We’re a couple of days behind on the blog, but it’s tough settling down to write in paradise. So pretend it’s still Wednesday. On that day, we took a tour of Manuel Antonio National Park. We weren’t planning to do a tour, but because we booked all our other tours through Iguana Tours, they threw in this one. So, OK, off we went at 7:05 a.m. (sorry Steven). BUT, we were so glad we did the tour. The guides all have high-powered binoculars and they know what they are looking for. We got to see all three species of monkeys (white face, howlers, and spiders). The white face monkeys were eating out of the garbage when we got there, so that wasn’t a big deal, but we never would have seen the spider monkeys without guidance. We saw two- and three-toed sloths and it is baby season, so many of the animals were carrying their babies on their backs. Manuel Antonio park is the smallest of Costa Rica’s parks, but it is the easiest one in which to see animals and it has gorgeous beaches. Don’t miss it.

We could have spent the rest of the day on the beach and made our own way back to the hotel, but we had a 4:15 p.m. kayaking tour booked and we didn’t want to be too exhausted plus we were moving to the “Cockpit Cottage” at Costa Verde (we’ll save that for another post) and wanted to take full advantage. So we took a few photos of the beach and headed back.

Our kayaking tour was through the mangroves in the Damas estuary, a bit north of Manuel Antonio. I’m not sure what I thought we would see in the dark, (I’ll give you a hint: not much!) but imagine pretty much floating down a river surrounded by mangrove trees with the stars twinkling above and no mosquitoes. We heard birds, frogs, and clams spitting brackish water and the light sound of our paddles. We did see a few possums and birds. The company also has a catamaran tour of the same stretch of river and they were able to see the head of a small crocodile, but I’m not sure I mind missing that. Guess what we ate after that tour? Typical food!