Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio
Today was a pretty special day! We went to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio which is filled with a TON of biodiversity.
We initially planned on just walking it ourselves but then once we were there it was obvious that a tour was the move. It was a complete game changer, a lovely Costa Rican named Wilbur was our tour guide; he knew Canada pretty well because he had lived in Kelowna for two years! There was a family from Tamarindo that was with us on our tour, they were so cute.
He had a telescope and would spot all the critters for us so we could see them.
Animal Spotting List:
Chameleons - Brown
Lizard that runs on water - Idk the species name
Iguanas - Apparently they are the chicken of the trees (taste)
Sloths!!!! - Both species (two toe and three toe), they sleep 22 hours a day but we saw them awake surprisingly, we also saw baby sloths, one of each species!
White Face Monkeys - lots of these little guys
Squirrel Monkeys - Saw this on our walk to the mirador
Forrest Crabs - Migrate to the ocean to lay eggs, 90% migrate down only 5% make it back majorly due to being hit by cars
Agouti - like a mini capybara sort of rodent animal, this one we saw at a glance
Hummingbird
Toucan
Frog Eggs
Coati - the Racoon like animal of South America
The animals are everywhere, I went to put my towel down on a rock and was surprised by an iguana! They really surround you.
After the tour portion was over we got food at the cafeteria in the park as you are not allowed to bring food in. I had an ice cream and some pineapple as there wasn’t really ay good gluten free options, I was not surprised by this, but a little surprised since most of the food here so far has been gfree, lots of Maiz here.
Once we finished eating, we walked to the “mirador” or viewpoint which gave a fantastic view of the coast.
We also hit a little beach (where I saw the iguana on the rock and almost put my towel on it). The national park is refreshing because there are no venders allowed, no garbage, no boogie boards, just pristine beach.
I started getting a tad hungry after the swim because my lunch didn’t quite cut it, I dropped of the gang at the hostel because they just wanted snack food at 2:30/3 pm and I took myself to lunch.
I was going to go to a falafel place but it was pricy so I decide to head back to Emilio’s Cafe the place we went for lunch yesterday with the gorgeous view. So worth it! I needed some solo quiet time I think, I love traveling with friends but sometimes you just need a little time alone so that was nice to take a beat and just hang. At the restaurant I saw a flock of Red Macaws flying around!
I feel like it doesn’t sound real how many exotic (to me) animals I saw today.
Back at the hostel I took an outside shower, chilled and then we all head to dinner at El Avion. It’s a cool restaurant that has an old plane that had previous crashed as the main feature. I didn’t take a pic of it but its across the street from the Selina I will be staying at when I get back so I will take some photos then.
As we sat the rain started to get insane, it was blowing onto us in our seats. I really have not been dry for 3 days now. You just never properly dry out with the swimming, humidity and rain showers haha. They moved us over so we could stay dry at our table.
The service was comically bad, like our waiter didn’t come see us for at least 30 mins and then would go awol for ages. We were there all in for 2 hours and probably took 20 of those to eat haha. We had a blast and got to have lots of time to chat, feels like we are on island time here.
Tomorrow we check out early and then will be taking a horse ride to a waterfall. Life is a dream right now, I am so happy I haven’t even checked anything for work. I needed a break and this is doing the trick.
