Carnival Miracle 12/01/07 Review - The Good, The Great and the AWESOME...

[TallyRockChick]

Day 4 - Colon, Panama

 

We decided that if we were going to do anything in Panama we were gonna keep it cheap so we chose the Carnival tour to the Portobello Pirate Town. It ended up being like $46 each. The tour was meeting in the Phantom at 8 so we set the alarm on the phone (a wake up call if you will, but you set it yourself so its not like someone really calls you like at hotels) and hit the breakfast buffet. When we got up to the Lido we could see what we were ported at thru the windows. It was cold and rainy this morning.

 

we went to the Phantom and sat with the crowds of people waiting for their excursions to be called. There were a lot of people going on the Locks tour as well as the 2 oceans by railroad tour (LOTS of geriatric on that one). Finally our tour was called and we went down to level A to get off the boat. I immediately regretted not bringing a jacket because it was chilly but I sucked it up and we boarded the bus. The bus was kind of a beater but had a/c which was cool, and we shared the bus with about 45 of our closest friends. It was packed in, I dont think there were more then a couple of empty seats. Elizabeth and Charles were on this trip with us.

In Colon, Carnival contracts a company called Adventure 2000 to do most of their tours. They come equipped with guides. Our guide for this leg was Aramita. She was a really cute panamanian lady who had a great sense of humor and had lots of great stories. She was very informative, really knew her stuff.

We embark on our tour thru the streets of Colon. Colon is a really scary town. Everyone looked scary and mean there, all had scowls on their faces. I would be scowling if I lived somewhere it rained every day. Yup, it rains in Colon 365 days a year. There are no stop lights in Colon because they say that "they are more courteous then Americans and dont need them". They are KIDDING themselves because not only are they not courteous, but they DEF need those stop lights. People were just going thru intersections with no thought and had no regard for any sort of stopping system. Basically, biggest wins...

Ok Im just gonna come out and say it, I have NO idea why Carnival decides to port in Colon. Forgive me if anyone lives there, or if anyone has family there, but that place was a $h!thole. The people dont even care about their own city. There was garbage and crap just strewn about on the streets and in the gutters. Obviously they have some sort of deal with the cruiselines to bring money to their economy, but you know what they are doing with it? Making duty free shops! They need to clean up their damn streets and clean up their town before they build more duty free stuff. No one from the ship is gonna go to that place anyways unless their tour goes there! No one would feel safe enough to take a taxi over there...and you DEFINITELY could not walk. There are plenty of other nices cities that I am SURE they could port in and have just as much to do. Yeah yeah, you can get to the locks and all that. Every single person who I heard talking about or talked to about Colon said they did not know why it was a port and they would not be choosing a cruise that ported here again or if for some reason they did, they would not be getting off the boat. It really brought down the feeling of the day and made me nervous about what was going to come from the other ports.

Sorry...anyways, on with the tour.

Driving thru the countryside and by the mountains was pretty except for the fact that the sides of the road were littered with trash. Cheetoes bags and Gatorade bottles and all kinds of stuff.

one of the roadside restaurants we passed....they all looked like this

a nicer pic

[TallyRockChick]

It was about a 45 min drive or so till we got to Portobelo. On the way we passed so many houses, if you could even call them that. I mean, they are all these people could afford and that meant they were cinder blocks with steel tin as the roof, no windows or doors, dirt floors...it was really sad. It was like a war torn 3rd world country.

First stop in Portobelo was the Black Christ Church (after a pee break in some VERY unsanitary bathrooms that you could see over the stalls as you walked by...but it was a poor town so its understandable).

The church was really pretty

After everyone got back from the potty they sat us down in the pews (is that spelled right? I dunno, Im a Jew LOL) and they started to tell us about the Church and the Black Christ. I wish I could tell you more about it because as soon as Aramita (and another tour guide was there too with his Carnival group who were also going to the Locks) started to talk, the local kids came in the church ready to peddle their wares, one of which was a 3 year old little boy that was screaming. We were already sitting in the back so it was hard to hear but with the screaming it was just not possible. I do know the Black Christ was dumped into some ocean but it kept coming back or something like that so they made it an important piece of the church. See, told ya I couldnt hear anything.

Heres me with the Black Christ

Then we went into a building that held the robes of the priest. He liked to always wear different elaborate robes and he changed them often. All the walls of this place had hanging robes. The kids werent in here so we could actually hear.

Since it would have been way gross to take a pic of one of the dogs taking a huge dump in the street, I took a pic of one of the chickens and her chickies

There were lots of really sad looking dogs roaming all over. Most of them were amaciated and had mange and eye problems. Very sad. Oh yeah I forgot to say as soon as we were leaving the church the town children converged on us! They all had bracelets that they were trying to sell to everyone for "won dalla?" There was this really cute little girl that had the HUGEST smile and bracelets that I actually thought was cute and would buy but all I had was $20s and I dont think she would be able to break it. LOL

They had a little market set up outside the church with handmade goods and luckily for the townies, it started to pour so we took refuge under the pavillion and looked at their stuff they were selling. I asked the cute little girl if I could take a picture of her and she was trying to charge me $1! She didnt understand what I wanted and her brother explained it to her so she let me take one free of charge...she asked me to see the pic after I took it too.

Lex ended up buying a bracelet from one of the stands and got some change so I asked him for a couple of bux and asked the girls bro where she went and went and bought the bracelet thats on her right hand on the top. The brown one with the white flowery looking beading. The rest of the time while she was trying to sell to other people, she would ask the same people over and over if they wanted to buy one but then she would come up to me and give me the cheesingest smile. SO CUTE!

This is a pic of some of the houses while it was raining. Those blue containers catch the rain water and thats what the house uses for water.

[TallyRockChick]

When the rain subsided we walked down the street to another building. I believe it was a fort for pirates. Again, lots of distractions with the kids asking us to buy their stuff. When we got there, there was a crowd of older local kids singing and dancing, beating on drums and wearing traditional panamanian garb and doing crazy dances.

one of the little kids joined in

After they came around asking for tips for their entertainment, I got the racket. The cute little ones sell the bracelets with their little smiles and dimples and the older kids entertain for the money. Its a good idea, and Im pretty sure they have a good business going.

We went into one side of the building which was a little museum, and the other side they played a video in a small room that we had to break up the group in 2 so we could all fit in the room. It was too claustrophobic for me so we walked around the area and looked at different things that had to do with the fort that were up on the walls.

Then we took the stairs up to the next level of the fort and could look out at the scenery.

Across the street was a little shop pavillion with more of the same stuff that was being sold at the first pavillion but with one perk...there was a dude with a monkey!!!

Which I got to hold!!!! The highlight of my day....sadly.

[TallyRockChick]

Then we hopped in the bus and went to the next fort thingy

What did Lex find in one of the towers?

yup! gross...

it wasnt all gross...

Lex in one of the fort's jail rooms. These rooms were creepy and you couldnt see in them until the flash went off. Im not sure what he was doing with his face either.

[TallyRockChick]

After we were done with the fort we hopped back on the bus for our trek back to the port. It was still rainy and gloomy out. We were about ready to get back on the boat. Plus we had scheduled spa treatments so we were eager to get back for those too!

The "beach" on the way back to port

we also passed a cemetary.....

...a Burger King...

...and a McDonalds (aka McDont's)

I always find it interesting how other countries and cultures have embraced the fast food chains from America. I am very much anti-McDont's so seeing one here in this poor country made me sad.

 

Once we got back to the port we decided to walk around the port shops for a little while before our spa appointments. First we had to use the bano (pronounced baan-yo - bathroom in Spanish for you Gringos) and I figured that somewhere in the port terminal area there would be one. LOL oh was I wrong. On the way to find out we came across some really creepy looking people trying to sell us license plates, take us on excursions, show us where things were...who knows what else. I was freaked out. I dont get freaked out easily, I usually just have no problem saying no thanks to someone and walking by them, but there was just this creepyness in the air and I didnt like it at all. We ended up haveing to go into this grocery store to go to the bathroom which was gross, but did its job. Then we went into some of the shops because Lex wanted to get some cigars. The only thing we found was this 5 pack of these dry ass cigars that said Panama on the wrapper so we said EFF IT and walked back thru the terminal. At the base of the terminal, just before you get on the boat there was another duty free shop that was CLEAN and had NICE cigars. Cuban Cohiba's and Montecristos and a couple other kinds in all different sizes in this HUGE humidor. They smelled so good and were the bullets (hand rolled). Lex dropped about $70 on cigars and then we headed back to the boat and up to the Adonis Spa for our treatments.

Lex got a pedicure...he LOVES to have his feet rubbed but he doesnt do too well with back massages - he's tickleish - so this was right up his alley and he enjoyed it a lot.

The spa had their normal in port deals and we got a flyer the night before with a special on it...$99 to pick 3 treatments on a list of 6, or $129 for all of the treatments. The treatments included a 25 min massage, 10 min hot stone massage, foot and ankle massage, ginger and lime exfoliating scrub, facial, scalp massage and something else I think. I wanted the whole thing so I went for it. Man was that relaxing. The scrub was really nice and left my skin very smooth. The hot stone massage....Im telling you...everyone needs one of these. It was SOOOO awesome. The facial was nice too and got a lot of the dead skin and whatever else off and left my face smooth as well. After it was over though, I got the hard sell. I cant believe I fell for it! All this stuff that I "needed" to be able to "keep up with all the things she just did for my skin". I felt bad so I said OK to one of the lotions she suggested and almost crapped my towel when I saw that it was $41 for this little teeny tiny bottle. I signed for it anyways out of embarrassment and was on my way.

Scooped Lex who was waiting for me on my way out and we headed to the Lido to try out the Deli.

I got the arugula and roasted pepper and basil on focaccia and had them press it as well. It was good, but I was hungry a little while later because there wasnt any protein on it. I made a mental note that if I went back to the deli to get that sandwich again with some sort of meat on it. I didnt make it back to the deli though.

Lex got a pastrami sandwich and it was pretty good as well. I wanted to try other things from the deli but there were better things then sandwiches on the buffets when I went to eat the rest of the time, and also there was usually a line at the deli when I wanted it.

I didnt try the Asian station but there was ALWAYS a line. I almost went up to just get a spring roll, but didnt want to wait on the line. Oh well.

[TallyRockChick]

When we got back to the room we checked out that night's menu on the TV and decided we could live without it and called up Nick and Nora's to see if they had any reservations. SCORE! They did. We made 7:30 reservations and took showers and then a NAP. Had to shower Panama off of us before we could get in bed.

We walked upstairs to N&N's and found it to be almost empty. We found out later they only seat a max of either 11 tables or 11 people at once, I cant remember which is was. You get closer attention that way. We ordered a couple of glasses of wine from the sommelier (sp?) and got to business. It was really nice up there, the decorations were striking and very catching of the eye, but not in a Bacuus Dining Room kinda way. A little more subtle and subdued.

There was a guy with a piano and a lady singing up there. The guy rocked, he played the regular piano and a keyboard and had beats programmed for songs and things like that. His voice was pretty good too. The lady was another story. Horrible! Not only was her voice bad, but she did something with every song that I absolutely hate...HATE and it totally distracted me. Either she tried to "change up" the songs or she didnt know any better but this is what she would do:

For example...they did White Christmas. Instead of sining the line fluid like its supposed to be sand "With folks dressed up like eskimos, everybody knows" she would sing it like this "with people....dressed up......just like.....eskimo (yeah just eskimo, not eskimos..she was Phillipino and had an accent). The long drawn out pauses KILL ME and mess up the flow of the song. Sorry for another singing rant, I guess its a musician thing.

On to the food!

When we first got there the server came out with the cart of the different cuts of meat. HUGE! There was no way I would have been able to finish any of the cuts of meat. The porterhouse looked like the actual side of a cow it was so big! Ok, not that big, but it was stil ginormous.

We got served an amouse bouche "compliments of the chef" before the meals came out.

Mine was an asparagus creme soup and Lex's was some sort of wafer thing. I didnt take pics of these (dunno why) but they were tiny and mine had this little itty bitty spoon to eat it with. So cute, and tasted wonderful.

We both ordered the Lobster Bisque which was the best lobster bisque I have ever ever EVER had. That wafery bread thing in the middle was so tasty and complimented the flavors of the bisque which was just BURSTING with lobster flavor and had claw meat in the middle. I couldnt say enough good things about it and wish I had a vat of it instead of a bowl.

We heard from others later that the sushi sampler was out of this world. Lex almost got that but decided on the bisque instead. He kinda wished he woulda gotten the sushi because he knew I woulda given him some bisque (if he was lucky ;) ), but no regrets. What we dont know wont hurt us right?

I got the garden salad and Lex got the caesar. They make it tableside and asked if Lex wanted extra anchovies. It was so funny because he was like "what?" and she said "extra anchovies?" and he said "ohh....NO", and I told him that caesar is made with anchovies cuz he didnt know. It was sooooo hilarious the look on his face. Like, HUH?

We both got the surf and turf as well. A 5oz filet and a 6 oz lobster tail. That was the perfect amount of food too. It was served with a pumpkin ravioli which left little to be desired and this spinach in filo dough thing that I dont remember the actual name but it tasted ok.

The lobster was amazing and the filet was cooked perfectly with perfect seasonings. I decided to get the mushroom sauce but after tasting it decided to ask for the three peppercorn sauce instead. It wasnt the three peppercorn sauce from the dining room on night one, but it was still good.

this is a pic of the three flavored butters

the one on the right was the garlic and herb, middle was paprika (my fave) and the one on the left was....hmmm....what was it? I dont remember. You guys get the idea though

[TallyRockChick]

Then was dessert...I had the apple crisp which was SO good. The apples were warm and they had these granola-ish nutty things on it that were flavored with cinnamon and I think something else.

I dont remember what it was that Lex had but doesnt it look great??

as if all this food wasnt enough, after the meal they give you a little plate with truffles and some little candied pineapples and some pistacio flavored little cakey thingys. We could only take little tastes out of fear that we might burst.

Speaking of bursting...the table next to us each ordered a meat from the menu and THEN got the lobstertails added for an extra charge. When they brought the meat out it seriously looked like something right out of the Flintstones. It was an insane amount of food. They barely put a dent in it. When their dessert came we were looking at them because they were so pretty and in shock of how big they were and they asked if we wanted to share because they might die. They really give you so much food. Lots of MEAT!

Us looking stuffed after N&N's

After waddling and rolling our way back to our room we came in to find our next towel animal....and I could tell what it was! A puppy...I think.

Even though we were at N&N's 45 mins before dinner we stayed there well after we usually got out of dinner. It was definitely a great experience and WORTH THE MONEY. Some people say "Im not paying $30 for dinner when I can eat for free in the dining room". Those people are dumb. Spend the money, its worth WAY WAY WAY more then what you pay and tastes phenominal! There were people walking in while we were eating and the staff was saying "good to see you again" so they obviously had been there at least once before and I dont blame them. I might try to hit the supper club more then once next cruise.

 

Since tomorrow was another early morning in port we decided to call it a night. Next stop...Limon, Costa Rica!

[NCTribeFan]

And people wonder why tourists are crime victims in some of these places. Even the poorist of tourists are wealthy compared to them.

 

So sorry to hear about the N&N singer. One of my biggest pet peaves is that no one seems to be able to just sing a freaking song any more. Everyone thinks they have to "make it their own" or some other such crap.

 

I want to cry every time I go to a ballgame and someone drags out the National Anthem so that it lasts 8 minutes and puts all those stupid runs and trills in it. Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD! Sheesh. Just sing the damn thing the way it was written! It's not a funeral dirge! Whew. I feel better now! :D

 

The food pics are making me so hungry. I'm definitely going for that 24 oz Porterhouse! They'll probably have to fetch a wheelchair to get me back to my cabin!

[cruizer4662]

We embark on our tour thru the streets of Colon. Colon is a really scary town. Everyone looked scary and mean there, all had scowls on their faces. I would be scowling if I lived somewhere it rained every day. Yup, it rains in Colon 365 days a year. There are no stop lights in Colon because they say that "they are more courteous then Americans and dont need them". They are KIDDING themselves because not only are they not courteous, but they DEF need those stop lights. People were just going thru intersections with no thought and had no regard for any sort of stopping system. Basically, biggest wins...

Ok Im just gonna come out and say it, I have NO idea why Carnival decides to port in Colon. Forgive me if anyone lives there, or if anyone has family there, but that place was a $h!thole. The people dont even care about their own city. There was garbage and crap just strewn about on the streets and in the gutters. Obviously they have some sort of deal with the cruiselines to bring money to their economy, but you know what they are doing with it? Making duty free shops! They need to clean up their damn streets and clean up their town before they build more duty free stuff. No one from the ship is gonna go to that place anyways unless their tour goes there! No one would feel safe enough to take a taxi over there...and you DEFINITELY could not walk. There are plenty of other nices cities that I am SURE they could port in and have just as much to do. Yeah yeah, you can get to the locks and all that. Every single person who I heard talking about or talked to about Colon said they did not know why it was a port and they would not be choosing a cruise that ported here again or if for some reason they did, they would not be getting off the boat. It really brought down the feeling of the day and made me nervous about what was going to come from the other ports.

Sorry...anyways, on with the tour.

 

Brandy, we were in Colon on the 1st of November and took the Train Trip. We didn't see the same type of living conditions that you seen, nor did it seem "scary" to walk around the port area. It must have been the rain that did it for you.I have to admit that we did NOT have the rain you seemed to have. We Americans have to remember that some countries do not have the same type of living conditions that we do. I am sure that the people with the cement homes with the tin roofs are thankful that they have that. Not a flame, sorry!!!

 

Love your review. Please continue.

[TallyRockChick]

I wish I took more pics of what I was seeing but I was just in awe the whole time with my jaw open of how bad it was. Lex has video that shows a lot more then my pics. One part of his video was of a guy sleeping on the sidewalk and then about 3 feet away from him some guys just standing there like that was normal. It wasnt just me. If I heard other people say differently, I for sure would have said so in my review. But everyone we talked to or heard talking about it, completely agreed. Even Charles, a really big burly guy who doesnt scare easily was creeped out by Colon.

Believe me, I know those people with the dilapidated homes were thankful for what they have. They didnt seem very happy, very sad looking, but Im sure they were glad to at least have a roof to get out of the rain.

I wasnt expecting Beverly Hills, but I wasnt expecting what we saw either.

[rico]

I lived in Colon for a while in the late 80's. I was amazed to hear it was now a cruise port. Very poor city. Crime to reflect the poverty. It doesn't sound like much has changed. Sounds like they put up a decent cruise terminal, but the rest of the city is as it always was. Kind of a "lipstick on the pig" approach.

 

That's Colon. They live with the economy and conditions they have. No problem there. I think what really throws Americans off a bit is they're expecting a cruise destination like the other Caribbean destinations. Colon is FAR from it.

 

If you're going to Colon, take in the Canal with a tour of the Gatun Locks, enjoy the history near Portobello, take an eco-tours of the rain forest, etc. But don't expect anything even close to other cruise stops. Even the Mexican ports are lightyears ahead of Colon.

 

I'm lovin' your review. Keep it coming! We'll be on the Miracle in January!

[asader83]

TRC,

 

Your review so far RULES. I do still find myself smacking the side of the monitor to get more of your posts to appear! I'm doing the same itinerary on January 2. I know you're super busy writing this excellent review, but I was wondering if you have any plans on posting the Capers? I'd love to see those, too!

 

I love your review. My monitor, however, does not. :D

 

Keep it coming!

Amy

[TallyRockChick]

Im gonna post a little bit about Costa Rica on this post and then finish tomorrow. I have to go pick up the pics from my underwater camera after work so I'll have those to add to the mix when I review that.

 

Day 5 - Limon, Costa Rica

 

We opened up the blinds this day to find a gorgeous sky. Much better then the rain that awaited us in Pamana. We got our stuff together and went upstairs for the normal breakfast buffet.

Today we sat outside on the Lido next to an open window and got some gorgeous views. It was a great spot to enjoy our meal.

 

We booked a zip line tour extravaganza with Oscar Brown Tours. In our emailing, he told me to meet at the port at 8am local time. The night before I tried to figure out what time that would be, which according to the map tv channel that tracked our location, it was Central time. Boat time to get off the boat was about 7:30 which would make it local 6:30. We decided to get off the boat at 8 boat time anyways and Im glad that we did because when we walked up we saw a man holding a sign saying Oscar Brown tours. When we walked up we were like "yay Oscar Brown" and he came up to us and introduced himself and shook our hands. We met up with fellow CCer Tracy (moore) and a couple that she had met on board that wanted to zip line too...Andrea and Scott. You can see them in this pic waiting for us to the right.

We waited for Susan and Branden to make their way off the boat and we were on our way with Oscar. Oscar had booked another tour for some other folks and they went with his other driver. Im not sure what the other tour was but I realized that the more people are in your group, the better chance you have of Oscar being your guide. I have read on here that people were upset because they didnt have Oscar and he went with another group. Next time get more people to go with you! Oscar drives the van (his baby) and the other dude drives a car that holds 2-3 people.

Oscar was a very friendly and personable Costa Rican with a geri curl. It was awesome. He loaded us in the van and we were off down the road towards our destination...

This was some of the waves that we saw along the way...they were really kickin! Kinda made me wish I had a board and that was part of the excursion as well.

 

Thats all for today guys...I'll pick back up tomorrow and hopefully will be able to finish it all up!

[TallyRockChick]

Amy - I actually did save all my capers. I will try to remember to bring them to work tomorrow and scan them in. I'll at least be able to set up links so that you can see them in Adobe. Dont hurt your screen too bad...I'll be back manana!

 

Rico - my thoughts EXACTLY! I didnt understand why Carnival would bring us to such a place, I was expecting way more carribbean for sure.

[asader83]

TRC,

 

You're the best! If you don't post them on CC, no prob, a link is great.

 

I think I'll sign up for Webshots so I can "pay it forward" when I get back! :)

 

Thanks again, looking forward to the rest of your review. It's been fabulous so far.

 

Amy

[sheri18]

great review............................wish i was still sailing on the miracle....we changed to the glory.............

 

 

i agree with you about panama....by far the worst place i have ever been to..

 

we usally cruise every year but after that trip we all took 1 year off....it really turned us off...well mostly DH.........but this feb. we are back to cruising ........

[chitown cruisers]

I think those sliced ribs were the teriyaki ribs....they were a surprise hit with us.

[Sandi149]

Brandy, your review is amazing!!! I have been reliving the Miracle through your pictures and words. :D We didn't do the same ports as you though, we did the Eastern Caribbean but I am so happy to see my wonderful Miracle again. Thank you! :)

[MonaCK]

Brandy: Just wanted to let you know that I'm really enjoying the review. :) We are going to be on the Miracle out of NY in May, and your review is wetting my appetite for this ship :)

 

BTW - you are not the only Jew who doesn't like smoked salmon. My husband is an odd duck and doesn't like it either. :)

[kato92]

Excellent review!!! Looking forward to more.....getting us ready for the Miracle in February:)

[btyko]

Great review, Brandy.

 

I almost feel like I was there with you.

[NCTribeFan]

Brandy, I recommend you post a few of your sunset photos over on the cruise photos board. Some of them are absolutely gorgeous and need to out there for folks other than Miracle fans to see!

 

Oh, and for you few who don't like smoked salmon, I'll eat your allotment, thanks!

[Muumuu]

Keep it coming! Can't wait 27 days and 343 days, both on the Miracle.

[TallyRockChick]

You guys are too too kind. Im glad I could be of service...

Bruce, again you made me LOL.

 

Not lets see....where were we.

 

Now, booking a non-ship excursion had its good and bad points. The good was that it was cheaper...and the bad was that weird feeling in the pit of your stomach not knowing whether it was legit or if it was a huge scam and they were taking you to the middle of the rainforest to jail you and make you sex slaves. Oscar Brown came very highly recommended on this site and his website is completely legit and they answered emails almost immediately...but the first stop we made didnt help things much.

So were driving down the road and Oscar just pulls over to the side and says "oh look...cocoa" and jumps out of the car and opens the van door for us to follow. I believe someone said "I guess were supposed to get out" and we did and he brought us to a tree where he showed us a couple stages of a cocoa plant. Our worries were eased knowing that people bearing machetes didnt jump out of the brush and capture us. We jumped back in the van and pulled back over about 45 seconds later at a house with a table of fruit in the front.

Oscar then proceeded to show us and tell us about all the fruit that was on the table. He showed us what the inside of a ripe cocoa plant looks like and the bowl in the middle had the dried cocoa beans in it. Those red things are Costa Rican apples and apparently pregnant women there love those things. Then he picked up another plant and said "lipstick" and then when we looked at him crazy he put his finger in it and did this to his face

(behold Oscar and his geri curl glory)

It all made sense now....now I must try it!

we then made our way thru the man's yard and Oscar pointed out Costa Rica's flower, which I dont remember the name of but it comes in this red color and a pink color as well

At this point that weird gut feeling returned, especially when Branden asked if any of us had seen Touristas. Maybe they were waiting to bound and gag us?? We continued thru the yard and were pointed out birds nests hanging from the trees and chickens...

we then went to the side of the house and were brought to a tree...why are we at this tree? What am I supposed to be looking at?? This is when that weird gut feeling completely went away and I was in this tour for the long haul....

[TallyRockChick]

Upon further looking in the tree...what do we see???

the cutest 3 toed sloth EVER! He was all slow moving, kinda like a little drunk monkey.

Then the guy pulled the sloth out of the tree and handed him to Oscar!!!

who then handed him to ME!!!!

his fur felt like grass. A few of us took turns holding the little bugger, and then we were off (we all tipped the dude who's house/sloth it was)

Here is my favoritest pic of the cute little guy!

We hopped back into the van and continued our way to the zip line destination. Oscar told us all about Costa Rica and how cheap houses are. He pointed out where Americans who bought houses and retired there live...which were huge very nice houses. A really big nice house with beachfront land there can cost as little as $80,000. And they dont tax your pention either. Something to think about.

On the way there, Oscar was telling us that he goes zip lining too, but not to this place because this place is for chickens. This place only has 8 zip lines and 10 platforms, the other place has more but is farther away. Since we wanted to do other things that day, he took us to the closer one. Next time we go to Costa (and we WILL be going back) we want to go to the bigger one.

We pulled up to Ranch Cedar Valley to do the damn thang!

They have more then just zip lining here, they also do horseback riding and nature tours. I think they might offer a couple of other things but I dont remember.

Here are some of the horses for the horseback riding