Friday, April 19,
2013
We were both so tired last night after all of the travels
and late arrival here in Costa Rica
that we don’t remember our heads hitting our pillows. We had to wake up very
early this morning, after such a long day yesterday, as our tour bus driver was
picking us up at 6:50 am. We would
have liked to sleep a little later but were eager to go on this tour that Kari,
our travel agent daughter, had scheduled for us. We were going to the Manuel
Antonio National Park.
The hotel restaurant did not open until 7am but they were nice enough to prepare a nice box with
toast and fresh tropical fruit that we ate on the tour bus on our way to the
national park. We enjoyed it very much.
The ride to the park took over an hour with stops to pick up
some other tourists at other hotels. We toured with a nice group of young
people, all in their 20-30’s so we were the oldsters in the group and were happy
to be able to keep up on the 2 ½ hour nature walk. We had one young couple from
Mexico, one
from Chile, a
young Danish girl and a young pharmacist who just started his first job in
south Texas.
We had a very knowledgeable park guide and he was able to
spot all of the animals in the talk trees of this tropical park. After spotting
each, he gave us information on what we were seeing. He had a high power
telescope on a tripod and he focused on each animal and gave each of us the
opportunity to view. He pointed out both kinds of iguanas, two-toed and three-toed
sloths, other reptiles, birds and insects and he knew all of the bird calls.
The birds answered his calls throughout our tour.
At the end of the park tour, we were given time to enjoy
some beach time and John and I walked the beach in the waves and then continued
for another few hours to the local town. Along the way we were excited to see
many coati mundi stealing things from beach-goers towels. They are considered
the thieves of the beach and look very much like raccoons. We also saw many white face monkeys right
next to the trail as they jumped from tree to tree and ran by our feel.
Donna made an interesting observation on our hike through
the park. One group we passed had, as
members a family with a girl about 14 years of age. She wore on her face that typically bored
expression that many teens develop. She
kept looking at her empty hand, as if searching for the text message that would
not appear on her absent smart phone...
We did a little shopping in town for some bottled water and
drinks and then met up with the rest of the tour group for a lunch at a
restaurant near the beach. It was a nice local dish called cosado. It is the
traditional plate lunch including fresh fish, rice, black beans, plantain and
vegetables. Very tasty!
We rode the tour van back in a huge thunderstorm and were
happy that it waited until be got on board. The day was hot and sticky so we
weren’t surprised to see the storm but it was nice to have this after our
6 hours of hiking and walking.
We went out for a snack at the hotel outdoor restaurant as
we weren’t very hungry. I had a small bowl of sopa mariscos (soup with fresh
fish) and John had quesadillas camarones
(shrimp). These two appetizers hit the spot.
Our first day in Costa Rica
was muy bien and we look forward to another full day of tours tomorrow.
