Monkeys!
I am officially allowed to come home now because I got that picture of a Monkey that Jim said I am not allowed to come home without! Actually I got quite a few!
Backtracking a few days first though. Last time I wrote we were in Matapalo a quiet little beach town which has yet to really be discovered by the hoardes of tourists invading Costa Rica. There were 7 or 8 small hotels on the beach there, but it is a ways off the beaten track and a little harder to get to, so we were again rewarded with a beautiful beach pretty much all to ourselves while we were there!
We stayed two nights in Matapalo arriving late on Friday afternoon. Saturday was spent on the beach. All day. We played in the waves which were much gentler than any we have encountered thus far and read our books on the beach. It was a perfect day all in all, but by about 7 that evening I had to leave Mom and go lie down because all that sun got to me and I was feeling a little under the weather.
Thankfully I was feeling great this morning for the early start to make our way to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio where we spent the day today. The man running our hotel was nice enough to get up at 6am and drive us to the main road to meet the bus so that we did not have to walk the 2kms with our packs on. From there we got a bumpy bus to Quepos (Amazing race watchers will recognize that place). From Quepos we got another bus 7kms to the edge of the park were there is a little ´town´, which is really rows of hotels along the beach outside Manuel Antonio National Park. We quickly checked into a hotel and headed to the park.
We were told to watch for monkeys and iguanas along the trails and were getting a little discouraged after about 45 minutes of hiking along a muddy rainforest trail without catching a glimpse of any wildlife....but our perserverence on the steep trails paid off when we stumbled on a troop of monkeys playing in the trees right alongside the path! There were at least a dozen of them and they gave us a show for a good half hour. It was a little scary how familiar they are with humans milling about because they barely looked our way the whole time. One little guy came onto the path at one point and looked like he was about to take a swing at another hiker though, so maybe they are telling us that there are too many tourists invading their home!
After the hike we spent a few hours relaxing on the 3rd of 4 beaches in the park. It was absolutely gorgeous, and was actually a little too hot for us....we had to sit in the shade most of the day! While we were on the beach we met some of the even more tame monkeys in the park who came right up to some of the sunbathers hoping to steal a little food. There were a few rather large iguanas soaking up some rays as well!
Tomorrow we are taking a Canopy tour through the rainforest which will involve bridges 20 stories above the ground as well as zip lines and some repelling...should be an adventure!! Mom´s a little nervous about this one, but she´s brave and knows it will be worth it!
Backtracking a few days first though. Last time I wrote we were in Matapalo a quiet little beach town which has yet to really be discovered by the hoardes of tourists invading Costa Rica. There were 7 or 8 small hotels on the beach there, but it is a ways off the beaten track and a little harder to get to, so we were again rewarded with a beautiful beach pretty much all to ourselves while we were there!
We stayed two nights in Matapalo arriving late on Friday afternoon. Saturday was spent on the beach. All day. We played in the waves which were much gentler than any we have encountered thus far and read our books on the beach. It was a perfect day all in all, but by about 7 that evening I had to leave Mom and go lie down because all that sun got to me and I was feeling a little under the weather.
Thankfully I was feeling great this morning for the early start to make our way to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio where we spent the day today. The man running our hotel was nice enough to get up at 6am and drive us to the main road to meet the bus so that we did not have to walk the 2kms with our packs on. From there we got a bumpy bus to Quepos (Amazing race watchers will recognize that place). From Quepos we got another bus 7kms to the edge of the park were there is a little ´town´, which is really rows of hotels along the beach outside Manuel Antonio National Park. We quickly checked into a hotel and headed to the park.
We were told to watch for monkeys and iguanas along the trails and were getting a little discouraged after about 45 minutes of hiking along a muddy rainforest trail without catching a glimpse of any wildlife....but our perserverence on the steep trails paid off when we stumbled on a troop of monkeys playing in the trees right alongside the path! There were at least a dozen of them and they gave us a show for a good half hour. It was a little scary how familiar they are with humans milling about because they barely looked our way the whole time. One little guy came onto the path at one point and looked like he was about to take a swing at another hiker though, so maybe they are telling us that there are too many tourists invading their home!
After the hike we spent a few hours relaxing on the 3rd of 4 beaches in the park. It was absolutely gorgeous, and was actually a little too hot for us....we had to sit in the shade most of the day! While we were on the beach we met some of the even more tame monkeys in the park who came right up to some of the sunbathers hoping to steal a little food. There were a few rather large iguanas soaking up some rays as well!
Tomorrow we are taking a Canopy tour through the rainforest which will involve bridges 20 stories above the ground as well as zip lines and some repelling...should be an adventure!! Mom´s a little nervous about this one, but she´s brave and knows it will be worth it!
posted by Dee @ 5:32 p.m.
11 Comments:
At 6:12 a.m.,
Anonymous said…
I hope Jim didn't mean it that you can't come home without a picture of a Monkey.That would be rude!!
I think there's other wildlife more enjoyable to look at than monkey's. But who am I to speak? Every single person has his own favorits.
Have you seen other wildlife too?
At 6:15 a.m.,
Anonymous said…
I hope Jim didn't mean it that you can't come home without a picture of a Monkey.That would be rude!!
I think there's other wildlife more enjoyable to look at than monkey's. But who am I to speak? Every single person has his own favorits.
Have you seen other wildlife too?
At 6:16 a.m.,
Anonymous said…
I hope Jim didn't mean it that you can't come home without a picture of a Monkey.That would be rude!!
I think there's other wildlife more enjoyable to look at than monkey's. But who am I to speak? Every single person has his own favorits.
Have you seen other wildlife too?
At 6:17 a.m.,
Anonymous said…
"Houston, we have a problem!"
Didn't mean to put it 3 times on the website. Sorry
At 11:19 a.m.,
Heather said…
I keep getting confused when you say Quepos because all I think about it Quipus which was some ancient mayan or aztecan language with ropes and knots... I never know what's what anymore!
I wish I were you right now!
At 5:57 p.m.,
kristen said…
but it's QUEPOS...from the Amazing Raaaace....
Anyway, hopefully you've heard about the government. We don't have one anymore. Don't worry...you won't end up stuck in an airport a la "Terminal", but you will have to figure out who to vote for when you get home.
At 5:08 a.m.,
Dee said…
Quipus are Aztecan...QEUPOS is a great little city very close to AMAZING BEACHES!! K what did they do there on the Amazing Race? do you remember?
No more government eh? Does that mean that I´m going to have to strategically corrupt Liberals just to try and avoid a Redneck conservative Govt?
I bet it would be cool to be in Ottawa right now K.
At 5:09 a.m.,
Dee said…
Ha I spelled Quepos wrong...
At 4:26 a.m.,
Anonymous said…
Yeah, that's a cool place for beach vacation. Don't remember to take some good skincare products of just a canopy like at http://www.beachgiraffe.com/best-beach-canopy-reviews/.
At 2:58 a.m.,
Anonymous said…
yes. Every single person has his own favorites. you can try this canopy too. https://www.bestpatioaccessories.com/patio-canopy/
At 11:51 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
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