Manuel Antonio National Park

Our day started at 7:00 with breakfast at the adjacent restaurant.  Then we changed into our swimsuits and walked several hundred meters to enter Manuel Antonio National Park. This is Costa Rica's smallest national park but is unequaled in the 100+ species of mammals and birds.

As soon as we entered, we saw many different species such as a deer, sloths, spiders, a white-nosed coati (pictured below to the right of the deer), a raccoon, and tree frogs, to name a few.

When we arrived at the beach we immediately saw a group of monkeys hanging out in the trees.  We placed our backpacks and other belongings on a picnic table and Giovanny stood guard over it while we enjoyed the park.  He said one time in the past he saw a monkey try to snatch away someone's bag and he grabbed the bag and had to pull it away from the monkey!

This little guy was enjoying attention from guests in the park.

A true "photo bomb". I only realized the monkey on the right was in the photo later that day.

Click HERE to see a video of one of the monkeys.

We had two hours to spend at the private beach in the park.  Mohit took advantage of the coastline and went for a 25-minute run on the beach, and then joined the others in the water for the remainder of the two hours.

I enjoyed the time talking with Carolyn, the leader of the other group, watching one of Carolyn's students break open a coconut and drink the milk, and talking with Giovanny.

At 11:00 we left the beach and saw even more wildlife as we exited the park such as the camouflaged green snake along the pathway (below) and several lizards.

The park has several hiking trails, but we were more interested in escaping the heat and cooling off in our air-conditioned hotel rooms before lunch and the big World Cup soccer game in the afternoon.

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