Just Wow, wow, wow….

We got picked up earlyish to be taken to the Manuel Antonio Park. Our guide would be Alsandro. We didn’t expect to bump into Shish and Joyti as they were going with a hotel tour.

Manuel Antonio Park is one of the smallest national parks but despite that it is listed in the Forbes list of the top 12 in the world. It is home to 109 species of mammals and 184 species of birds. We were excited as we had been assured that this is the area of Costa Rica where we would undoubtedly see sloths etc.

Before we left the minibus we were asked to remove any food from our bags, luckily we didn’t have any but nevertheless we were all asked to open our bags for inspection as we went in.

Alesandro said that part way the walk we could decide to go our separate ways. Again, although he was lovely I think both Pete and I felt guided out.

We saw howler monkeys. I think I got it wrong in Tortuguero, it is these monkeys which have white balls.

We saw lots of iguanas close up. They seemed pretty chilled, even plodding along the beach.

We saw white tailed deers twice! The president of Costa Rica declared the white tailed deer a national wildlife symbol in 1995- it can be found on the 1000 colones note. This has caused some ongoing conservation as it has been felt by some environmentalists that it should have been the turtle. Both times they seemed unphased.

We saw hummingbirds again but that didn’t quell any of our excitement.

And then amongst all this wildlife we yet again bumped into Shish and Joyti, as well as Linda and Dee. Who knew that Costa Rica was such a small country. Rather than these flukey meetings we decided to meet for dinner later in the afternoon.

We saw lots of colourful crabs as well as hermit crabs in a range of different shells. I spotted the hermit crabs feasting inside a coconut half. It was incredible as from far away it looked like a throng of moving shells.

We also managed to see a sloth.

We weren’t as lucky as Shish and Joyti who had a few sloth in the trees at their hotel. That said on two consecutive mornings from our balcony at the same time more or less we saw a Capuchin monkey and her baby cross the rooftop below.

Alesandro showed us the black palm tree with incredibly sharp needles which indigenous people would scrape over a poison dart frog. They would then use a bamboo cane and blow it onto the animals they were hunting. It wouldn’t kill them immediately so have the hunters time to get to their prey.

When we saw the beaches we were so glad we had brought our costumes. It was a bit of gymnastics on the beach trying to get a very damp costume on without loosing my modesty.

We are the airport now so Pete can’t forward me any photos, so have downloaded one.

It was beautiful but a bit wild. At one point I got knocked off my feet and kept on being pulled backwards and forwards by the tide. I have the bruises to prove it!

We then walked to the other side where the beach was equally beautiful but much wilder. Pete went in but I decided on an initial risk assessment it would not be a good idea.

We headed back having thoroughly enjoying ourselves. The street from the Park was very colourful.

Later we officially met Shish and Joyti at a vegan cafe, Shish had found it, which was quite a spectacular find in an area dominated by fish. An American couple, Debbie and Ed joined us, again very vocal against Trump etc. So I think that my level of distrust in Americans is dwindling a bit.

The food was delicious and we chatted for three hours, although it didn’t seem like that long.

A wonderful day!