28 June 2023

Like I often did when I travelled, I was up at sparrow's fart this morning with anxiety. I had completely pulled everything out of my suitcase in fear that I had forgotten something. When I realised that I did in fact have everything I needed, I hurriedly repacked my bag. I should have trusted my gut since I'd not only written lists of things I needed but had spent three days packing and rechecking said lists.

It was a relief to have my parents drive Esther and me to the international airport in Brisbane. It was one less thing that I didn't have to worry about. That, and the added cost of short-stay parking.

"You girls be safe, okay?" Mum said, her voice conveying the tears that were threatening to fall. She always got emotional whenever my siblings or I went away, even if it was only for a weekend. My mother wouldn't breathe properly until she knew we were all safe at home.

"We will, don't worry," Esther said, reaching her arms around the front seat to hug our mother from behind. "We'll make sure to call you as soon as we land, okay?"

I saw our mother nod as she sniffled. She was terrified of planes, so and would only fly if she was heavily medicated. Her Uncle Evan had fought in WWII and his plane had been shot down over Italy. Ever since Mum had found that out, she had refused any form of air travel unless drugged up so she would sleep the whole way.

"Nothing will happen to us and we'll both be home next week. I promise," I murmured, reaching across the car and holding Mum's hand while I placed a hand on my father's shoulder. I didn't want to distract him from driving with a hug. "We'll post so many photos to our group chat that it will feel like you're all there with us. Just make sure to show Nana Betty since you know she doesn't quite know how to navigate the chat well."

That brought a giggle to my parents. Nana Betty was an amazing and independent woman, except when it came to technology. She had grown up on a cattle farm in Longreach, a remote part of the state. Her family only had a radio for entertainment, despite TV's being around for decades. The issue was there wasn't a strong enough reception because of how isolated they were. It wasn't until she married my grandfather and moved to his family's cattle farm in Maleny that she had ever experienced seeing moving pictures. A few years ago, we'd upgraded Nana Betty to a smartphone so she could be connected to the rest of the family. As great as that was, she refused to learn how to use any of the apps. Thankfully, my nephew Caleb was there to help her. He was known as the Nana Betty whisperer since he was the only one who could calmly explain to the elderly lady how to use her device.

"Just as long as you bring back something good for Caleb," my father chuckled. The two of us both assured our parents that it was at the top of our list. Well, for me it was third on my list after seeing a sloth and a tapir.

I nodded. "Yep, got it all done an hour before the cut-off."

"Wow, that's so unlike you," she laughed. "Usually, you have your entry submitted as soon as the competition opens."

I couldn't help but agree with my sister. "There's a lot at stake with this one, and because it's open to everyone, I had to make sure my entry was perfect."

"Knowing you, it would be," she said with a smile. Lowering her voice, she asked, "You still worried about what you'll do for work?"

The past six days had been spent researching and planning. I had a little bit of money saved up, but not enough to start a business. I was in the process of writing up a business plan so I could apply for a loan from the bank. Even though I knew my family would pitch in what they could, I needed to do this independently.

"Yeah, but it's also the chance for a new adventure. Isn't that what you always say?" My sister hated it when I used her words against her. By the playful glare flitting across her face, I knew it was the same now.

Thankfully, the car pulling up to the international terminal put a pin in her rebuttal. There were plenty of tears from our mother as she bid us goodbye. Dad was torn between comforting his wife and giving Esther and me hugs goodbye.

"Remind Christof and Aiden that the cat likes dry food only," I reminded my parents. Nana Betty's beloved cat, Baron Richard Flufflebum, was going on his own holiday. He would be staying with Aiden, Christof and Caleb while I was gone.

"Aiden knows, Squish," my father chuckled. "Now, you two better go on in. It looks busy in there and you don't want to get caught in the security or immigration lines and end up missing your flight."

With one last hug to each of our parents, Esther and I headed inside. I was excited to have the first real holiday in years and I couldn't be happier that my twin was there with me.

⊱ ───ஓ๑💜๑ஓ ─── ⊰

29 June 2023

It felt like we had been travelling for an entire week. The flight to San José, which was supposed to take about 19 hours, ended up being nearly 30 hours long. Instead of one stopover in San Francisco, the plane had needed to make an emergency landing in Houston because of dangerous weather. This resulted in an unexpected layover in Texas; while it was a place I'd always wanted to visit, I only got to see the airport.

Luckily, the trip from San José to the Osa Peninsula was by car since I was thoroughly over being on a plane. The driver who would be with us the whole time we were in Costa Rica had been very understanding of our delay. Much to my relief, he was standing there holding a sign with my sister's name on it when Esther and I stepped out of the arrivals gate.

I grinned as the middle-aged man introduced himself as Alejandro Jimenez. Wearily, I took the card he handed to each of us with his name and number on it. I knew Esther and I would be in good hands with someone who had a name that was similar to Jimin's, even if it was pronounced differently. Taking hold of the baggage trolley, he led us out to a fairly new and very clean black sedan. The two of us tried to help Alejandro with our bags, but the man insisted that he wanted us to relax since our flight had been very long.

I wanted to look out at the scenery passing us as we headed to Puerto Jiménez. Just after finding out Alejandro's family heralded from here, I found my eyes closing. I'd never been the type of person who could fall asleep on a plane, I envied those who could. So apart from the short kip I'd managed to sneak in at Houston, I'd been up for well over 34 hours.

In what felt like no time at all, I was being shaken, hearing my name being called by my sister. I groaned, blinking slowly. I didn't have to look in the mirror to know that my eyes were bloodshot. I also knew there would be large dark circles under them that would look like I had been recovering from two black eyes. My fair skin always showed any sign of fatigue as dark discolouration.

"What?" I groaned, sounding and feeling like death.

"We're here," Esther said, trying to pull me from the car. "Come on, you can sleep on the bed in the room. It will be much more comfortable than the car."

Nodding weakly, I allowed myself to be helped from the vehicle. I squinted as the bright sun burned my retinas. I wished that I had forethought to pull my sunnies out of my bag before I went to sleep. I was so out of it that I didn't register Esther leading me to the lifts. It wasn't until I heard the beep of the door that I realised she must have already checked us in.

"Here you go, Squish. Have a good nana nap," my sister whispered as she tucked me into the bed. "I've gotta meet up with my contact here to go over our itinerary. I'll be back before dinner." I simply grunted an affirmative and rolled over, allowing sleep to take over my body and mind.

꧁♥💜♥꧂

I'd managed to get a three-hour nap in. As much as I would have loved to remain asleep, I forced myself to get up, so the jetlag wasn't as bad. I already knew I'd be struggling tomorrow with it, but I figured that was Future Nell's problem. Hopefully, she had access to plenty of coffee and/or chocolate.

I'd woken up to a note on the bedside table from Esther telling me she was going to be down at the pool. I never felt the most comfortable being in public in swimmers, especially since my thighs were covered in cellulite and my arms were flabby. For some reason, though, I felt okay being in the skin-tight emerald green tankini set. It was probably because no one would know me here and that to them I was another tourist.

I made sure to grab the spare key card off the bedside table and headed out of the suite I shared with my sister. For the first time since I got here, I was able to take in the sights of the hotel, which I realised was really nice. I shouldn't have been surprised. The hotel, Botanika Osa Peninsula, Curio Collection By Hilton, was putting us up for free as part of the payment for Esther writing the article. I might not get to stay in a place as nice and fancy as this again so I made a mental note to make full use of as many of their amenities as possible. The first on the list was a dip in the pool before a stroll through their tropical gardens. I always loved gardens; they were my tranquil place.

I found my sister lounging in the sun, chatting with a couple on the chairs beside her. She was the extroverted one, always making friends wherever she went. I much preferred a good book or a quiet place where I could be by myself.

I said a quick hello before I ducked off into the water. It felt so weird being out at the pool in my togs at the end of June. When I left home about 36 hours ago, it was the end of the first month of winter. While a lot of people might think that a 19°C day is nice and warm for winter, it was on the cooler side for Brisbane. To be swimming in the sunshine of a tropical country where it was hot, humid and still in the 30s, that for me was strange.

Esther joined me when the couple headed off. As we floated and chatted about nothing in particular, I noticed a man swimming over. I kind of got a weird vibe from him and I tried to steer my sister towards our towels.

He began speaking in Spanish, which I was thankful I couldn't understand. I shook my head and told him I didn't understand. Unfortunately, it seemed he was also able to communicate in English.

"My, what lovely ladies you are," he said in a thick accent. I might've thought it sounded attractive if on someone else and in a different circumstance. But coming from his mouth, his accent just made me feel icky like I needed a scalding hot shower. "I thought this area was pretty before, but now it is simply exquisite."

My skin felt like it was crawling from the sleazy look he was raking over our bodies. His greasy-looking hair hung limply down to his shoulders as if it was embarrassed to be attached to such a man. He looked absolutely ridiculous wearing a red Speedo. The way it cut at his hips I could tell was a g-string. For the first time in my life, I felt violated just from a look. I grabbed Esther's hand and pushed her in front of me so she was closer to the stairs.

"I'm really sorry but we have to get going so we can make our dinner with our friends," I said to the man as I began backing away from him. I was hoping that he would get the picture that we were not interested.

A hand wrapping around my wrist had me wrenched back into a hard chest, making me flinch and stiffen. My heart began to pump harder, and my stomach felt heavy. Time felt like it slowed down as he said, "But I just got here, Mamacita. You should ditch your friends and have dinner with me. You know I'll rock your world."

"Uggghhh, gross! There's no way I'm going anywhere near someone smelling like they've inhaled a pack of durries.'

My skin crawled and I had to force myself not to gag as I smelled the cigarettes on his breath. If there was anything I hated most in the world, it was a smoker.

"My boyfriend, Robert, is waiting for me," I said, trying to detach his hand from mine. I began panicking, unsure what his intentions were. I'd heard all the horror stories about women being lured off by men and never coming home.

"You don't have to make up some fantasy boyfriend, baby. I'm the only man you need here."

I was just about to shove him hard in the chest but thankfully Esther came to my rescue. "Hey, let her go you fucking tosser," she yelled. The volume of her voice brought the attention of the staff to what was happening. "My sister is not interested!"

A few guys wearing the uniforms of the hotel started heading our way quickly. I saw one was about to jump in the pool when the pervert suddenly released me and tried to run across to the other side of the pool. If I hadn't been so scared about what his intentions were, I would have laughed at the sight of the staff members all standing at the stairs as he came from the water. How he thought he could beat them was beyond me.

"You okay, Squish?" Esther asked, bundling me up in the towel I'd brought down.

I nodded but I could tell she wasn't buying it because of how much I was trembling. While I wasn't afraid of his hold on me, it was the fact that I didn't know what his intentions were. Was he just being a flirt, or did he have more nefarious desires?

As we sat on one of the sun loungers while I gathered my wits, a shit-eating grin spread across my sister's face. "So, who's this Robert fella? If I'd known you were seeing someone, I could have gotten him a ticket too."

"I did bring him along, but he's been giving me the cold shoulder since I haven't spent much time with him. I couldn't have him being turned on the plane. They might've thought his vibrations were an explosive device," I teased. I giggled at the confusion on her face as I set off towards our room.

⊱ ───ஓ๑💜๑ஓ ─── ⊰

30 June 2023

I thought my heart was going to explode as Esther and I made our way down the dirt pathway. I wanted to both speed up and slow down my pace. Impatience, excitement and nervousness spread through me as we turned the corner. With a humungous smile on my face, I found myself standing at the sloth enclosure.

It was the first proper day of experiencing what the Osa Peninsula had to offer. Esther and I were excited to have a day spent at the nature reserve. I had already thought it was the best day of my life as I got to not only see the tapirs but also feed and interact with them. From the very first time I had seen a photo of the tapir, it had become my favourite animal. I always wondered how you could not love a creature that looked like a pig with a little trunk on its face.

The reserve had a few Baird's tapirs that lived there. My favourite was the juvenile known as Mariposa, meaning butterfly. I loved her markings; the white spots and stripes painting her hair created a unique work of art. She was such a sweetheart and loved to flit around the keepers, hence her name. I could have spent all day just watching her run around and play.

'Do you think they'd notice if I took her home with me?'

But as excited as I was to see the tapirs, hearing that I would get to see a sloth up close and personal had me bursting into happy tears. Being held by humans can be very traumatising for sloths as the oils on our hands aren't good for them. I'd always told myself since learning that fact that I would never want to hold one of the precious creatures. I would be happy just to look from afar. I was thankful that the reserve said we couldn't hold the sloths, and even happier that we could feed them and take plenty of photos with them.

"This is Fernando," Diego, the guide who was assigned to show Esther and me around, spoke in perfect English. We learned that while he had been born in Costa Rica, he had grown up in California before moving back a few years ago. "Fernando is one of our two-toed sloths. Here, do you want to give him a treat?" he asked, handing me a bucket with corn in it.

While I crept closer to the precious little upside-down angel, I listened as Diego told us about the sloths they had at the reserve and how they had come to be in their care. Poor Fernando had been the victim of deforestation and had to be rehomed when trees in the rainforest had been bulldozed for development. It seemed most were here because of the same reason.

"He really likes his corn, doesn't he," I laughed as he began munching on the pale yellow vegetable. I could have watched the sloth nibble slowly, his eyes closing in happiness. The way he laid upside down while eating was so freaking adorable.

"Yeah, it's his favourite. As well as fresh asparagus. Shall we go say hello to another one?" I nodded happily, saying goodbye to Fernando before I followed Diego to the next enclosure. My breath hitched as I saw a three-toed sloth hanging from the branch of a tree. "This is Consuela, our special girl. She was born here and has captured the heart of every person who has had the chance to care for her."

"Hi Consuela," Esther cooed as we looked at the beady little-eyed animal hanging right in front of us. "She's so pretty, isn't she Nell?"

Tears streamed down my face as I sniffled and nodded. I had dreamed of meeting a three-toed sloth ever since I was a little girl. In fact, it was the earliest memory I had where I told my maternal grandparents that I was going to marry a sloth one day. As a three-year-old, I had no idea that people couldn't marry animals; all I knew was that I loved sloths so much and that people married those they loved that much.

"She's been in love with sloths for as long as either of us can remember," I heard Esther tell Diego when he asked if I was okay. "When she was really little, Nell wanted to marry a sloth. It took our parents many years to convince her that she couldn't marry anything she loved with all her heart, that she could only be the wife of a person."

Diego laughed heartily. I could tell he wasn't laughing at me, but rather with my twin and me. "Sounds like what I'm going through at the moment with my daughter. She's head over heels for unicorns and has declared that when she's older she will marry one. At least your parents only had to plan a wedding to a sloth. Where am I going to get a unicorn from by the time she turns seven since that's how old she thinks she has to be to marry."

"How old is she now?" I asked with a fluttering in my chest as I was handed an asparagus spear to give to the pretty sloth. I never took my eyes off Consuela, not wanting to forget anything from this day, which was by far the best one in my life.

"She's four going on 24," he laughed.

We spent hours walking around the reserve. Our time was spent interacting with different animals and stopping for Esther to take photographs. Apart from the tapirs and sloths, I loved the coatimundis the best; they were so cute with their long snouts and long striped tails that looked a lot like a racoon. I could watch them scamper after each other all day.

On our way out, I made sure to pick up some souvenirs from the gift shop. I found a sloth stuffie and also a drawing of Consuela that I could hang up in my place to always remember the day I lived my childhood dream. Esther and I also picked out some gifts that we knew our friends and family would love before we headed outside to meet with Alejandro. We were planning on having a swim before getting ready to head into Puerto Jimenez for dinner.

As we pulled away from the reserve, I whispered goodbye to my new friends. I was looking forward to exploring the jungle tomorrow, but I knew there was a very slim chance of seeing the two special species I loved in the wild.

'Mariposa, Ferdinand and Consuela, you'll forever be in my heart.'