Manuel Antonio

Homo sapien Americanus is the largest and most vocal of the subspecies. They are often found in large groups and can be differentiated by their pale skin, wide girth, and large appetite. I'd love to write that field guide....


Anyway, we spent the day today at Manuel Antonio National Park. It came highly recommended by both local Ticos and friends alike. Well, once again....maybe on the off season. I shouldn't be so critical though. We decided to "risk" not paying for a guide in Manuel Antonio. We'd heard that of all the parks in Costa Rica, this one was the one in which the wildlife was most easily seen. I'll say, its like shooting fish in a goldfish bowl! So if you go to a park in the morning--like when it opens (7 a.m for most parks), but don't hire a guide, chances are you will follow behind about 15-20 groups of suckers that DID pay. We simply waited until the herds of H.s. Americanus stalled at a certain point, and then focused our attention in that area. Boy does that ever piss off the guides! Truthfully though, we saw as much using our own spotting skills as we did with the guides'. Overall we saw a boatload of sloths--we think both the two and three-toed variety, white-faced capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, agouti (like a big guinea pig), a raccoon, a coati, a few ctenosaurus (like a very large iguana), a few basilisk lizards (also called jesus christ lizards because they walk on water), several types of anoles, a pair ofBaird's trogon, a tinamou, a Great Kiskadees, some brown boobies, and I caught a glimpse of a toucan. Pretty fulfilling day! I developed a keen eye for spotting sloths (which by the end of the day were found just about everywhere) while Isaac mastered the trogon spotting. Ok, so we had fun. The beaches left a lot to be desired--perhaps because they were crowded and filled with monkeys that tried to steal our food or because the surf was so raucous probably due to a storm offshore. Anyway, the hikes (minus the initial "trail" which is wider and flatter than most of the roads in Costa Rica) were fun. We managed to spend the entire day there and actually got "escorted" out by a pissed off ranger that found us gawking at yet another sloth! We returned to Plinios to find that there was no room for us for tonight, but the friendly bartender, Juan, called a friend who rented us an apartment for the night. This same friend also happens to know our good friends, the Browns. It pays to name drop!

Vamonos a la Playa!

Merry Christmas! Well our Christmas Eve was blessed with a visit by a large female leatherback sea turtle. She was about 5' tall and goodness knows how heavy (not pictured!). The tracks she left on the beach looked like those created by a small bobcat (the tractor, not the mammal). We watched her finish digging her hole and laying her eggs, but didn't get to stick around to watch her lumber back out to the ocean. She made her appearance at about 11:30 p.m., so just as we had been told. All in all, it was pretty amazing to see such a site.





So I fell in love with Playa Grande. It is slightly north of Tamarindo--a much more touristy and crowded beach--but every bit as beautiful. The sand is soft and there is a rock outcropping to the north full of tide pools. Hermit crabs are everywhere as are a variety of other beautiful shells and "normal" crabs. Further down toward Tamarindo the beach at low tide is chock-full of live sand dollars. I've never seen so many!




The surfing is also pretty good (Isaac was brave enough to rent a surf board, I stuck with the boogie board). The 0.5 km walk from our hotel to the beach was through a short section of jungle complete with parrots, hawks, and howler monkeys.



Luna y Sol is owned by Alex, a very mellow Italian fellow. The pool was immaculate and each cabina had a whirlpool bathtub. So far I'd have to say that if I were going to spend a week somewhere in Costa Rica, I would choose Playa Grande. The downsides are that there aren't that many restaurants (although Luna y Sol cabinas have small kitchens), the beach is off limits after sunset because of the turtles, and, as is the case in most of costa rica, it is not safe to leave your stuff unattended either on the beach or in your car.



After a lovely Christmas, we reluctantly said goodbye to Playa Grande. There is still so much we want to see here and already a week has past. We made the long trek down to Quepos near Manuel Antonio National Park.



The area around Quepos used to be banana plantations, but after some kind of blight in the 70s (I think), they replaced the banana trees with African palms from which to harvest palm oil. There are vast stretches of this monoculture which, to an ecologist, is quite depressing. I'm sure economists would disagree. We managed to have another experience on the way down---a speeding ticket! Isaac got pulled over for doing 80 km/hr in a 70km/hr zone. The police man happily took a $20 bribe in place of giving us a ticket. When in Rome I suppose.



We arrived at a hotel that came highly recommended by our friends, the Browns. The name of the hotel is Plinio (or Plinios) and it is owned by a charming German couple, Hans and Sabena. We shamelessly dropped the names of our friend's step mom and were instantly treated like family. We weren't able to land a coveted 3-story room, but we're quite comfortable in our little 2-story bungalow. I have to say the pool doesn't come anywhere close to Alex's at Luna y Sol in terms of cleanliness and the noise of the highway isn't the same as the noise of the Howler Monkeys, but there is a terrific restaurant with a great bartender, Juan, who graciously allowed Isaac to beat him at chess. Tomorrow we're off to Manuel Antonio National Park!