Costa Rica Manuel Antonio Day 4



Manuel Antonio park.  We tried to get there first thing in the morning because that is when you will see the most wildlife.  We got there a bit late but still saw tons of stuff.  There weren't any other English people to join our group so we ended up with a private guide which was awesome.  These guides were able to see things that "normal people" would never notice.  They all carried telescopes and when they spotted something they'd quickly set up the telescope (at kid friendly heights which is pretty much on the floor for Blake) and we'd look through the telescope and see stuff.  I even had a quick check of the telescope and I didn't see any buttons to make a tucan or sloth or red eyed leaf frog or bat appear in the viewer because I certainly couldn't see these things with my eyes!  It was amazing.

Apparently these guides study for 2 years to have that job.  They described so many things to us, from the smells of the howler monkeys to the eggs of the tree frogs to the medicinal benefits of many of the plants we saw. I was in heaven.

But after about 40 minutes, Blake fell apart so Christian took him home and Jaida and I stayed for an extra hour.  She was such a trooper.  She was hot and tired but she saw how much I was loving it so she kept me company with minimal complaining.

A list of things we saw:
- red eyed leaf frog (it was sleeping and looked like a flat little leaf)
- bats
- sleeping plants
- poisonous trees and plants
- iguanas
- black lizards
- jesus christ lizards
- toucans
- ghost crabs
- howler monkeys
- white faced capuchin monkeys
- three-toed sloth
- two-toed sloth
- pelicans

The sounds of the jungle are very cool.  On top of the constant sound of crickets there are some very beautiful bird sounds, and some occasional monkey sounds (both the stereotypical ooh ooh hee haw haw haw and the very distinct screech of a howler monkey).

Our villa backs onto the national park so we can listen to all of these things while we sleep.  I don't understand why our room has a noise maker in it.  I turned on the "rainforest" setting and said "Hey kids watch this" and I turned if off and we could still hear the exact sound that came out of the noise maker.

After our hike, we had a swim in the pool and then went to meet Amber and Camille at the beach.  Camille said they would be at the very end of the beach.  I thought that wasn't too far so we started our walk along the beach with our boogey board, sand toys, snacks, towels, hats, water and two tired kids.  I learned how deceiving a beach can be - I'm not sure if the distance is deceiving or if the sand slows you down so much that it takes forever to get anywhere.  The kids gave up and so I ran ahead to meet them but I didn't quite go ALL the way to the end so I missed them.  But they came to our hotel later for a visit, and they brought us some knives for our kitchen - YAY!