guide kept grabbing the poor guy by his hind legs and pulling him back away from the center of the road, but the determined sloth would just re-start his sloooow moving pace to get to the other side of the road.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket


Eventually, our guide Danny, picked him up by the scruff on his lower back and carried him safely to the other side where he made himself much more comfortable back in the first tree he could find.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket


Quote of the day - some Irish guy pointing to his head: "It's not just a hat rack!"

- lada is business in the front and a party in the back

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Luke 10:29-37...D

Anonymous said...

I prefer the Book of Armaments, Chapter Two, Verses Nine to Twenty-One

"And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, 'Oh, Lord, bless this thy hand grenade that with it thou mayest blow thy enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.' And the Lord did grin, and people did feast upon the lambs, and sloths, and carp, and anchovies, and orangutans, and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats, and large --"

Me said...

Did Jesus or Monty Python have a verse that explains why I saw a giant vulture struck out of the air and killed by a truck the night before the sloth was saved?