1/16: manuel antonio
We spent the day at Manuel Antonio, a national park.
We drove toward the park entrance and a couple of guys were flagging cars toward an area off the beach to park. We were escorted to a spot by a guy jogging in front of the car and when the car was parked, he requested 8000 colones (about $4). He was wearing a vest that made him look like a park employee but obviously, he was not - this was just private enterprise because we were still a 5-minute walk to the entrance of the park.
The road leading up to the park entrance was lined with stalls and day hawkers, all of whom spoke pretty good English.
The park was an example of infrastructure investment: we walked on concrete walkways with steel tube railings or boardwalks with a rope along the sides.
Like the city streets, there's a pretty deep gutter, ostensibly for heavy rains. In the city, the gutter is about a foot deep so you could hurt yourself if you're not paying attention.
For this excursion, we decided not to hire a guide. There were multiple turn-outs with informational displays like this one.
I took pictures of a lot of them because they told me things that would allow me to backfill information on earlier blog posts.
While there were interesting displays on geology and plant life, the animals were more interesting. The girls were pretty observant, hearing and finding wildlife in the brush. The first thing we noticed was a sound that resembled dogs in a shelter. Those were the howler monkeys. Then the girls spotted a capuchina high in the canopy. I didn't have the Nikon with me and they were probably moving too fast for mw to get a good picture.
We arrived at a beach and all the effort to spot monkeys was a laugh because they hung out on the beach in order to steal food. This guy didn't even bother to take what he stole up into the trees.
The girls snorkeled a while and I returned to Lenny's book that I had never finished months ago. While I was there, there were monkeys, lizards, and a raccoon who were all looking for food. Sleeping wasn't a great idea unless I wanted to get up close and personal with the wildlife.
As we were leaving, the girls saw a monkey grab a plastic container from someone's unattended blanket and carry it up into the trees. Here he is with a friend trying to figure out how to open it. It didn't take long.
We finally saw some howlers. They are bigger, slower, and less willing to interact with people.
It was hot, hotter than I like, and I emptied a 3-liter camelback and probably drank another liter from bottles. My fitbit said I covered about 8 miles and my surgically-repaired knee was pretty sore from the descending.
We decided to visit the Thai Bistro in town and it was splurge between the cocktails and the view.
The food was good and this was a bonus.
We drove toward the park entrance and a couple of guys were flagging cars toward an area off the beach to park. We were escorted to a spot by a guy jogging in front of the car and when the car was parked, he requested 8000 colones (about $4). He was wearing a vest that made him look like a park employee but obviously, he was not - this was just private enterprise because we were still a 5-minute walk to the entrance of the park.
The road leading up to the park entrance was lined with stalls and day hawkers, all of whom spoke pretty good English.
The park was an example of infrastructure investment: we walked on concrete walkways with steel tube railings or boardwalks with a rope along the sides.
Like the city streets, there's a pretty deep gutter, ostensibly for heavy rains. In the city, the gutter is about a foot deep so you could hurt yourself if you're not paying attention.
For this excursion, we decided not to hire a guide. There were multiple turn-outs with informational displays like this one.
I took pictures of a lot of them because they told me things that would allow me to backfill information on earlier blog posts.
While there were interesting displays on geology and plant life, the animals were more interesting. The girls were pretty observant, hearing and finding wildlife in the brush. The first thing we noticed was a sound that resembled dogs in a shelter. Those were the howler monkeys. Then the girls spotted a capuchina high in the canopy. I didn't have the Nikon with me and they were probably moving too fast for mw to get a good picture.
We arrived at a beach and all the effort to spot monkeys was a laugh because they hung out on the beach in order to steal food. This guy didn't even bother to take what he stole up into the trees.
The girls snorkeled a while and I returned to Lenny's book that I had never finished months ago. While I was there, there were monkeys, lizards, and a raccoon who were all looking for food. Sleeping wasn't a great idea unless I wanted to get up close and personal with the wildlife.
As we were leaving, the girls saw a monkey grab a plastic container from someone's unattended blanket and carry it up into the trees. Here he is with a friend trying to figure out how to open it. It didn't take long.
We finally saw some howlers. They are bigger, slower, and less willing to interact with people.
It was hot, hotter than I like, and I emptied a 3-liter camelback and probably drank another liter from bottles. My fitbit said I covered about 8 miles and my surgically-repaired knee was pretty sore from the descending.
We decided to visit the Thai Bistro in town and it was splurge between the cocktails and the view.
The food was good and this was a bonus.
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