(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.

(Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica)

The sun sets early in Costa Rica, so the day’s earlier combination of sun, heat and humidity had largely abated by 5:30 p.m. It was still raining but that only added to the overgrown green lushness of the nighttime rainforest. Yes, I was going on a reptile walk…at night.

In retrospect, it sounds kind of crazy. I normally wouldn’t pay for the “privilege” of walking through a dark reptile-infested rainforest with no equipment other than a flashlight and a camera. However, the previous night walk was so much fun that I had to give it a try.   When would I have such an opportunity again?

As with all of our tour leaders, this guy really knew what he was talking about.  He also was fearless:  he didn’t bother with frills like a rain jacket, nor did he hesitate to grab snakes from trees and show them to us.  The extent of his comfort with the rainforest was proven beyond a doubt when he started telling us about termites.

If you are ever stuck in a rainforest with no food, you should immediately seek out a termite nest.  Our guide said that termites are good for you and will help you survive.   They apparently taste like carrots…and yes, he was speaking from experience.  There is one important thing to remember, though.  You should kill the termites before eating them because they will feast on your tongue if they are still alive.   Good to know!

He told us a lot about the various tree frogs that we encountered, such as the very small “plant frog” that you see at the top of this post.  However, I think his comments about the termites made such an impression on me that I didn’t catch too many of the frog details.  To summarize:  there are lots of frogs everywhere, not just on the ground.  There are also very large toads on the ground.  And then there are the snakes…

Most people can handle the idea of snakes on the ground, even though they would rather not deal with snakes at all.  However, a lot of people get extremely spooked by snakes that don’t live on the ground.  I have received a lot of comments already about the tree-dwelling green viper photograph that I posted from the previous night walk.  Here, there were lots of snakes in both plants and trees.

At the end of the walk, we saw some crocodiles, caimans and tortoises…but these were in captivity.  After having seen these very large creatures in the wild, it didn’t feel right seeing them in enclosures.

After drying off a little bit, it was time for dinner.  We went to a bar/restaurant called “El Avion” (“The Airplane”).  It has this name because the bar is literally inside an airplane.  And it is not just any airplane:  it apparently is one of the 2 American airplanes that ended up in Central America during the scandalous “Iran-Contra Affair” of the 1980s.  While the other one was shot down in Nicaragua, this one never left the San José airport and eventually was unloaded for the princely sum of $3,000.00.  An entrepreneur saw an opportunity and the bar/restaurant was an immediate success.  The idea has legs:  we saw another nearby restaurant fashioned from a railway car.  Costa Ricans have a fun (and quirky) sense of humour.

Up next:  Will I make it through a daytime walk in the beautiful but scorching Manuel Antonio National Park?

(Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica)

When I woke up on October 17, the weather near Manuel Antonio National Park seemed a little cooler than the day before.  There were clouds in the sky and I enjoyed breakfast without any discomfort from the heat.  Other members of my group were going to explore the village of Manuel Antonio and the nearby beaches that day, so I thought I would brave the elements and join them.

I grabbed my “Bungalow Bill” safari hat (complete with neck protector) and multiple bottles of water, slathered on plenty of sunscreen, and went to the designated meeting place so that we could catch the local bus.  As I left the protective canopy of the hotel, however, I was forced to change my plans.  The sun had just come out and I realized that, for a heatstroke-prone person like me, proceeding to the beach would be foolhardy.  I later discovered that the temperature alone was in the mid-30s and that the Humidex was making it feel like an unbelievable 45’C.

After passing on my regrets to the others, I resolved to stay close to the hotel and minimize my heat exposure.  However, I was still restless.  I remembered that the hotel had given us a free pass to the butterfly preserve across the street.  This was not the type of venue that I would normally attend but, given my limited options (the hotel was beautifully situated but several kilometers from other attractions), I somewhat reluctantly decided to give it a try.  I rationalized it by saying that one needs to be open-minded when travelling and that there might be some interesting surprises.

Still wearing my enormous safari hat, I took the very short walk to the preserve.  It was a large, multi-tiered, outdoor (but “caged”) facility in the middle of the rain forest.  A small service building to the side was actually air conditioned, although the butterfly area itself was very much in the sun.  I roamed the butterfly area carefully, taking breaks in the air-conditioned room to rehydrate and cool.

It was a good thing I wore the hat, because I was really walking among the (sometimes rather large) butterflies.  They were everywhere, whizzing by my head and making me feel like I was being swarmed by small bats.  The colours of both the butterflies and the plants were exceptional; I was taking pictures at a furious pace.  My initial reluctance had given way to appreciation for this unexpected opportunity.

My water soon ran out, however, and I returned to the hotel.  Lunch was next on my agenda and I was craving something different:  most of the options on this trip had been either Costa Rican or American.  After some quick online research, I found what appeared to be a highly-rated but humble Vietnamese place nearby on the main road to Quepos.  At least, I hoped it was nearby, given that buildings in Costa Rica don’t really have addresses.  Everything is described in relation to landmarks.  Hoping that the “near the soccer field” description was accurate, I set off with my hat and even more water.

After about 15 minutes of walking and determining that I was “near the soccer field”, I decided that I would turn back if the restaurant was not around the next corner.  Thankfully, it appeared and I was able to have a nice dish of “sweet and spicy chicken”.  I also felt mentally recharged, as I had managed to do some limited exploring despite the searing heat and humidity.  I headed back to the hotel to chill out before the evening’s scheduled activities.  Soon enough, the rain came!