FridayJan.30th

Pics: Ken Nelson holding the sloth. He's like Crocodile Dundee!

2nd: Me,Chaz and Carmen

What a great day! This morning we met for the field ministry and everyone (there was about 25 out) went to Jaco – about an hour and a half up the coast. First we stopped at a really good bakery here in town that apparently is open 24hrs and is a great place for your sweet tooth. I got a coffee (their coffee is actually expresso with hot water added and then milk and sugar if you like or as they call it at Starbucks, an Americano which costs about $2.50 in the states) and a big piece of what I would call a pound cake. It costs me 800 colones ($1.45) total. Then we were off to Jaco. About halfway there I notice up ahead two cars had pulled over on the side and a man was waving at us and making a “camera gesture” to us. I didn’t know what he was wanting but I slowed down to see and there on the side of the road, climbing up the embankment was a sloth! We all bailed out of the car and started snapping pictures. It was the coolest thing I’ve seen yet here in Costa Rica. It’s apparently very rare to see one up that close down on the ground. Usually they are high up in the trees and most of the time curled up in a ball sleeping if you see one. Anyhow, the circuit overseer – Sean Scribner and Ken Nelson pulled up next and came running over to see it. There were two local guys there watching it but not daring to touch it because their claws are very sharp and though they are slow, if they get their claws on you they can really tear you up! But Ken just walks over, bends down and grabs the little guy from the back and holds him up so we can all see him. He was so cute trying to grab ahold of Ken, but Ken knew how to hold him so that he couldn’t get him with his claws. After we all took many photos, Ken took him over to a tree away from the road and set him free. What a delight! We were all thankful that we had come out in service today, otherwise we would have missed such a wonderful treat! We worked pretty much all day in Jaco, until 2:30pm and then on the way home we had stopped to look at the ocean from this really beautiful spot and we looked up in the trees and there were 4 scarlet macaws. They are so beautiful! After we arrived back at the house, Brandon, Megan, Ork and Amanda all went to the beach for about an hour or so before the sun set. Chastity and stayed home to rest up.