Sunday, April 13, 2014

Manuel Antonio

I've been told that if you can only see one place in Costa Rica, that Manuel Antonio National Park is THE place to see.  So, we finally decided to go check it out.

While we were waiting for our bus, we decided to grab a bite to eat.  A lot of places serve juice with meals here, not sodas.  And, it's almost always fresh fruit juice.  This time, our problem was that we couldn't understand what kind of juice it was.  So, they offered Layne a taste of the two options.  This is the one he chose, but when a whole cup of it was served, he was very skeptical about drinking it.  Even though it tasted good, he just couldn't get past these things floating in it.  I can't say that I blame him.  They look like fish eggs to me, but we know it's part of the fruit.  Any idea what kind it was?

We took our 3 hour bus ride to Manuel Antonio and settled in for the night.  The next day, we walked down to the beach and checked it out. The heat in Manuel Antonio is oppressive.  In Escazu, where we've been living since January, it's a very comfortable temperature.  There are no air conditioners, but a constant cool breeze and fans keep us very comfortable.  This is NOT the case by the coast.  I'm not even kidding when I tell you that Manuel Antonio in mid April feels like South Louisiana in mid July ON STEROIDS.  For real.  It was so uncomfortable, but definitely beautiful. 

We reserved some spots on a boat that would take us out on a sunset cruise.  I wasn't crazy about it, simply because it was crowded and they blasted loud music from the speakers, but the views of the coastline and sunset cannot be matched by any others I've ever seen.


Me and my sister, Brittnay.
 
 
During the tour, we stopped to snorkel and swim in the water.  The snorkeling wasn't the best.  In fact, we didn't see one fish.  My guess is that there were too many people because there were 3 other boats with snorkelers at the same spot, but we swam and jumped into the water from the boat.  Here's Layne being brave....
 
He loved it so much that he decided to do it again while holding the underwater camera....here's a link to his jump....  http://youtu.be/a8AGUthtLVE
 
And of course, not to be outdone....I decided to jump, too....but I chose to wear a life jacket.  The jump was actually pretty scary and I almost chickened out.
 
The evening ended with seeing several schools of dolphins...here's a link to one of the schools and you all know how I feel about schools :-)))))....
 
And, look at this amazing sunset (you can even see a few of the dolphins)...

 
The next morning, we decided to head to the national park.  I'd heard amazing things about it so I was excited to actually see it.  It was full of wildlife...but it was also full of people.  I wasn't crazy about that part :-(
 
The first animals we saw when we got into the park were sloths.....
 
Here's a video of one of them moving around....  http://youtu.be/f-j2qBvYc9Q ...they're just a cool animal...so ugly that you can hardly tell the face from the rear end, but cool animal nonetheless.  Oh, and they're a lot smaller than I imagined.  These two were about the size of a regular house cat.  
 
As we continued down the trail, we met up with this little adorable fellow and his many friends....I can just guess what he's about to say...he's thinking, "what cookies?  I didn't eat any cookies!"
 
I'm a little afraid that this one might jump on me....
 
Look how cute they were scrounging for food..... http://youtu.be/i3MRN8ezJzY ...their little ears were so cute and perfect.
 
Lastly, after being coated with sweat, we were rewarded with these amazing views.  Incidentally, this is where we stopped to snorkel the day before....
 


 


 
I love this pic....I think I might blow it up and frame it when we get home. 
 
All in all, it was beautiful there.  It was very, very hot so be forewarned if you decide to go.  And, you can't see it in our pictures, but there were so many people there this weekend.  It's the weekend before Semana Santa (Holy Week) and from what I understand, this is the time when the whole country goes to the beach, so we chose the wrong time to go.  But, all in all, a beautiful place.
 
 
 


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