The Catanzaro Family: Our Costa Rican Adventure

Day 4 began with a quick breakfast in the little coffee shop at our hotel and then a stop at the Auto Mercado for some snacks. We then headed south, a little more than an hours drive, to a town called Quepos. The drive was easy with a beautiful view of the coastline. We drove through Quepos to reach Manuel Antonio National Park. This is a beautiful undeveloped area where the coast meets the rainforest. We had been told that this is the best place to see monkeys and sloths in great abundance as well as many species of birds and reptiles. It wasn't exactly as the tour book described but we still had a great experience. Unfortunately we weren't told that this park had beautiful beaches and would be a wonderful whole day trip. We ended up arriving at the park in the middle of the day when the animals were avoiding the heat so we didn't see as many species as we expected and the stroller wasn't the best accessory to have with us. We didn't have swimwear with us and a cooler would have been a good idea! Despite not being prepared we did get to see a beautiful park and animals that are not seen here in California.

Anyhow, back to our day....after parking the car we made a short trek across the beach where we tipped a man to row us in his boat over a small inlet of water to the park entrance. We had to wait a short time before entering the park as they limit the capacity to help preserve the wildlife. We then began our walk with the open, sunny coast on our right and the dense, dark forest on our left. We did get to see hermit crabs, iguanas everywhere, a couple of monkeys, a few sloths, a raccoon, and some birds. We stopped to have some snacks for lunch where an iguana stole a few fruit snacks and then we made our way back to the park entrance. We made our way back to the car and headed back to the hotel.

Upon arriving back at our hotel we changed into our swimsuits and headed back to the pool! We stayed in the pool until dark, changed for dinner, and enjoyed a wonderful Mexican buffet. Too soon it was time for bed but there were more adventures ahead!

Manuel Antonio National Park