"That monkey just took my banana!" (by Samantha)

---

This past weekend our group traveled to Manuel Antonio National Park. On our way to the beach, we had to take a 30-minute walk through the rainforest. There were nearly 300 species of animals in the park.

We first came upon a two-toed sloth. We had the rare chance of seeing a mother sloth traveling across the tree-tops with her baby attached to her underside.

Next, we encountered the white-faced monkeys when we neared the beach. Seemingly cute, everyone was excited to see them. As we found out later, the monkeys know how to snoop into our bags and retrieve the snacks we bought earlier. One member of our group (Jonathan) had his banana stolen right in front of him.

Also looking for a free meal, there were raccoons. On the rocks sunning himself was a black iguana. The larger ones were more timid than the smaller iguanas, as later we saw more eating wild bananas off the beach.

Through our walk in the rainforest, our guide, Johnny, pointed out this Golden Orb spider. As with other spiders, the females are bigger than the males. The silk from their web was once used as fishing line for the locals (as well as for stitches for surgery).

Later that night at our hotel, we found plenty of little lizards (geckos?) running around the balconies of our rooms. Pictured here is Lindsay holding one.

---

Photos

Samantha
Author and photographer of this blog entry

Comments

[Susan Starks]

Love it!
Keep the updates coming :) :) Looks like you are having fun and learning so much!

[Sharon]

Looks like paradise!
I can't wait to see the rest of the pics! Looks like you all are having a very interesting and fun time! I wish we were there with you!

[Jory]

!!
Those White Faced Monkeys are cheeky! Glad the trip is going well!