Hola!

Here is the summary post for our Costa Rican adventures. Be dazzled by tales of sloths and monkeys and hummingbirds and tarantulas and Matt getting addicted to Costa Rican salsa! You will be happy to know I have already acquired Lizano salsa here in Australia 🙂

Day One: A New Stamp In The Passport

Day Two: Welcome To The Jungle

Day Three: Patrolling The Beaches

Day Four: Adventure Awaits

Day Five: Scaling Waterfalls, Flying Through Trees

Day Six: Bridges, Sloths and Snakes

Day Seven: Heading For The Clouds

Day Eight: Warning… Tarantulas Ahead (But Also Cute Hummingbirds!)

Day Nine: Flying High

Day Ten: Heading West

Day Eleven: I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

Day Twelve: Chillin’ On The Pacific

Day Thirteen: Adios Costa Rica

 

 

18/05/2017

Another early morning! Yay! To be honest it was fine for me, as the sun was coming up at around 5am each morning meaning rarely was I asleep past 6am. So a 7:30am pick up for our morning activity was no problems.

It was time for our last nature activity, another hike through a national park, this time the Manuel Antonio National Park, located right on the beach. This park is the smallest in Costa Rica, but also the most visited. This seemed to be for two reasons. The first was that it is located in a very tourist heavy part of Costa Rica (who doesn’t like to be at the beach) but also that it packs a lot into a small amount of space.

 

 

So we met our guide at the entrance and away we went. By this time Kate and I were not really looking out for any specific wildlife, as we had checked off most. Two types of sloth? Check. The four different monkeys? Check. Lizards, snakes, birds, you name it. But we were always going to be happy to find another sloth, and being in the park for just a few minutes gave us the opportunity. This one was being a bit shy, but we managed to get not a bad view of him as he sat there all relaxed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other highlights of this trek were the squirrel monkeys (madly bouncing around), the many bright red crabs scuttling around the forest floor, the birdlife as usual, and also the quite deadly Brazilian Wandering spider that we found hiding in a leaf.

 

 

But the best and cheekiest were undoubtedly the white faced monkeys that we came across as we got close to the beach. The park has a strict no food policy and as we hit the beach it was easy to see why. These folk were not shy in coming right up to you and even opening up your bag if you were not within a few feet of it. When we got to the beach we all set up camp and in no time a trip mates bag had been opened and started to see what it could find. Thankfully the camera was a bit heavy (and not that interesting) to take.

 

 

 

By this time it was getting pretty warm and the beach at the other end of the trail was fantastic, quite a bit better than the public beach we were at yesterday. This was almost lagoon like meaning there were less waves and clearer water. I wasted no time getting out there and having a dip.

It was approaching lunchtime so it was time to head back out of the park. For the afternoon Kate and I were going our separate ways. The opportunity had arisen to spend the afternoon on a boat on the Pacific and I couldn’t resist. Given Kate’s aversion to boats, she, along with many others, opted to relax for the afternoon, but Andreas and 4 others from the tour got whisked down to the marina and on board a trimaran for an afternoon on the water.

 

 

 

With a nice lunch of red snapper and some rum cocktails to start, it was off on the water. Clouds looked ominous in the distance but never really came our way. The water was a little choppy (smart move Kate) but it was glorious to be on the water under bright blue skies. We made our way around some coastline and then headed out. We were looking for whales or dolphins, but alas, they were all hiding today.

 

 

A couple of hours and a few drinks later the boat settled not too far off shore so we could do a bit of snorkelling. We found a spot with a number of schools of fish, so it was great to jump in the water and explore. The water was a bit cloudy so it made seeing things difficult, but the water was warm, and it was just nice to swim about, seeing what we could find. Someone spotted a turtle, but the little fella evaded me.

 

 

Now we were nice and wet it was time for boat shenanigans. There was a roof on the boat… the perfect height for jumping off! It seemed a bit of a ways up when looking but down, but with no hesitation many of us did the jump off. Woooooo! So much fun. There was also a little waterslide on the back for even more thrills.

Alas it was time to head back into shore. I don’t see myself as a beach or ocean person, but it is great to be on the water. In no time we were back on dry land and at the hotel to catch up with the rest of the gang.

 

 

Dinner was at an interesting place just down the road. It was at El Avion, which was a restaurant and bar built using an old Fairchild cargo plane. So we wandered into the restaurant through the plane, and it even housed inside a cool bar. Dinner was more local fare, and we could even get a snap inside the cockpit.

Given we only had one more night together after this, some of us decided to kick on a little. A nearby bar apparently had free salsa lessons, so in no time at all we were on a dancefloor and getting our salsa on. It was no surprise to see that my salsa lessons from Antigua a few years ago had all but deserted me and that my dancing shoes were both left feet. Well, maybe not that bad, but my spins left a bit to be desired.

 

 

After getting hot and sweaty, and needing a beer break, we spent the rest of the night with some Foosball (or “Kicker” in Germany as I found out), as well as an amazingly epic game of Jumbo Jenga. The set was huge and with about 9 of us playing, the game went for a LONG time. It got to the point where placing the pieces on top was getting difficult for someone as vertically challenged as myself. It was tense by the end, and unfortunately for Dan, he could remove the piece but not place it on top and down it went. Good times.

Midnight had arrived, and it was time to head back for our last night here in Manuel Antonio. Tomorrow it would be back to San Jose and time to wind things up.

 

17/05/2017

Another early start greeted our first day in Manuel Antonio. We were at the mercy of the tides this morning, as many of us elected to head out on some kayaking in the nearby mangroves. We needed to go when the tide was high, and for us that was at about 7:30am, so with no chance for brekky, it was off we went.

Our kayaking leaders provided a quick snack and coffee, before we loaded into our kayaks, ready to explore the mangroves and the wildlife amongst them. This was quite different to any of the exploring we had done to this point. While parts would be similar to Tortaguero, much of it was quite different, with the mangroves providing not only a unique environment, but the opportunity for some different animals.

So we set off in glorious sunshine, and started paddling through the somewhat narrow canals amongst the tree roots. On our way we came across some bats, lizards, crabs and quite a few boa constrictors, hiding up there in the trees. Apparently a couple of them were in the order of a couple of metres and we were kayaking underneath. Um, good idea us.

And all of a sudden the clouds rolled in. It didn’t cool down, but the rumble of thunder and then a few minutes later the heavens opened. It poured! The rain came down hard and we had nowhere to run. Ha! It didn’t matter, as the rain was so warm and it was super refreshing to be in it.

 

 

 

We didn’t stop, but kept on paddling, enjoying the warm tropical rain. At one point we entered a small canal that was very tricky to negotiate in our two person kayak, with the nose often getting stuck in the branches, but it was great fun. In amongst it all, our guide gave us a bit more of a rundown of the mangroves themselves before we kept moving on.

 

 

 

The rain had stopped by now and it seemed the wildlife came back out to say hello, in particular a pack of white faced monkeys. These guys were not shy and were happy to sit on the side of the canal and harass us as we stopped to have a closer look at them. One in particular didn’t seem too impressed that our guide was so close.

 

 

With that we were back at the dock and it was time for a late brekky. Rice and beans and plantains! With more salsa I was loving it.

From there it was a free afternoon for the most part. A bunch of us elected to head to the Manuel Antonio beach and chill out for a few hours. So Andreas negotiated a good price for some chairs and shade and 7 of us promptly set up camp on the beach.

 

 

 

I went straight into the water. So so warm! It was gorgeous. Unfortunately the clarity of the water left quite a bit to be desired, as the dark sand just made it very cloudy and very difficult to see anything really. That was OK as the temperature was nice and warm and it was nice just soaking. It was also a popular spot for surfing and parasailing, so every now and then you had to be looking out for a surfboard coming at you.

 

 

The supermarket across the street proved very handy for getting snacks and beers, and in no time 4 hours passed and we were getting ready to leave. Kate and a few others were off for a late afternoon yoga class. I was happy to just catch the local bus back to the hotel to relax by the pool and chill for a bit. It was just on happy hour when Kate and the other arrived back which was nice timing! 2 for 1 drinks meant a few gin and tonics later we were feeling pretty good and also nice and hungry.

Dinner was at the Quepos Marina which was in the process of being developed into one of the largest marinas in Central America. A nice seafood dinner later and it was time to call it a night.

 

16/05/2017

Today we bid farewell to Monteverde and took the “Costa Rican Massage” road out of town. Just before we left town however, Andreas took us on a small detour. He didn’t really tell us what was going on, but we made our way up another windy road and then all jumped out of the bus.

After a few minutes walk we arrived in to a part of the forest where we were greeted with a massive tree that was incredible. It was a strangling ficus tree, a tree that had taken over a host tree and had made an amazing hollow tree, where its trunk was winding and almost vine like. We could actually climb inside the tree, and looking up was fascinating. It took everything not to try and climb up inside.

We were heading west, toward the Pacific coast. Much to the happiness of everyone, after about an hour we hit the main highway. Paved road! This was the highway that runs all the way through Central America, and it was nice to get to some smooth road.

Once we hit that we made some good time and late morning we hit our lunch spot. It was an early lunch but for two reasons… firstly we would not be making it to Manuel Antonio for another couple of hours, but secondly, we had some crocodiles to see.

We were in Tarcoles, and this was a popular spot to stop for most travellers, as at the Tarcoles bridge were dozens of massive crocodiles hanging out in the river. And by massive I mean 4-5 metres long. It was quite a sight to see them sunning themselves in the waters and with everyone on the side of the bridge staring down.

After our lunch break we kept on travelling and made it to Quepos, the small town in the Manuel Antonio region. Manuel Antonio itself is a small village and mostly a beach, with Quepos being the main township. It seemed like a typical latin american beachside town, and on the stretch of road toward Manuel Antonio were many hotels, ranging from backpackers to massive villas. We were staying in a pretty good hotel halfway between Quepos and Manuel Anotnio, and had a scaly bellhop to greet us.

We had a few hours free to soak up the hot weather and the poolside happy hour. At around 5pm, 4 of us had opted to go on an optional night walk. Yep, another night walk, bt being in a different locale meant the chance of seeing some different things. So on nightfall, we met the guide and headed off into the Manuel Antonio forest.

We were hoping to see the famous red-eyed frog here, and were told that would be pretty much a certainty. As we got on the path we were first greeted by a pack of squirrel monkeys, making their way to their favourite night time spot. We never got a clear view, but could see them making their way quite rapidly through the trees.

Not long after we heard another rustle, this time on the side of the path. Here we found an adult agouti, with two babies in tow. This is a medium sized “forest rat” and while it certainly had some facial features resembling a rat, it was pretty cute to see it running about with the babies.

In no time at all though we had accomplished our mission… red-eyed tree frogs! They were crazy to see, with the bright red eyes staring at us. We were excited to see one haning out watching us, and then as we kept moving found a bunch more. We even found a quite amorous pair doing their thing on a palm leaf. We got to see many of those as well as other species of frogs about, including the big bullfrogs.

The park that we were in also served as a rescue centre for various creatures, most notable turtles and crocodiles. We walked on small bridges over the crocodile pit and the guide was excited as he believed that some crocodile eggs were getting ready to hatch. The mother crocodile was acting very territorial and he though that there may have even been some babies in its mouth. Alas we couldn’t quite see, but we too could see something was up.

We kept moving, coming across more frogs and the odd lizard. We didn’t really see any other mammals, however we got our fill of frogs so were very happy with our expedition. All done, we wandered down the road to the restaurant where the rest of the group was having dinner. We night time explorers settled in for a late dinner, enjoying some more local food before making our way back to the hotel to catch some rest.