Those who know me know I'm an animal lover, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the world's only rescue center and sanctuary for Sloths, the Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary, located about 45 minutes south of Puerto Limon.




The Sanctuary was founded in 1991 by  Judy and Luis Arroyo after rescuing their first sloth, Buttercup. In 17 years, the Sanctuary has rescued well over 300 sloths, the majority of which have been rehabilitated and released back into the grounds of the sanctuary, but they are currently caring for approximately 70 sloths.

The tour began with a brief presentation from the Arroyo's grandson and the "sloth ballet" video, which presented the story of the sloth in a humorous and informative manner.



After the video concluded, we were ushered outside to meet the most famous resident - Buttercup herself! Each member of the group had the opportunity to have their picture taken with Buttercup, and then we toured one of the areas where the sloths are rehabilitated and met several other residents, including Millie (aka Millennium), who arrived at the Sanctuary on January 1, 2000 and learned about their care and feeding.

We took a break from the sloths to board 6-passnger canoes for a brief journey through the grounds oof the Sanctuary, up the Estrella River, for plant and wildlife spotting. Our guide did all the paddling and along the way, we saw many birds, beautiful flowers, 2 sloths and a lizard that has the back legs of a frog.



Following the canoe trip, our wonderful guide, Victoria, from Shorex Central America, took us for a walking tour along "The Trail of the Sloth" forest for a look at some additional wildlife.


Following our tour through the forest, we returned to the Sloth Center for a snack of refreshing fresh-cut fruit and visits with some of the Center's newest (and most adorable) arrivals.. baby sloths.