This last weekend (el fin de semana pasada), I visited Manuel Antonio Park with a new friend I met at ILISA. Her name is Sandy and she is 23. We had a great time and got to see many animals! Manuel Antonio is on the Pacific side of Costa Rica, a little more than halfway down the coast. We took the public bus from San Jose about 2:30 in the afternoon on Friday and I got to see all the pictures Sandy took. She was in Costa Rica and Panama before coming to the school and she will also be visiting Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru afterwards! The ride was mostly uneventful, but there were a couple of VERY narrow bridges we went across and we tried not to look! We stayed in a hostel in Quepos, which is about a 20 minute bus ride from Manuel Antonio. In the morning we hired a guide for the park, which was well worth it, since he was able to find and point out WAY more animals than we would have seen on our own. We saw lots and lots of sloths:
I even got a GREAT video of one climbing up the tree! The black iguanas were all over, including on the beach. We had to shoo them away by throwing sand! Once, when we were laying on the beach, one went between our towels and then scampered across my foot - boy, was I surprised!! We also saw white-faced monkeys, very colorful insects, honeymoon bats (so-named because they are always found in couples), Jesus Christ lizards (because they can walk on water), and a red-eyed tree frog. Very interesting!
After the tour of the park, we visited the beach and swam in the ocean. We had GREAT weather the whole weekend, with lots of sun, which is a little uncommon at this time of year. The view was beautiful. And there were many venders outside the park selling beautiful sarongs and towels of every color and tropical animal imaginable. Beautiful! The next day we went back to the public beach and bought some fresh coconuts, which was fun and delicious besides. We took a bus back in the afternoon and then took a taxi back to our homes. All in all, a very good weekend!
This last weekend (el fin de semana pasada), I visited Manuel Antonio Park with a new friend I met at ILISA. Her name is Sandy and she is 23. We had a great time and got to see many animals! Manuel Antonio is on the Pacific side of Costa Rica, a little more than halfway down the coast. We took the public bus from San Jose about 2:30 in the afternoon on Friday and I got to see all the pictures Sandy took. She was in Costa Rica and Panama before coming to the school and she will also be visiting Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru afterwards! The ride was mostly uneventful, but there were a couple of VERY narrow bridges we went across and we tried not to look! We stayed in a hostel in Quepos, which is about a 20 minute bus ride from Manuel Antonio. In the morning we hired a guide for the park, which was well worth it, since he was able to find and point out WAY more animals than we would have seen on our own. We saw lots and lots of sloths:
I even got a GREAT video of one climbing up the tree! The black iguanas were all over, including on the beach. We had to shoo them away by throwing sand! Once, when we were laying on the beach, one went between our towels and then scampered across my foot - boy, was I surprised!! We also saw white-faced monkeys, very colorful insects, honeymoon bats (so-named because they are always found in couples), Jesus Christ lizards (because they can walk on water), and a red-eyed tree frog. Very interesting!
After the tour of the park, we visited the beach and swam in the ocean. We had GREAT weather the whole weekend, with lots of sun, which is a little uncommon at this time of year. The view was beautiful. And there were many venders outside the park selling beautiful sarongs and towels of every color and tropical animal imaginable. Beautiful! The next day we went back to the public beach and bought some fresh coconuts, which was fun and delicious besides. We took a bus back in the afternoon and then took a taxi back to our homes. All in all, a very good weekend!
3 comments:
Wow, you look great and the pic of the iguana is very cool. Sounds like you had another awesome weekend!
Your trip sounds great. I'm so proud of you for being so adventurous!
Mary - good to hear from you! I am having a lot of fun and I'm not so sure I want to come back! I would love to have a job where I could really use my Spanish...
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