2-3-10 Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

I woke up and found a great little cafe and ate a mound of fruit and pancakes along with some Costa Rican coffee.  I perused my guidebook and decided to check out the National Park which was walking distance from where I was.  There wasn't much there that I hadn't seen before with the exception of spider monkeys. There was a family of these bandits swinging through the tree and hopping around like,well, monkeys which never gets old.  The monkeys were fond of a plastic bag that had some picnic remnants in it and quickly ripped it open before ferrying watermelon rinds and potato chip bags up through the trees.

On my way back I encountered a sloth slowly making his way across the bottom strand of some powerlines.  There was a group of people assembled nearby and were yelling at it, trying to make make it turn around and leave his high-voltage jungle-gym.  Some genius grabbed an aluminum pole and was going to try to club the poor thing off the line until somebody with some common sense stopped him.  I saw this as being potentially spectacular as I've never seen a sloth get zapped by a power line before so I switched my camera over to video mode.  There were worried murmors as the sloth then started climbing the lines which were arranged like a ladder.  As he reached with each little hooked claw for a new line the crowd would gasp and shriek.  Fortunately the little guy knew what he was doing and methodically climbed up and down the line nibbling on branches before slowly climbing a tree for a nap.

I hit the beach again and found  dead jellyfish washed up on the sand.  I've got an acute hatred for jellyfish resulting from the afternoon of December 25, 2005.  I was in the British Virgin Islands with my family and was swimming in the clear blue water with my youngest sister when we were both stung by a jellyfish.  She had it worse on her shoulder and neck while I got away with just a sting on my left forearm.

Little Anne went to the local clinic to get some ice and antihistamines which helped her some.  Not wanting to ruin a good day at the beach I decided to stay behind despite the fiery sting.  "Hey, I know how to make that feel better" My brother said with a grin.  I knew exactly what he was talking about.  "Damnit, fine" I agreed. 

I followed my brother behind a huge rock on the beach where he ordered me to get on my knees and stick out my left arm.  Yes, he was laughing by this time.  He then peed on my arm which he made sure splattered excessively.  Then, for preventative measures, he hosed-down my upper arm, shoulder, back and neck all while wishing me a merry Christmas.

The worst part was that Nate's homeopathic treatment didn't work at all.  I ended up having a strange checkered mark on my forearm that looked like a meat tenderizer wound  that lasted and burned for several months.  And this is why I don't like jellyfish.