Playa Cocles

I woke up early & got out to explore the various beaches on foot. I decided to walk dirt path through the jungle that follows the coast. The turquoise hue of the ocean is spectacular & the temperature perfect. I spied lots of private little coves for swimming along the way, then suddenly came out to a long, broad sand beach. As I made my way further along I encountered an area where a sand bar separated the ocean & an inlet. A few locals were there swimming in the calm water, since there were red flags warning that currents were too strong for swimming on the ocean side. It was a beautiful scene, & getting hot in the sun, so I decided I would get back to the hotel & get ready to spend the afternoon on the beach.

I again walked the beach path several kilometers to get to Playa Cocles. Unfortunately the wind was blowing the sand so that it stung & made it difficult to sit on the beach for long. It was still a great day, I enjoyed swimming in the lagoon area where the water was calmer.

On the return walk, I was amazed & very fortunate to get to see a sloth cross the road. He slowly made his way down the tree he was in, across the path, into the bushes & finally started up another tree. All this took over a half hour. Sloths are a unique mammal, not a bear or monkey but seem like a cross between the two. They move extremely slowly & have excellent camouflage. This one was a 3 toed sloth, it gingerly placed a long clawed paw out in front, then followed with the next paw, all the while swiveling his head from one side to the other, as if in slow motion.
The name for sloth in Spanish is perezoso, which literally means lazy.



















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