Somafluca

This was our day to visit the farming community of Somafluca. On the way we came upon a three toed sloth in a tree. They move 2-3 hours in a day and hang around the rest of the time.  The sloth is well adapted to hanging in trees with feet that are essentially large hooks. Sloths are known for being slow, it even takes 24-28 hours to copulate, followed by a 180 day gestation period. The young hang around for 12-18 months then live for 30-35 years. If you feel their fur, you'll encounter many insects, including a moth who cleans their fur of other bugs. The sloth eats mostly leaves and it takes as long as a month to digest these leaves.

 
Three toed sloth

We first visited the home of Donna Sonia. Since it was Saturday, her husband and daughters were also home. We made cheese empanadas with her help. They have a 2 hector (5 acre) farm where they grow primarily beans as well as yams, strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, and the juacca plant (the edible portion is the roots).
We visited Somafluca school, an elementary school with 215 students. For a third-world country, they were fairly well-off. Many students had cell-phones, their computer lab had about 20 computers. The students danced for us, sang their national anthem and then we asked questions of each other.

Somafluca school "bull" dance

For lunch, four of us went to the home of Francisco, Maria, and their son, Chaco. It was a little awkward since they knew little English and we knew little Spanish, but we shared pictures and they showed us their home and farm. They primarily raised cows and chickens with a couple of pigs and lots of cats and dogs.
We were happy to return to our hotel for a dip in the pool, the sun was out and it was hot. Before dinner we made use of yesterday's groceries to make plantain tortillas, and both a sweet dip from marmalade and cream cheese and a salsa from tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and tuna. We had a fun time - the group is definitely bonding. Everyone seems to enjoy traveling and learning with no one spoiling the trip.

 Red Rumped Tanager, Red Legged Honeycreeper (male and female)