Hello, Sloth!

After another early morning and a half hour flight, we made it to Drake Bay! As we made our landing, we could see tropical trees everywhere. There were horses on our right, a dog on the runway, and parrots squawking at us! We arrived at what apparently was the airport, but there was no real building. A super nice man was there to pick us up and drive us to our hotel, Jinetes de Osa.

"Oh, no! You don't need that." The man told my dad as he started to put on his seatbelt. We took off down a gravel road and stared out the window. Banana trees, coconut trees, palm trees. It felt like the Como Zoo Conservatory, except the entire area was like that. As we were driving, my dad yelled, "Claire! Did you see it?!" We go back a little ways and to my surprise, there is a sloth sleeping in the tree. I never thought I would see a three-toed sloth in it's natural habitat.

There was a section of the road with the river running through it so we had to ford the road. Am I using the term correctly? Regardless, we had to cross the river in order to get to the other side where the road continued. Quite the undertaking. On our way to the hotel, we saw lots of people. Everyone was waving and most had dogs following behind. One boy was texting while riding his horse through town. Eventually, our driver slowed down on the beach and said, "Okay, you follow him now. He's gonna take you the rest of the way."

We followed a man for a good ten minutes, walking along the beach, up in the forest, across a rickety bridge. He's also carrying our bags this whole time. I felt so bad that my suitcase was so large! I needed the bigger one since I'll be staying for three weeks, but according to my reservation, it looks like I'm only staying five days. They're probably talking about that american college student who completely overpacked. Oh well.






We finally arrived at our hotel and were met by Rolando, one of the employees. He told us some information about meal times and activities, including the fact that it was fine to swim along the beach next to the hotel, but we should probably watch out for alligators. He showed us to our rooms, one for each of us, and dad and I were pleasantly surprised. Our rooms are incredibly charming and light. They are tucked away from the path, but are right by the beach. We have a nice hammock right outside and a whole back area of the hotel to ourselves. This hotel is incredibly small, with just 11 rooms, but it is more charming than you could imagine. After a quick nap, dad and I are going exploring to a beach up the path. I don't know what the rest of the day has in store, but I can't wait. I know tomorrow we are headed to Caño Island to go snorkeling and scuba diving!

Is
this
real?