The next morning we rose earlier than usual and it was a clear day! It was the rainy season in CR so every other day we had woken up to an overcast day. What a treat for what was going to be a beach day!
The view from the balcony of our hostel
After checking out, we jumped on the local bus for the short (5-10 min) ride to the actual village of Manuel Antonio. The bus is about $0.30 which was worth it to not have to hike up some pretty gnarly hills with our bags. We weren't quite sure where to get out but out of the window, I saw our old friends Karen & Kevin so I figured we must be right out front of their hotel where we were moving. We exchanged hellos and they were off to a day trip to Jaco (I think). It was too early to check into the Vela Bar & Hotel so we just dropped our bags off in their reception area (possibly sketchy?) before heading over to the beach and/or park entrance.
Manuel Antonio Beach
People were trying to rent out lounge chairs to us on the beach but we were waiting until we got inside the park before we parked our butts.
Are we on Lost?
Stunning!
As we continued walking, I noticed some leaves that seemed to be walking by themselves! Turns out they were leaf cutter ants
We approached what we thought to be the entrance but turned out was the exit
As we were hiking towards what was the exit, this guy jumped out in front of Greg
Our first taste of what was to be a day full of wildlife!
We ended up at the exit first as there were no clear signs of where the entrance to the park was. We got some directions from the locals and ended up at a trailhead where a toothless old man pointed us in the right direction. It was mysterious but after winding our way through some trees and a dirt path, we came upon a crowd lined up to enter the park. Only 600 people are allowed in the park at a time so some days there is a longer wait than others. It was already very hot and I tried to find some shade.
We finally got in about 30 minutes later and we had barely started on the trail when we looked above
A mono!
They are capuchin monkeys and are very used to people so they were all over the park. It was very exciting to see!
An interesting looking tree
This guy is a little bit camouflaged but he's there!
We hiked a bit on the trail before we got to the first beach and jumped right in!
What a background! The perfect blend of jungle and beach
We can't believe we're here!
Underwater cameras are cool!
Baby chicken made the trip too and I even saved his life
We dragged ourselves from the water and decided to hike on a bit. Then we saw this guy! A sloth!
We came upon the next beach where the "sand" was a bunch of shells and polished rocks
The water was pretty clear and I have never been to a more beautiful place
I was so excited I passed out
People were feeding this one so it came out to play
It really was about a foot away
Another new friend
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One of the trails we intended to hit was closed so we backtracked and planned to hit the first beach we had gone to. But we saw a commotion so we to investigate and guess who came upon?
This one got a hold of a sandwich
Hey what are you looking at?
Suddenly they were everywhere! People aren't supposed to feed them but of course you can't stop people from wanting to get close to the animals. Mostly Americans :)
Hanging around
Hitching a ride
Look at that face!
An elusive rat pig
This one started challenging this overweight American guy that had nectarines. He was full of sass!
Grabbing a piece of fruit right above our heads
In the middle of this an iguana scurried across my feet! This isn't him but we came upon this one 5 minutes later.
Me showing my happiness with being in CR
Baby chicken underwater!
Starting to get overcast here
On our way out it started to rain, of course
When we got back to the hotel, they had moved our bags into our room. What service!
Too bad the room was pretty musty but it was comfortable enough. We then headed downstairs for "happy hour" which was supposed to be 2 for 1 drinks. We planned on sharing this deal but I guess the Vela Bar had no intention of that
We had some CR type nachos which were kinda weird but we then decided to head to El Avion for dinner. The restaurant's schtick is that it was built around a real plane that has a history that you can
read about here. Crazy history!
Ah, a frosty mug
Dinner on our last night in Manuel Antonio
Boo's huge ahi tuna steak
El Avion!
End, Day 3!
1 comment:
WOW. Those pictures are soooooo gorgeous! I really want to go there someday!
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