(Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica)
Given the scorching Humidex reading of 45’C on October 17, I doubted that I would enjoy our trip to Manuel Antonio National Park on the morning of October 18. However, the visit was an included part of our group tour and we were told that swimming was a possibility after a brief walk to the coast. I once again slathered on the sunscreen, grabbed a lot of water, and put on my “Bungalow Bill” hat to hopefully mitigate the burning sun.
It *was* hot. But in many ways, it was also very cool. Staying in the shade as much as possible, I sometimes forgot about the heat as our latest guide once again picked out a menagerie of wildlife that was initially invisible to the untrained eye.
It started small with iguanas but then progressed to a three-toed sloth (see photo at top of this post) and finally a group of extremely active capuchin monkeys. While it wasn’t quite as dramatic as my encounter with the howler monkey high above the Monteverde Cloud Forest, it was still thrilling to see these excitable primates almost flying from branch to branch above us. At one point, a monkey descended to a branch maybe 10 feet from where we were standing. As I had never seen capuchin monkeys in the wild before, my camera was getting a good workout too.
The walk to the Pacific didn’t take long. Manuel Antonio National Park is the most visited national park in Costa Rica but it is also the smallest. Fortunately, we were here in the off-season and it never felt overcrowded.
I am not a “beach person” by any stretch of the imagination. I like to be active and I would much rather ski across frozen tundra than sit on a sunny beach. However, after the brief but hot journey through the coastal forest, it was a relief to reach the beach. There was an ocean breeze to keep things somewhat cool and there was also a decent amount of shade close to the shore.
I also have to admit that, as far as beaches go, this one looked “classic”. Sand everywhere, palms gently swaying in the breeze, a brilliant blue ocean and sky…and no crushing crowds. I didn’t have swimming gear with me, but I tossed my shoes and socks under a tree and waded in the water anyway for some goofy photos. A half-hour on the beach was enough but I really can’t complain about my first-ever visit to a tropical beach.
As a bonus, a very active two-toed sloth decided to migrate between trees during our visit to the beach. The sloth was nowhere near as fast as the capuchin monkeys, of course, but it did manage to cover a lot of territory while we were there.
We took a different route back to our van and encountered another group of capuchin monkeys, although this batch was listless and enveloped by feelings of ennui. Maybe they were also feeling the heat, as the sun was now almost directly overhead.
This was the last true adventure of my Costa Rican trip. We still had to have lunch, return to San José, have our final dinner and make our way to the airport the next day…but we were now on borrowed time.