Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

On our second full day in Costa Rica, Sunday May 15th, we took a trip to the Manuel Antonio National Park to do a nature tour and hike, and then spend some time at the beach afterward. The national park property used to be privately-owned and was donated to the country to be used as a national park. It is very beautiful! The park is free for Costa Rican nationals, as well as the beautiful beaches located inside the park--tourists get access to the park and beaches for a fee, which is a pretty good deal because it keeps the park beautiful while allowing everyone to enjoy it.

We had a tour guide named Danny who was really funny and great at pointing out all the wildlife and vegetation to us "gringos". I swear he could see a lizard on a branch from a mile away! Luckily for us he had a telescope so we could get an up-close look at what he could spot with the naked eye. We were also able to take pictures through the telescope, so you'll see some amazing photos we got without having to have a super-duper zoom camera lens!

Here's a lizard on a tree branch. I believe this is the Jesus Christ lizard, or Lagarto de Jesus Christo in Spanish, aptly named because it can walk (or run) across the top of the water. We saw some run across the water but were unable to get a picture... They are very quick!

Here's a camouflaged lizard sitting on a leaf, barely noticeable even through the telescope!

Another crab, except this one has white claws instead of purple like the ones by our house

A little lizard walking across the trail

This is what much of the park looked like. It was very beautiful and peaceful.

Here's a toucan. Again, thanks to the telescope, you can actually see what it looks like up close.

This is a sleeping howler monkey. These also lived in the forest around our house, and we could hear them howling at night/early in the morning, but I never saw one. Andrew and Rachel were able to spot them on their way home from town late one afternoon, pretty neat! Every time we drove down the driveway, Barry did his best to call the howler monkeys, but they must have recognized he wasn't one of their own so they never showed up... :)

Steph, Cindy, and Andrew

Here's a sloth. Costa Rica has two kinds of sloths, one that has three toes on all feet, and one with two toes on just the front feet (still has three toes on the back feet)--the two-toed is nocturnal and three-toed is diurnal. This is the three-toed sloth, which I'm sure you figured out since it is daytime when the picture was shot...

Here's a shot through the telescope, look at those claws!

This one looks like it is smiling at us. Pretty cute!

This is bamboo growing in the national park--bamboo is not native to Costa Rica but was brought over from Asia at some point. You could never tell by looking at these reeds, it's so tall it seems like it has been there forever.

Here's another lizard, it may be the Jesus Christ lizard again, I'm not quite sure...

This is one of the "private" beaches within the park

Very beautiful with bright aqua water

This is a black lizard, which we also had living around the house we stayed at

Back at the beach in Manuel Antonio, I tried to take a picture of the parasailor but unfortunately got them right as they hit the water, oops!

Here's Chelsea and I at the beach in Manuel Antonio. I love the ocean! The sounds of the waves, trying to swim with the waves tumbling over you, even the salt water. It was funny--for a moment when we first got there, I had forgotten that oceans have salt water and it surprised me. I guess being from MN, the land of 10,000 lakes, you just assume it's going to be freshwater. Ha ha!

Costa Rica Fun in the Sun!

Here are some pictures of the family relaxing around the villa. Enjoy!

Chels and I on the front deck with our daiquiris

Dan and Steph

Family yoga pictures, as promised!

Here's a black lizard that hung out around the villa, usually by the pool or along the railing of the front deck

Chels was in for a surprise when she went to take a dip in the pool!

Reading and relaxing in the living room

Boo and Dan

Rachel and Andrew

Cindy relaxing poolside

Here's another little creature that lived in and around the house: the gecko! They range in size from tiny (about pinky-finger sized) to about 5-6 inches. The geckos typically run along the walls & ceiling of the house, and make a loud squawking noise that is surprisingly loud for how tiny they are. I think they are pretty cute, except for the tiny one that jumped out of my passport lying on the kitchen table and then jumped onto me, yikes! :) I didn't mind having them in the house because they would eat the bugs at night, and most of the time they stayed on the walls and ceiling and stayed away from us. It's also kind of fun to watch them chase each other around, they are really fast!

This bullfrog liked to hang out by the pool or on the steps between the guest house and main house at night.

Here's Andrew trying to make friends with the lizard on the front deck railing. Andrew, Rachel, and I were reading on the front deck and all of a sudden I look over to see the lizard sitting pretty close by, just watching us. Occasionally he would lean over the railing to munch on some leaves (the lizard, not Andrew, ha ha).

Here's a close-up, he looks pretty big! He was maybe 18" or so from head to tail... There is a bigger lizard named Pedro by the house staff, who we got to meet later so stay tuned for those pictures!

Monkeys!

Much wildlife lives in the forests surrounding the property, and on our first full day in Costa Rica we saw one of the four local species of monkeys, the squirrel monkey, or "mono titi" in Spanish.


The home-owners put these blue lines across the roads so the monkeys can safely get from one side of the forest to the other, instead of using the dangerous electrical lines. We were on the deck of the guest house with some fruit and here they come!

They are about the size of a small dog or cat. Unfortunately, the mono titis are endangered in Costa Rica, with only about 1,000 remaining (down from 200,000 in the 1980's). They also live in a protected national park in Manuel Antonio, which is the neighboring town to Quepos where we stayed. We took a trip to the Manuel Antonio National Park and saw many interesting things--more on that later!

They are so graceful, running and swinging through the trees, and quite fast, too!

Look at their hands! They look so human-like, it's very interesting.

Yum! This is the only time we fed the monkeys near our house--we were later told you are not supposed to feed the monkeys because they are susceptible to human diseases from handling the food, also because the food typically fed to monkeys by humans (i.e. bananas) is not actually part of their diet in nature.

The monkeys were a little shy, however were very interested in the fruit!

Here's a mama and baby coming to join in

Hanging out on the chaise lounge, ha ha

Wrestling on the deck

It was awesome to see the titi monkeys--I hope the conservation efforts work so many more people get to enjoy these neat creatures in the future!