Manuel Antonio + Monkeys!

Baby sloth! Awwwww, you know you want to read a post that starts out with a baby sloth, don't you? Yes, you do.

Jessica's sister and her girlfriend are in town, so we took them to the beach last weekend! We wanted to pick one that we hadn't been to yet....Manuel Antonio. The plan was to leave Friday afternoon and come back Saturday night for whitewater rafting on Sunday. Unfortunately, the rafting didn't work out, but we still had a blast in Manuel Antonio. It's about a 4 to 6 hour bus ride (depending if you take a direct bus, which I DEFINITELY recommend.) We arrived Friday evening and discovered probably the best hostel that we have stayed in, so far. It's called Backpacker's of Manuel Antonio or something similar. It's clean, reasonable (~$13/night), has amenities (pool, free internet, pancake breakfast) and is located right by a bus stop.

Manuel Antonio is interesting because it doesn't really have a large town center. It is basically just a road from Quepos (a bigger town) to the national park. There are tons of hotels, hostels, restaurants, and souvenir markets, but they are all located on this one main road that weaves through the hills and down to the beach. It has a really efficient bus service, which is convenient. There aren't as many mega-resorts here. That's something I really appreciate, because it means more quaint, smaller hotels and (hopefully) less invasive construction and development projects.


These buddies are everywhere!





Anyway, the beach is GORGEOUS. We went to the National Park (there is also a public beach right next to it) on Saturday. You have to wake up early, because they only let a certain number of guests in per day to protect the park's wildlife. It was so worth it, though. After a walk through the rainforest, you reach this pristine white beach with turquoise water....and monkeys!










Look at them baring their teeth! Very "where the wild things are", no?

Yes, capuchin monkeys who creep down from the trees and steal your stuff. I first spotted one unzipping the bag of some French tourists and robbing several packages of saltine crackers. They travel in packs up and down the beach, and it seems like they are trying to overwhelm and distract you in order to steal food or shiny objects. Fortunately, they didn't take anything from us, but they sure tried! When they went for my bag, I snatched it up and shook a towel at them to make them leave. They responded by mounting each other and hissing. It looked like they were forming a new super-monkey with two heads and two sets of fangs. They are really cute, though.

So after spending a few hours on this part of beach (there are 3 separate beaches in the park), we went for a little hike on this central peninsula/extrusion of rock. Then, we relocated to the beach on the other side of the isthmus from where we were originally sitting. No monkeys there, but we did find something else. While Jennifer, Alayna, and I were playing in the surf, we noticed Jessica freaking out on the beach. A raccoon had appeared out of the bushes and gone for our bags, just like the monkeys. Fortunately, he left us alone after Jessica scolded him.



Even though we were only in Manuel Antonio for about a day, I fell in love. It's definitely somewhere I would take my parents or friends if they came to Costa Rica. I finished the day there with a bacon burger, piña colada, and a camera full of monkey pictures. And a nice tan hehe.