Day 20

A three-toed sloth we saw today

Female iguana

Capuchin monkeys

Well maybe one more walk.  After a sugary breakfast provided by our hotel, we set off for Manuel Antonio Park for a self guided tour.  After our entry, we were approached by several guides who offered their services, super powered monocular in hand.  We declined, determined to notice all the flora and fauna wonders on our own.  There was an exclusive air about these guides.  Once they were hired, they acted as if they had right-of-way for seeing anything interesting.  They hushed their voices as non-subscribers passed by in order to withhold valuable information from us.  On many occasions they would announce to their customers what they would miraculously find for them next, and then they would set up their scopes and, voila, they delivered. Meanwhile, we were finding lizards, big and small, spiders, mostly small, birds, butterflies, cool flowers and fruits and, happily, sloths and monkeys.  We saw howler monkeys, white faced Capuchin monkeys and squirrel monkeys.  As disrespectful as it may be, we thought they were all incredibly CUTE.

A dead log filled with fiddler crabs

Manuel Antonio Beach

The hike to Cathedral Point

A rest along the way

More monkeys in the trees!

After a few hours exploring and discovering, we dragged our hot and tired bodies back to the hotel for a swim in the pool, some lunch, and then a swim in the ocean.  The ocean swim didn't last long.  We were too hot and tired.  Rose and Jera and I decided to walk to a cash machine together.  That sounds simple, doesn't it?  It turned into another one of my ridiculously long walks to nowhere, accompanied by two impatient and annoyed girls.  After a two and a half mile uphill walk, we got our cash (that was the closest machine, according the the three separate people I asked.), and walked back.  Along the way we passed some interesting restaurants- two were built out of old train cars, and one called El Avion was built around and incorporated an old cargo plane.  We looked at menus on the way back and I created an incentive to walk and not hail a taxi or bus: if we save money on the taxi/bus we can go out to dinner.  They bit, and we returned back to the hotel room with sore feet.

A tree crab checking us out

We arrived by taxi at El Avion tired and hungry.  Dinner was very good.  The menu was not particularly regional, but the coconut flan was and it was exceptionally good.  We took the bus home, and got ready for bed.  That was our last dinner here in Costa Rica.  Well, tomorrow night we'll eat somewhere near or in the airport.  We have a very late flight tomorrow and we plan, once more, to sleep in the airport.  That idea doesn't phase the kids anymore.