Costa Rica Part II

We drove from San Jose to our main destination, Manuel Antonio. This is a large national park on the Pacific side of Costa Rica, and we stayed in a lovely place called Tulemar Bungalows. Steve was very skeptical about how our drive would go because the roads can be sketchy, and he and Pedro witnessed the bad roads themselves. Apparently, the government pours all its money into the road from San Jose to Manuel Antonio because it was an absolute breeze. Easiest road ever. I didn't run over anybody.

We stayed in three different bungalows in Tulemar. All were very nice. All had a/c and views of the ocean, though the last one was the best. There were also three or four different pools, and a really friendly staff. The place is known (as are many places there) for the monkeys and sloths. Well! We were on our next to last day and had seen no monkeys when we were walking to the beach and happened upon half the monkey population of the country. It was the most amazing thing to see all those monkeys (I believe three different kinds) swinging from tree to tree, running across the grass and road, eating berries, carrying babies, and practically ignoring you! Fantastic.

But I do get ahead of myself. Our resort had a private beach with boogie boards and kayaks, towels and chairs, plus you could order food and drinks. The waves were incredible! Best boogie boarding ever. In fact, as the week went on, the waves seemed to grow until we couldn't even go out the last couple of days. We kayaked one day, and the only slightly scary thing was making it back to shore. You had to time it just right and hope the waves didn't smash you to smithereens against the shore. Needless to say, we made it. Our beach was at the bottom of the resort. There was a shady path you could take walking down to it, and then it was a stiff uphill hike going back.

For most of the activities, they pick you up at your resort and tote you to wherever it takes place. Our activities: the first day we went horse back riding in the national park. It was so much fun. There was a group of about 12 I believe, and we rode for quite a while and ended up at a waterfall. There was much galloping involved, which Carson loved. The waterfall was such hard water, and freezing!! Then we rode back, and they fed us the typical Costa Rican meal.

The next day we went to a place to go ziplining. There were actually a few different parts to this. First we did the ropes course, which was up high (as was everything), and you walked across tricky things, and held onto tricky ropes. Next was the Tarzan swing, which is just what it sounds like. That was really fun. Then we started the zip lines. We did about five of those. Carson always had to go with a guide, but he still did them all. They were great! You were just flying through the air in the middle of all those humongous trees. We also rappelled a couple of times in there. Last thing was the Superman. You put on a harness and laid on your stomach, and absolutely flew down on a zip line like that. Carson had already been told he was too small, and he was just devastated. I was going last so that he could stay and watch everyone go, and another guy had come to help that had a son just a bit older than Carson. He said he thought Carson could do it, so they got him strapped in and sent him down the hill. You talk about an ear to ear grin!! And everyone at the bottom was expecting me, but got the surprise of Carson, so there was lots of cheering. After we were done, once again - the typical meal.

The next night we went on a guided tour of a nature place with lots of frogs. It was so interesting. You would never dream teeny tiny frogs would be so loud!! Also saw big furry spider, snake, crocodiles, and their cousins, the caimins.

On our last day there we went on a guided tour of Manuel Antonio Park. They only allow X number of people in the park, so in the busy season, it's possible for the gates to close. There are tons of guided groups, and the guides all have telescopes, and they know where certain critters will hang out, what different sounds are, etc. Without a guide you would see almost nothing!

We ate out several times while we there, and found the restaurants are almost all owned by Americans! So it was so easy for Carson to eat out. One night we timed it at sunset.

And almost last but certainly not least: a few pictures of The Monkeys!

We got up the last morning and drove back to San Jose to the airport. We ate at a Denny's! Different clientele than you see here, but still a Denny's. Thank goodness we didn't have to go back through San Jose again. Once was definitely enough.