The following day, we said good-bye to Monteverde. A new driver picked us up and drove us to our last destination, the town of Manuel Antonio at the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Our hotel there, called Si Como No, was nestled in a lush rain forest and had a gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean. But first we enjoyed a 4.5 hour drive through beautiful landscape and quaint towns. Halfway to our destination, we stopped for a light lunch, a little shopping, and a surprise view of some impressive animals!

 

Yes, crocodiles, and a lot of them, sunning themselves underneath a bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

And below is the view from our new hotel, Si Como No–Yes, Why Not (quite a name!). It was beautiful and as in all the places, the service was top-notch with friendly, warm people.

 

 

 

 

See the sign above? “Do not feed the monkeys”–we didn’t see any monkeys near the hotel, but we were in the rain forest after all, and on our tour through the Manuel Antonio National Park the following day, we saw them as well as many other exotic animals. The national park combines both rain forest and beaches and it was one of the most exciting and beautiful parks we had seen on our trip.

On our walk through the Manuel Antonio National Park, our guide, as well as the other guides, had the perfect means for us to see the often far-away and hidden animals. He brought along a tripod and a strong telephoto lens. We were able to see through the lens into the forest, and he also took pictures with our cameras that he held against the lens. The resulting photos made it look as if we were standing right next to the animals. Really smart! Here are a few photos of the park.

 

 

 

 

Spiders anybody?

 

Above is one of the so-called Holler Monkeys. And they do holler!

 

That long green thing above is a snake. Ewww. Not my favorite animal!

 

 

 

 

 

That furry ball above is a sloth.

 

 

And here we are at the Pacific side of the park and the end of our walk.

 

 

 

Above you can see one of the guides with his super camera that allowed us a really up-close-and-personal view of these elusive and fascinating critters and plants.

After our exciting tour, we relaxed with some Costa Rican drinks and good food at the hotel.

 

We planned to go back to the Pacific Ocean the following day for some swimming. Unfortunately, that was a day with a typical tropical thunderstorm and rain, so we had to skip it. In the afternoon, we ventured across the street to a butterfly sanctuary. Since it was raining part of the time, the butterflies were hiding, but Diane got a few good shots anyway.

 

 

 

And, sad but true, the end of our trip was here. The following day, we were picked up again and driven to the airport. During our drive there, we experienced the only glitch on our journey. The van of the driver had an oil leak that needed to be fixed. We were of course worried we wouldn’t make it to the airport in time, but our driver was a pro and brought us safely and on time to San Jose. Good bye, Costa Rica and thank you for a wonderful time. We’ll be back!

 

 

 

PURA VIDA

If any of you guys are thinking of traveling to this beautiful country, I can highly recommend Felicia Clarke of Costa Rican Vacation, who created a great itinerary for us. Everything on this trip, hotels, tours, guides, etc. was perfect!

Here is the website and contact information: https://www.vacationscostarica.com/