Goodbye Monkeys (warning, prepare for lots of monkey pictures)

Monkey!

I don’t want to whine but Paul was so right when he said that the sun is different at the equator. My legs are very unhappy with the sun right now. Also, it’s really hot and far more humid down south. But the heat is a nice treat compared to home!

Leaping monkey

We started our morning with an early hike in Manuel Antonio National Park. What a beautiful place. We went early to miss the majority of the other tourists (who were just arriving when we were leaving) and to beat the heat. Good plan both ways. We saw so many monkeys. As we were walking along the trail Paul noticed some movement in the trees. I kid you not, almost 20 monkeys came out of this tree. But one at a time. I’m sure it was for safety reasons but it was a little surreal to have one monkey come out, stare at us, climb along the power line, leap over the group to the other side of the trail and disappear into the forest. And then the next one came, and the next one and so on. It was crazy to see them leaping above us.

Hidden deer

And while we had all the monkey excitement I spotted a white tail deer. One guy on the tour asked why I was excited because surely I’ve seen a deer before since I’m from Canada. Well, I’ve never been this close to a deer, I was the one who spotted it and we’re in Costa Rica. It stood there eating right off the edge of the forest while all the monkeys ran around.

The craziest part of the monkeys was that they started running across the trail right beside us. If they were slower, and I wasn’t afraid they would attack you could have reached out and touched them. There were even a bunch of monkeys with babies on their backs. I have a lot of monkey pictures, but sadly a lot are blurry because I just kept taking pictures in all the excitement.

Monkey and baby monkey

We walked through the park to the beaches, which are really pristine and quiet. Well, at least while we were there. Once at the beach we could stay there, head back to the hotel or continue along for a second hike. I chose the second hike. We found more monkeys right between the beaches. We did a hike onto a little loop of land surrounded by beaches. The monkeys didn’t seem to like the little loop, but they were spending time on the beaches. The hike was okay, we didn’t see much except for a lot of plants and an agouti running around (that’s basically a large rodent). But it was really hot by the time we made it back to the hotel. I’ve never been so happy to have clean clothes to change into before.

Beaches at Manuel Antonio National Park

And we did spot a few sloths on the way back. One was hanging from a branch right on the beach. There were a few more along the way but by then the hordes of tourists had made it and it was hard to fully figure out which direction people were looking.

Sloth hidden in the middle of the picture

Sweaty and red me at the public beach

After that I had about an hour or so to wander down to the village. It was hot and my legs were sore so I didn’t make it too far. But the reality is that Costa Rica doesn’t really do sidewalks. So it was an uphill climb to where more of the stores and restaurants were. But I did check out the public beach and had an iguana startle me as I startled it as he was sitting by the sidewalk. He ran faster than I did. I enjoyed some ice cream while I told over half a dozen guys I didn’t need an umbrella and chair.

I was highly amused at how close the hotel was to the park entrance. They were touching. Ours is the newest hotel in the area so they built it right along the park. I did sit on my balcony in hopes that I would spot something, but I never did.

Manuel Antonio entrance on the left, hotel entrance on the
right

Terrible picture of the Scarlett Macaws

Our afternoon back to San Jose was broken up with a rainforest aerial tram. It was really fascinating to take the ride up through the rainforest and see all the different levels. I’m pretty certain I spotted a toucan, but it didn’t show up in my pictures. We saw a vast variety of plant life but no animals. However, going into the aerial tram location we passed a tree filled with Scarlett Macaws. And by filled I mean filled. Paul estimates there were over 30 birds. Sadly, I was on the wrong side of the bus so my pictures are terrible. But it was really interesting to see all these bright red birds flying around.

View from the rainforest tram

The tram was merely okay. It made me feel better about missing the first one. It was fun and all but our guide didn’t really know what much was and it felt like he told us information that we’d already heard from other places.

And now we’re heading back to San Jose for our final night. We had a goodbye dinner and I realized that everybody brought special fancy clothes for the occasion. Huh. I didn’t expect that and felt a little underdressed wearing my clothes from that days adventures. Also, it was a little uneasy watching the news about the plane crash in the Alps while having my last dinner in Costa Rica before I got on a plane. Yes, plane travel is safe, but it’s still nothing I want to focus on.

More monkeys, just because

I’m not trying to justify my choice to upgrade my flight but it was such an excellent decision. As is always the catch with plane travel my options were limited to leaving early with a short layover, leaving later with a 20 hour layover, or having to take several flights to get home. Seeing as how there was nothing planned for the next day aside from leaving, early sounded good to me. The only catch was that I was leaving so early I couldn’t take the shuttle. Well, it turns out that with the advantage of a quick check in I can take the shuttle. Extra sleep and not having to deal with taxis is a bonus.

On the way back into the city I really noticed the unusual terrain. San Jose is in a valley but there are many little valleys breaking up things. We passed so many ravines along the way, with houses built right up to the edges of both. And with a population of 1.3 million in the metro area San Jose is very close to Edmonton’s size.

But that concludes Costa Rica. If you are contemplating a trip to Costa Rica check out Caravan.com. They do trips year round; they are very affordable and cover impressive swaths of the country. And I’ve heard from other fellow travelers that they’ve enjoyed other trips with Caravan as well. See you all back here for the next exciting adventure!