Last Days at Manuel Antonio

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After our week of rainy weather at the turtle project, we headed to Manuel Antonio for some much needed sunshine. Happily we had smooth traveling to Manuel Antonio Village and started to explore this little area. Manuel Antonio is a small town that is at the entrance to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio. It is one of the most popular parks in Costa Rica. There’s basically one main street filled with restaurants and bars, and lots of tourist shopping. The main street runs right along the beach, which is beautiful. We booked a hotel about 150 meters from the park entrance and just a 5-minute walk from the main street. Our room was clean and basic and had air conditioning, so that was a plus! We arrived a little after noon, and after settling into our hotel decided to grab some lunch at one of the open-air restaurants overlooking the water. The people watching was great and we had a leisurely lunch. It was also a treat to not be eating rice & beans or pasta! We took a long walk on the beach, enjoying the sunshine. There are umbrellas and beach chairs for rent at the beach just outside the park, and vendors with cold fresh pipas to drink. We sat and watched the world go by for a little bit...there were lots of people at the beach, a big difference from some of the deserted beaches we had been to on the Caribbean side.

After a little rest we decided to check out El Avion Restaurant for dinner. The restaurant is up the hill from Manuel Antonio village, and has an airplane bar - yep, a whole airplane is in the middle of the restaurant! The plane was purchased by the US government in the 80s for the Nicaraguan Contras and was part of the Iran Contra scandal that involved Oliver North (my guidebook says the plane was referred to as Ollie’s Folly). The owners bought the plane for $3000 and moved it piece by piece to its current location. Was a very fun atmosphere, and the view overlooking the pacific and the sunset was gorgeous.

The next morning we headed out to the national park. We got there around 8am, and it was a bit crowded - which we had expected. Once we got past the tours at the entrance, the crowds definitely thinned out a bit. There are 5 beaches at the park, and we hiked all the trails leading to each of the beaches and the climb up to the viewpoint. The trails were easy to follow and winded through the forest, and others followed a sandy trail along the beaches. Manuel Antonio is home to the squirrel monkey, and we had hoped to see some - but unfortunately, we did not. I was very disappointed. We did see iguanas, agoutis, coatis and lots of white-faced monkeys. We had heard stories of monkeys going into people’s beach bags and taking things - like snacks or packs of tissues, and hoped for a monkey encounter, but they didn’t seem to interested in us or our tissues. The beaches in the park are absolutely beautiful - and the hiking was good. At the end of the hike, we headed to the beach and I took a nice swim. The water was incredibly warm - almost too warm. It was a great way to spend our last day in Costa Rica. After doing a bit of afternoon shopping, we hit a beach bar for happy hour, and to wait for the sunset. We headed to the beach in time to catch an amazing sunset - probably the most dramatic one we had seen during our entire visit.

We can't believe that we have traveled for 3 months and that it was time to head home! It was an amazing journey and we had and incredible adventure. A big thanks to everyone who helped to make this possible (Mom & Bob - Thanks for your help with Beard, Ryan & Kerri - Thanks for doing all the hard work while I've been gone 😊, Beth & Paz - thanks for holding down the fort)

Where will we go next - Europe? South America? Asia? Might be a while before the next big adventure trip begins, but we have got the travel bug and will definitely hit the road again in the future.

Shara & Edward

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Photos

Manuel Antonio Village
There is so much wildlife in the area - this sign warns to go slow for people, dogs, sloths and monkeys

El Avion Bar
Its inside the plane

Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio
This guy is sitting on a sign that says Don't feed the Monkeys

Comments

[Elly]

:)
It has been an adventure for us as well to vicariously travel with you guys. And besides the obvious adjustment period, we enjoyed having Beard as our "house guest".

[Kerri]

Thanks for the shout out! We definitely missed you. I loved reading your blogs and looking at the amazing pictures. And I can't wait to hear more stories when you come back. Looking forward to seeing you in a couple weeks!