Howl Hits the Beach!

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We had an amazing weekend at the central Pacific coast enjoying a well-deserved break from classes and daily life in the Central Valley. The hotel (called Mimos) was very tropical and our first stop on Friday afternoon was the pool! Saturday morning was our highlighted time at Manuel Antonio National Park, but this entry of the blog is only going to tease you a little bit about that. There will be a blog entry written by a student focusing on the wildlife that we saw in the park and even at the hotel, so the entry you are reading now will not contain our wildlife pictures. But we did get some GREAT ones -- tease, tease -- so keep checking the blog for that upcoming entry. Of course, Howl, our own Red Wolf, is not indigenous to Costa Rica, so he will be included in this entry.

In the park, we had time for swimming and playing in the waves and also for hiking. Dr. O. had an exciting few hours making scary shrieking noises and pounding an empty plastic bottle to scare away the marauding monkeys and raccoons. Yes, they will steal food from backpacks and bags! But oops, that was about the wildlife. More about that later. Howl befriended a large iguana -- oops, wildlife again. The views were awesome, but really most everything else was all about the wildlife, so check back later and enjoy the mostly animal-free photos here!

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Photos

Overlook
Our first view of the ocean!

Photo Op
Everyone hopped out of the bus to take pictures of the beautiful view

Pool at the Hotel
It only took a few minutes for several members of the group to hit the pool

Enjoying the Pool
Sean, Emily and Howl relaxing at the pool

Terry
Terry let me take a picture of him at the first beach we visited

Searching for Treasures
Everyone looked for shells and interesting rocks on the first beach

Here it Comes!
Everyone braced themselves for the wave

Big Wave
Natalie and Samantha stayed upright as this wave hit

Howl and New Friend
Howl embraced the idea of having an intercultural experience

Exit from the Park
To get out of the park, we had to wade through this little tidal pool

Time for Lunch
The hungry group leaves the park and heads to lunch

Restaurant with a View
We ate lunch on Sunday at a restaurant with a beautiful view of the Pacific

Part of the Group
Samantha, Chihiro, Lindsay and Emily at lunch

Another Table
Monique, LaKaria, and Jonathan at lunch

Third Table
Lesley, Natalie and Sean

Fourth Table
Terry and Xeng at lunch

Rest Stop
Howl at a rest stop . . . resting

Comments

[Rebecca Oliver]

Thanks for the early morning smile!
I love keeping up with all of you adventures in Costa Rica. I especially love the photos of Howl at the beach! Looks like you are all having a wonderful time and soaking up the local culture.

[Walter]

Que rico un copo!
Que rico un copo en la playa! (snow cone)

[Janene Brown]

Beautiful pics
To whomever the photographer is: I have been following this blog from the beginning and I just wanted to say that you are doing a great job of capturing the adventure. I can feel the fun that the kids are having. I can't wait to see the animal pictures. PS: Tell Emily "Hola" for me.