Manuel Antonio

This weekend we did a two-person trip to the coast and it was beautiful and relaxing. We had to rush to the bus stop after school in the rain, but we made it in time! We got in line and handed over the tickets that we had bought the day before and the man said, its the wrong date... we looked at the ticket and sure enough, it was for the day before. The gentlemen was so kind and because he had the copy of our tickets he knew that we had not used them so they allowed us to trade them, but stated that we would have to wait an hour for the next bus. However, the bus driver came, grabbed our tickets and said, get on, I have two seats left. :) So pretty soggy and just in time we were on the right bus. By the time we arrived in Manual Antonio it was after six and dark. We checked into our hostel and surprise, they put us in a private room, even though we only paid for a dorm, and some kind guests offered us the rest of their pasta as they had a lot left over. So with an upgrade and free supper, we set off to find a grocery store, a bank, 

and some gifts. Manuel Antonio is known for its wildlife and monkeys and we were not disappointed! We were able to watch monkey and sloths both inside the park and around town. We watched this group of monkeys cross the road on the power line. Even a momma monkey crossed with her little one. They were so fast and so entertaining!

This is a local fruit called Rambutan. They are sweet to eat and a lot of fun. We feel kinda local walking around carrying a bag of there because not many tourists know how to eat them. I just bite into it to split the skin and the fruit comes out, then you just eat the fruit off of the pit and you have eaten a Rambutan.

 Yes, these actually are sloths sleeping on the power line. Sloths come down from the trees once a week to go to the bathroom, but they also sleep 20 out of 24 hours in the day, so it is rare to see them awake, and rarer still to see them down low. We did see these guys hanging low in the tree earlier in the day, and then, later on, found them sleeping on the electric lines, and I doubt this was their first time. They are pretty fascinating creatures.
We headed to the national park early on Saturday morning and were able to hike back to a waterfall and hike a small peninsula. Both were pretty neat and since we were on the coast we were also soaked and dripping with sweat. It was strange because walking through the rain forest I did not feel hot, but was very thirsty, and sweaty.



When we got to the beach we met the monkeys. They were all over the place and stealing food and people's bags. One grabbed a bag of chips and ran up a tree. A few minutes later he sent down the empty bag. We rescued a little boys bag from being stolen. After being entertained for awhile we kept hiking and came upon more of the little rascals. While we were crossing the bridge two of them kept trying to get into my backpack, when I turned around to look at them, they would scowl. They have no fear of anything!

I also got to play with a few and hold their hands so that was pretty sweet. They would hold my hand and open their mouth, so I didn't leave my hand                                                      in theirs for long, for fear of what might happen. 

Here is the waterfall

I did not know that there are crabs that live on the jungle floor, but now I do, and you do too! :)

I love gekos and other lizards, but they are really hard to get photos of, but Saturday was my lucky day, because we seen a lot of them, and I finally got some photos.

Looks sweet enough to kiss...

This is the life!

We ended our day with supper on a balcony overlooking the ocean with seafood soup. It was delicious, and surprise, surprise, it had a whole crab in it. He was pretty small though, so not much meat.

Sometimes I wonder if I am really here or if this is a dream, but the sweat beading down my forehead makes me want to believe it's real.