Manuel Antonio

We have enjoyed the past few days with Matt's parents, Roger and Sue. They arrived late Tuesday night and we were up until almost midnight with them just talking :)Wednesday we went to La Carpio with them and it was, to say the least, an eye-opening experience for them both. But, it was a good day and we enjoyed watching them both interact with the people whom we love from La Carpio. That night, they stayed with the kids and Matt and I went to the prayer service in Tejarcillos. I think they enjoyed time with the kids alone and were all watching a movie when we got home :)

Thursday morning we left around 5:30 in order to get out of the city before 6:00 am. Thursday is the day we are not supposed to drive in the city limits or we could get a ticket. So, in order to be out of those limits, we had to leave pretty early. The trip took about 4 hours and that included stopping for breakfast. We had not expected to be able to get into our room right away, but thankfully it was ready when we arrived and so we got in right away. We unpacked and got ready to go to the beach. We drove down to the beach and found it was not quite what we had expected...but made the best of it. It was very touristy, but we had a great time regardless. We came back that afternooon and all of us jumped in the pool at the hotel. Later, Sue and I made tacos for supper.

Friday morning we decided to head to Manuel Antonio National Park. The park itself contains three beaches, one of which is considered one of the best beaches in Costa Rica. So, we bargained a price with one of the guides and eventually settled on an affordable price for us and hired him to direct us through the forest and. We were all so glad we hired him because he showed us so much that we never would have seen without his guidance. He also brought a telescope that he set up so we could view the insects and animals that he was describing. This was great because we could use it to take so much better pictures. After about two hours of walking we made it to the first beach, which is where we stopped. It was the beach that is considered one of the best, and it was almost like swimming in a natural pool. It is called Playa Manuel Antonio (playa tres), simply, Manuel Antonio beach (beach number 3). We saw so many amazing creations. Right away we saw a three-toed sloth high up in a tree with a little baby. We saw several different insects like a poisonous pygmy grasshopper, poisonous butterfly, dragonflys, forest crabs, owls, bats, deer, and monkeys- white-faced monkeys, spider monkeys and also howler monkeys. After walking through the trails, we stayed at the beach for several hours. We had brought lunch with us and so we ate and then enjoyed the water. It was raining but that didn't stop us from enjoying the water. It was so calm and we were able to go out quite far. We stayed until the park closed- about 4:00, then headed back to our hotel. After swimming in the pool for a little bit, we all got cleaned up and then went down to the restaurant and ate supper there (Sue and I were too tired to cook, although we had brought enough food to cook both nights...) We enjoyed a great evening with each other and the food was FANTASTIC! It was a barbecue place and we had chicken and ribs! They were so good! I haven't had bbq ribs in over a year and they were great!

Saturday we slept in a little and then the kids went swimming for a little bit. Sue, Matt and I got packed up and ready to go. We had decided to leave a little bit early and head to a spot we had seen many times but had never stopped at. We thought there was a spot with a beach and a restaurant and we thought we try it for lunch. We ended up finding it and it ended up being pretty good. After a short walk along the beach, we headed back to the house. We all rested for a while and had supper and then watched some old home movies before going to bed.

Today we went to church in Tejarcillos and afterwards enjoyed lunch with Neris and Rogelio in their home. This afternoon we have been relaxing. Tonight we are eating supper with the rest of our team. We are not sure of our plans for tomorrow, which is their last day here...

Here are some pictures of Manuel Antonio...


Mama sloth and baby (oso perezoso)


Golden web spider: This spider spins a web so strong it can capture a hummingbird.


If you look closely you can see several bats hanging on the tree trunk. It was absloutely amazing to all of us how our guide, Mario, could spot the things he pointed out to us. The use of the telescope was really so wonderful.


This is a poisonous pugmy grasshopper. It becomes poisonous because it eats poisonous plants, which in turn, create venom in him. The venom houwever is not harmful to himself.



This is a beautiful butterfly that is poisonous as well. It becomes poisonous through the same process as the grasshopper above. You can tell the level of poison from the intensity of the color of its wings. We saw othres that were not as poisonous and had much less intese red on their wings.


This was a huge bamboo tree. Mario said it was only about 50 years old. I thought it was so beautiful.


beautiful dragonfly


This lizard was hiding in the brush


Two walking sticks (I believe they were mating...)

The trip to the park was like a dream field trip for the kids. Ethan told me several times that it was one of the best days for him. He thanked me for bringing him there, to which I said to be thankful that Pappy and Mimi had come, because we would not have been able to go had they not come. The day was filled with so much learning and it was wonderful. Even though we never cracked open a book, we spent the entire day learning about the forest and the animals that occupy it. I have several things planned for the following week that we will continue to learn about what we learned in that day.


This was the view from the lookout that was at our hotel. One morning I sat up here and watched all the birds waking up and singing. It was wonderful. I wish I could have gotten pictures of all them.


The beach...


Mateo and Brooke <3


Mommy and Izzy


Pappy and Audrey dancing


Pappy and Iz dancing

More pictures to come later :)