Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

The Pacific coastline of Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio, is voted one of the best destinations in the country. A 6hr bus trip ($6) through grasslands and hills later we arrived in the gorgeous beach town, which is tiny but covered in thick coastal vegetion. The beach is beautiful with little islands in the distance, and some trees on the sand providing shade.

The beach by Manuel Antonio.

We got off the bus and looked for a hostel when a beach bum teenager showed us to a really lovely place Costa Linda Backpackers ($10/night). We spent four days here, relaxing, reading, getting in touch with friends and family and best of all, enjoying the National Park.

Inbetween the relaxing on the beach, watching squirrel monkeys playing in the trees, and eating cheap and delicious meals at our hostel we also planned to visit the National Park that is so highly recommened by Costa Ricans. Unfortunately, it was pouring with rain on the day we wanted to go, and decided to have a quiet day in.We needed time to recharge, the last few weeks have been quite intense!

Finally we had a chance to get into the Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio. Woke up at 7am to be the first in the park, ($10 each). People were asking for private guides to 'help spot animals', but that's a lot of money and I'll take my chances. I had to see a sloth, and it's face! Michael saw a baby sloth and rubbed it in, so I have to see one now!! We walked in the park, there are very clear roads and paths to follow. It's a tiny park, only 16.24 km. The guides were pointing out birds, monkeys etc, but nothing we couldn't see ourselves.

A zebra-look alike Grasshopper.

In fact, I was a machine! I was so desparate to see a sloth that I kept my eyes peeled, and we saw so many insects and birds that were very enjoable. While we walked towards the 'mirador' (lookout) we saw a whole bunch of monkeys. Sweet! Then we crossed a tiny wooden bridge and as I looked to my left I saw...a SLOTH! I almost squealed I was so excited! It was a perfect sighting, he was moving around, climbing down (and eventually up) the trees. It was amazing seeing such an active sloth and he looked right at us several times. It was the most dopey looking animal! We watched him for about 15min, he did his sloth thing by hanging upside down, and we could see the three-toes (with massive claws) very clearly.

Our first sloth face! It was climbing up and down for ages. Fantastic sighting.

Within those 15min not a single tourist walked past us. When the little guy disappeared into the thick vegetaion a group walked past. "Damn, you just missed a sloth!"..."It's ok, there are many here, we are in the rainforest", that's the response I got. I don't understand people like that. They didn't give two hoots about it, go back to the city, why are you even here?!

Anyways, we went to the mirador, where a really beautiful view of the ocean exposed a distinct line in the ocean. We don't know what that's from, maybe currents?

The ocean view, with the distinct line.

We walked back and the sloth was on his way back up the tree, in full view. I was waiting for people to come past so we could share the amazing experience with them, but of course, no-one came. Eventually a German tour group walked past and I said in my best German there's a sloth (Faultier) and they were rather excited! Yay, great success...

We kept walking and two Augouti's were browsing in the undergrowth. We spotted some vultures and a woodpecker. The path lead to a little beach protected in the cove. There were hundreds of little hermit crabs scutteling around - I love them, we had them as pets in Australia. We played with them and Rob and I had Hermit crab races. I won, it's my superior experience of knowing which hermie to choose :)

An Augouti, a large rodent.

Quick dip in the beach.

One of the many Hermit Crabs we played with.

Hermie!

A quick dip later we kept walking around the park. We decided to leave the park and on our way on the main path (a road) we saw a tree slanted down with a grey fluffy thing dangling in the middle. As we walked closer we realised it was a baby sloth, looking confused, dangling eye-level in the middle of the road! We couldn't believe it! What luck!! They are adorable, I want one! He was about 6 months old and hadn't learnt the art of camouflage or hiding for safety. It was so sweet, we watched it for about 30 min. So many people came, 'oh a sloth *click' and kept walking. Hmmm....not as excited as me. It's not a zoo, it's in the wild, and it's special.

As we walked out we saw 2 more sloths, and a ton of monkeys. We definitely didn't need a guide, and in fact the German tour guide came to me afterwards and thanked me for pointing out all the birds and animals. Years of going into the bush has paid off :) I love it!

The three-toed sloth in Manuel Antonio National Park.

The rest of the time we spent on the beach. We origionally wanted to go to Panama, but the only ATM in the town wouldn't accept my bank card so we had to borrow $1 from a car guard to get the bus to the main town (Quepos) to get money. Shame, what a sweetie. We are such hobos, bumming money form a card guard, but he offered....We gave him $2 back, so he doubled his cash. The last night we stayed in a hotel by the bus terminal to get a bus to Panama at 5:30am. *Joy*