Sloths and R.O.U.S.s

WE SAW A SLOTH! WE SAW A SLOTH! WE SAW A SLOTH! WE SAW A SLOTH! WE SAW A SLOTH! WE SAW A SLOTH! WE SAW A SLOTH! WE SAW A SLOTH! It was so coool. Can you tell I'm excited? We were in our bedroom (of course. Our bedroom is turning out to be the best place to see wildlife in the whole Monteverde zone) and Rob noticed a rusty colored two-toed sloth hurrying along a branch. Hurrying by sloth standards; by white-faced cappuchin monkey (our ever-present companions) standards, he was ambling along. It was amazing. We also saw a beautiful toucan at one of our local cafes. And, one morning, on our driveway, we saw a Rodent Of Unusual Size. Seriously. Fauna here has been grouped into two categories for us; the ones which elicit the reaction, "Incredible!" and the ones that elicit the reaction, "I hope we never have one of those in our house." You can guess which reaction the ROUS got.

Speaking of ROUSs, there have been an odd number of allusions to the Princess Bride lately. First, Rob thinks we may have a fire-swamp in our drive-way. I'm doubting the existence of fire, but there is a suspiciously quick-sand looking spot that we tend to walk around. Secondly, the ROUS. And thirdly, the woman who made the most delicious bread anyone has ever tasted has left. This is sad because she used to sell the bread (and equally inspired cinnamon rolls) outside the school every day. However, a fellow-teacher told us that she is not the first bread-maker and that there are rumours that the recipes have been passed on to another. She said, quote "the bread-lady is a lot like the Dread Pirate Roberts." It might be good that the bread is on hiatus because it was my third day in a row of eating an entire loaf for a snack that I remembered my dear aunt/cousin Nancy telling me how she gained 60 pounds when she lived in Brazil from eating too much bread, beans, and rice....

We finally make it to the proper Monteverde Cloud Reserve this week-end, and while we did not see near the amount of birds and animals that hang out in our yard, we were simply blown away by the experience. It's such a cliche to say "blown-away" and "primordial" and "breath-taking" but that's exactly what the cloud forest is; truly spectacular vegatation and sounds everywhere.