Blogs from Manuel Antonio, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 5

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Dag iedereen, Vandaag was het weer een stralende dag! Hier geen sneeuw te bekennen, enkel een mooie warme zon ;) We zijn naar het nationale park in Manuel Antonio geweest, dat park is hier maar 2km verderop dus dat was eens gemakkelijk. We namen een gids om meer te weten te komen maar dat hebben we ons nog beklaagd. We hadden namelijk de meest ongemotiveerde, minst spraakzame en de minst intelligente gids van het park getroffen. We hebben er dus lang over gedaan om dat te slikken want onze gids ging overal veel sneller, nam veel minder de tijd en we bleven soms even bij een andere groep hangen omdat die meer aan het vertellen was over iets wat we net gezien hadden. Maar ale, als we het achteraf bekijken, hebben we toch meer gezien dan ... read more
Grootste bloem vh park
Vrouwtjesspin
Luiaard


Dag iedereen, Vandaag zijn we opgestaan met het heerlijke gezang van alle wakker wordende vogels rondom ons. We kunnen hier meer vogels spotten dan in het regenwoud. We hebben nu ook de grote vogel van dichtbij gezien maar we zijn er nu niet meer uit of het wel zeker een arend is. Van ver lijkt dit zo maar nu dichterbij lijkt het iets anders. De andere persoon die hier logeert, zegt dat het een 'Hawk' (Havik) zou zijn. Mij leekt het eerder een kalkoen als ik het op die stok zag zitten. :) We hebben zelfs even een toekan gezien in onze bomen. Dominique heeft eens geprobeerd om een kokosnoot uit onze tuin open te doen voor de kokosmelk maar het is ons niet gelukt. We kregen er enkel stukjes van, Nore had nochtans goed geholpen! ... read more
Vogel
Hawk
Nore


Dag iedereen, Vandaag, om 7u40 zijn we in de bus (Interbus) gestapt die ons naar onze tweede locatie heeft gebracht. 4u later kwam we aan bij Hostel Vista Serena in Manuel Antionio. We zitten in een klein huisje met een eigen keukentje, badkamer, living en een slaapkamer met een dubbelbed en een stapelbed. We moeten de keuken, badkamer en living wel delen met een ander koppel. Het zijn oudere mensen die van Costa Rica zelf zijn en die familie zijn van de eigenaars. Nadat we onze valiezen een beetje hadden uitgepakt hebben onze bikini/badpak aangetrokken om te lunchen op ons terras in het zonnetje en zijn we naar het strand gewandeld. (Dit wordt een weekje relaxen). Het zonnetje scheen mooi. Op de weg naar het strand zijn we aapjes tegengekomen in een boom langs de weg. ... read more
Nore
Arend
Huisje


After an AWESOME weekend, I’ve returned to my casa in Santa Marta safe and sound! It was so great to have three days to enjoy the weekend. It gave us enough time to explore a lot of Manuel Antonio! I’ll fill you all in on the best parts. So we first took the bus from San Jose on Thursday night at 6pm. I didn’t know what to expect since I had heard that sometimes the buses can be uncomfortable. But I was lucky! I got a seat right behind the handicap entrance so I had a ton of leg room. It was a very comfortable ride. It only took a little over three hours. Then we arrived at our hostel, called Backpacker Manuel Antonio (http://www.backpackersmanuelantonio.com/). We had made reservations before we left, but it turns out ... read more
el avion
sunset
kelsey on rock


Everyone is very busy with academic and cultural activities this week and several members of the group are putting together blog entries on other topics, so I will go ahead and tell you about our weekend trip to Manuel Antonio National Park. You already saw some of the photos from the trip there and the trip back, and Leslie's entry (the one right before this one) also included some pictures from there. Really, though, none of our pictures really can convey the magnitude of the natural beauty of that area. It is like nothing any of us have ever seen before. I have Leslie's permission to use some more of her beautiful photographs (clearly marked as hers), so between her pictures and mine, I'll do my best to show you. One of the stops on the ... read more
Crocodile from the Bridge
White-Faced Monkey
Seeing the Little Things in the Forest


We had an amazing weekend at Manuel Antonio National Park. Since we arrived back to our homestays in San Joaquin only a few hours ago, we have not had time to re-group. I feel sure that someone will want to do a blog entry about the weekend or the national park itself. If not, I will do one. Meanwhile, I am just going to post some fun pictures of the group going to and returning from the Central Pacific region (where we spent the weekend), and a few other interesting shots. Sorry to keep promising a "full" blog entry soon, but I feel sure that folks at home want to see shots of the group very soon, and getting the whole entry together takes some time. Internet can be very slow here, and the group is ... read more
Pizza!
More Pizza
Even More Pizza


We decided that sleeping in a bit wouldn’t be a bad way to start off our first full day in Costa Rica. Breakfast in the restaurant was full of choices, and both of us ate way too much again. With our stomachs full we packed for a day trip down to Manuel Antonio, a national park along the Pacific coast. We made our first stop in a town called Jaco, where we bought some bug-spray and for Soph to grab a coffee. After a brief walk up and down the street we were back on our way. It was well after noon when we found a taqueria near the park called Sancho’s ... read more
Sophie taking it all in
Found a beach
El Avion near Manuel Antonio


Hola! Costa Rica surprised us in that there was a lot less garbage on the highways and in towns and cities, which is a good thing! We did notice many more car dealers here as well and this might help explain why our bus from the border was half empty as opposed to crammed with people. We also noticed that prices are higher and you do not get the same value for what you pay compared to the other countries in Central America. We do hope that some of this money funnels down to better wages for locals and more protection of the national parks and environment. We chose to explore the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, a fairly tourist trodden area but beautiful nonetheless. It is extremely rich in wildlife diversity and we are dedicating ... read more
Hanging out...
Un Perezoso
A rare sight to behold...


We drove to Manuel Antonia Park which is about a 40 minute drive. It's a relatively small park but one that I'd heard a lot about and a place we shouldn't miss. We hired a guide to help us see more animals and take us through the park. She brought along a telescope to see some of the things up close. We saw monkeys, sloths, a poisonous snake, some red eyed frogs (although the one I looked at through her scope just looked like a green blob on the underside of a leaf), and a type of racoon called a kudamonday. We don't have any good monkey photos from this trip...they're very fast and up in the trees. I got a lot of trees but hard to see the monkeys in the pictures I took. We ... read more
Ken and Marsha at the park sign
Our tour guide with telescope
Poisonous snake


I'm not talking about my trip, but Tebow's miracle run. F the coaching staff, I know the guy sucks but call some freakin passing plays. Do I get fantasy points for Brady's 5 TDs and Gron's 3 TDs in the first half? ha. Okay, seriously, my trip is sadly coming to an end. No better way than a true rain forest downpoor. Awesome! Yesterday I took the short 1 hour bus back to Quepos, checked into my king suite at Costa Verde, and hiked down to Manuel Antonio NP. Boring at first, but then some spectacular beaches, fun tide pool hopping, great views, and face to face time with the monkeys, you'll see the pics later. One mile walk uphill to the market for dinner and drinks, and a well deserved solo dinner with a spectacular ... read more
Hiking up top
My King Suite
My last sunset




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