Manuel Antonio - still more monkeys than people

Driving from Monteverde to the Manuel Antonio area took pretty much a full day.  We were 8 passengers in all (so the 4 of us plus 2 other couples) plus all the luggage.  Needless to say it was quite cramped but we did stop along the way.

  

One stop, where Nick bought a cold coconut to drink the sweet water inside, was beside a bridge going over a river full of 9-foot crocodiles lazing in the shallow muddy waters.

 
 

Manuel Antonio is an area just outside of a little town called Quepos on the Pacific Ocean coast.  We stayed at The Falls Hotel which was great.  http://www.fallsresortcr.com/ManuelAntonio.html 

The name refers to the falls seen here which are in the garden of the hotel.

The rooms were very spacious and right in the jungle garden.

 



This one was the only of our 3 hotels without a spectacular view of something but we really enjoyed it nevertheless.  It was the only hotel where you could comfortably walk to a good choice of restaurants and where you could see monkeys and sloths along the road.

Our rooms were side-by-side  





The infinity pool looked out onto the little falls in the jungle garden in the middle of the hotel grounds.

Serge enjoying a refreshing dip.

Our rooms were near to the reception, restaurant and pool areas which was nice.

We did get a view of the ocean and sunset along the other side of the street from our hotel.





We could even walk to the beach in Manuel Antonio National Park, but walking back was all uphill so we took the city bus for the equivalent of 25 cents. You don't necessarily go to Costa Rica for the beaches, rather to see the tropical forest fauna and flora.  But there are beaches!! There are 3 in Manuel Antonio.

The only public beach is called Playa Espadilla.  The other two, Playa Espadilla Sur (South Espadilla Beach) and Playa Manuel Antonio, are inside the National Park and you must pay an entrance fee, which we did the next day after our "walk".   Next blog posting!

Playa Espadilla (the only public beach at Manuel Antonio)

Serge in his Captain Morgan (rum) pose.

Still more monkeys than people

 On our way down the hill towards the beach we came across capuchin (whitefaced) monkeys playing in the trees lining the street.  There was a rope tied above the road so that they could cross freely without having to be on the road.

A local man pointed out a sloth climbing a tree as we strolled by.  Who needs a guided tour in the forest when nature is everywhere!

 The sloth starting his climb...............................    and at the top of the tree (surprisingly quick for a sloth).

  



Quepos waterfront (low tide)



We visited the town of Quepos just north of Manuel Antonio. Once again, it was a short bus ride (same bus-Quepos to Manuel Antonio Park and beach) from our hotel.

A little souvenir shop in Quepos





 

Right across the street from our hotel was an unusual restaurant called El Avion built around  an old American army airplane. The bar is in the plane's fuselage and the restaurant is around it.  You can read about the story here.  http://www.elavion.net/ what with the Treehouse in Monteverde, this one and the Pearl in Reykjavik, Iceland, I believe we've been to 3 of the top 10  most unusual restaurants in the world!!



Boys and their toys!



Bye bye for now - or Pura Vida as it says on Nick's shirt.

Pura Vida translates directly as "Pure Life"  which is the Costa Rican way of greeting one another!  Or when someone asks how you're doing, you answer Pura Vida which loosely translates to "my life couldn't be better".

So PURA VIDA everyone!