Costa Rica -- Monday and Tuesday (warning long post)

From Golfito on Pacific in the south to Manuel Antonio, also on the Pacific, but further north there are acres and acres of African palm oil plantations along the road. The African palms are beautiful palms with very long fronds. Unfortunately though they are a mono-crop so there is very little wildlife and a mundane sight to see mile after mile.

rows and rows of African oil palms

We stayed at Hotel Si Como No in Manual Antonio for two nights. Si Como No translates to “Yeah, why not” in Spanish. It fits the laid back, friendly atmosphere in Costa Rica. Si Como No is definitely a resort of comfort especially compared to the rainforest accommodations of Playa Nicuesa. There were two pools each with swim-up bars. After rain forest cabins, needless to say, the group took advantage of both.

The view from Si Como No reception desk

The flora and fauna reason for going to Manual Antonio is because of the national park of the same name. Our guide, Gustavo, promised that we would see many animals including monkeys and sloths. We weren't 20 feet in before Gustavo pointed out our first sloth! I have no idea how he could have seen the sloth. It was 5 or 6 stories up in the canopy, lying on its back, staring off. Sloths do not move very much nor very fast so there wasn't much concern that it would leave. This one at the entrance to the park was a two-toed sloth.

We hardly walked another 50 feet before running into a large troop of white-faced capuchin monkeys. They were crossing the road on the electrical wires overhead. There was a mom with a set of twins. She helped one then the other safely cross on the wires. We also saw another mother with a very young one asleep on her back.

Capuchin monkey

Capuchin monkey mom with one of her twins.

While watching the monkeys, Gustavo spotted a bat hanging onto a leaf up in the trees. Again, how he sees this is a mystery. Susan and I took photos of bugs and ants and caterpillars along the way. It was hot and humid.

Manuel Antonio is also known for its beaches. There were crowds of people on the road mostly going in the direction of the entrance which meant they were leaving. We finally heard amongts the chatter that a crocodile was spotted on one of the beaches and so the life guard had everyone leave the water. Of course, we went down to the beach to see the beast.

Right before turning to the beach, Gustavo pointed out the other type of sloth in the park – the three-toed sloth. Again, how on earth he saw the thing is beyond comprehension. This one was even further away and all you could see were its two back legs and feet and one arm. It was also lying on its back but his head was not visible. A person from a different tour commented to their guide about not seeing what our guide was seeing.

On the beach we saw the crocodile way at the far other end. A life guard with walking cane was not allowing visitors to get close. It was a good-sized specimen. It felt good to be down at the water. The beach was beautiful.

On the way back Gustavo spotted a howler monkey and a toucan at the same time. The toucan was fairly obvious. The howler monkey was not at all obvious. The howler was a melancholy guy hanging out all alone. Through Gustavo's scope you could see its face and expressive eyes.

As if two sloths, a troop of capuchin monkeys, a crocodile and a howler monkey were not enough, a white-tailed deer showed up right next to the road as we were walking out. Yes, Costa Rica has white-tailed deer and they are in the same family as the ones in the United States though smaller. This one had no fear of humans and was eating right next to the roadway while people walked up and took photographs. Crazy!

Costa Rican white-tailed deer

We headed back to the hotel on the bus and unbelievably we encountered the third of the four Costa Rican monkeys, the squirrel monkey. Ricardo pulled the bus off the road so we could jump out and see. The squirrel monkey is small and chestnut colored and very adorable.

The day was so amazing with animal sightings. I had seen an agouti earlier in the day at the hotel, too. We were all very hot and sweaty so the pool was on everyone's agenda. Nearly everyone took a slide or two down the kiddy water slide. It is a really fun group of people.