Hotel Quepos Manuel Antonio National Park

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... a tree trunk bridge & going through the bamboo forest, but turned back just before the fright fork that would have got me to other swimming holes.

Finally back on route, found the falls but the river was so swollen after recent rains I was dubious about going into the main flow & getting washed down to the lower pool from which there was no way out except down. Went in at the smaller side falls which were more sedate.

After dropping Bev off at the airport we headed straight out of town. Of course this took us a good hour due to traffic and the inability to get proper directions! The map I we had purchased at a hotel the day when we came into the country was supposedly up-to-date, but so far I had counted around 10 mistakes. The San Jose portion was no different. By the time we got out of the city it was around 3 PM so we only had a few hours of daylight left and we still had to go ...

... most of the time hiking and following the monkey sounds.

The prices in the restaurants here (the nicer ones) are like in the US and it is clear that this is a tourist place. Our plan is to drive a little further south early tomrorow morning for one or two more nights and then head up north to San Jose in time for our flight back on Sunday monring. We leave San Jose at 11:30am and arrive in NYC at 10:30 pm.

Just a quick blog to keep you up to date
Had to change plans as there was no space at Sirena Ranger Station. Margarita was able to organise alternative route into Corcovado
Got Marvi bus to Sierpe. Stayed in good cabinas and had excellent meal in their restaurant

... We were there at 8:30. They had fresh fruit, banana bread, rice & beans, and scrambled eggs. It was very nice. After breakfast we went shopping in the stalls along the beach. There are a lot of little stalls all along the beach selling all manner of stuff. Parker wanted to shop on his own, and Necia, grandma, Shaeleigh, Malesa and I all shopped together. Grandpa wasn’t up for shopping. Not all of the stalls were full as it was a Monday ...

... a quick snack in the Turtle's Head (yes, there really is a place called the Turtle's Head in Quito) before an early night, ready for our next nightmarish leg of the journey, Costa Rica via Miami. Up early for a cab to the airport, this time international departures from Quito, we paid the unbelievably extortionate departure tax of $40.80 each before being allowed into the departure lounge. Back into a bit of English speaking now, both flights for the day were with ...

... little crabs. Manuel Antonio town is a small "pueblo" on the outskirts of the park, and although the local beach isnīt part of the reserve, itīs one of the most beautiful we've seen on the trip. About a mile long, crescent shaped and with white sand and monster waves!! We spent the first day relaxing on the beach...I read the book Iīd been trying to finish for weeks, and Ian hired a body-board take advantage of the massive rolling waves. We'd heard from a local guy that the best ...

... on their back?!?... more monkeys (great pictures of the monkeys), some kind of rodent that looks like a cross between a rat and a raccoon, and a green tree snake (looked like a viper)! The birds here are so colorful and the iguanas are everywhere! They're huge, almost the size of a cat! The adventure continues... we're off to the Carribean side tomorrow, on a 3 day tour... Take Care! Shane and Jaime

Now just a quick recap of our final days, right before we were so rudely plunged back into Saskatchewan winter last night around midnight, with me still wearing only thongs (and a strategically wound towel, of course, as I found that less clothing simplifies the metal detection process). From Manuel Antonio we travelled to Santa Elena, a small town in the mountains of central Costa Rica. Our big adventure there was the SkyTrek, a combination of cloud forest hikes and tree to ...