Blogs from Manuel Antonio, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 16

After Lake Arenal our destination was the coast, Manuel Antonio. It was a 5 hour drive from Arenal to Manuel Antonio, but due to traffic and stops it took us ~7 hours. We stopped at a crocodile viewing area (bridge that crosses the Tarcoles River). Below the bridge we were able to see vicious looking crocodiles. Dan was nice enough to carry Grayson across the bridge. The bridge has a skinny walkway across, missing railings, and speedy oncoming traffic. We were a little uneasy walking the bridge, but not necessarily because of the above, but rather because there were gigantic crocs’s below us. The main road into Manuel Antonio was closed because of a collapsed bridge. We took a detour …..this was another daily reminder of how very fortunate we all are. It’s the necessity ... read more

We decided it was finally time to see the park. We hired a guide so we'd actually have a chance to see some animals. Our guides name was Mauricio, and he knew his stuff. He also had a really nice telescope that gave us great views of the animals and some good pics too. That said, it was pretty freakin expensive for a 3 hr tour. Here are some photos from the walk. Hasta luego...... read more

Hello All - we've fallen behind in blog entries again. We currently have 4 to upload so we're not going to do anything interesting for the next few days. Here are some miscellaneous photos we took that range from Feb 22 - Mar 3. Pretty much all from school or a hotel we crashed for lunch. Hasta luego!... read more

Okay, this will probably seem like a condensed entry, which it is. There was so much stuff going on the first week it was incredible. Here’s a brief summary and the rest will have to be told in picture captions. (I’ve reduced the picture quality to speed uploading. If any images look like crap - or there’s one you’d like to see in full res - send us an email and we can add it to our “Gallery”.) Sunday we left the hotel and moved in with our homestay. They are an awesome host family that take in several students on a regular basis. Their names are Juan and Katia (the parents) and two sons Jonathan (15) and Ignasio (9). So far it’s been six-star hotel service. Katia works really hard to keep us fed, wearing ... read more

Issac.... Issac* was featured in an early journal entry; I'd met him in front of Arco Iris, a disco in Quepos, and he gave me a ride home. He was a bit drunk, but seemed nice. He owns two restaurants in Costa Rica (a high end restaurant in Guanacaste, and a beachfront sushi bar in Manuel Antonio), as well as two in Miami, including the well known, Sabu, patronized by celebrities. Issac is Ethiopian, speaks 7 different languages, and is a shrewd business man. He is in his late 30's or early 40́s, about 6' tall, with a stocky, muscular build, smooth , unlined skin, and a jet black ponytail at the nape of his neck. He drives a jeep with a carseat in the back, so I assume he has a small child. However, I ... read more