The Falls at Manual Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
Our biggest decision of the day was do we hit the beach or hang by the pool. Both won out.
The national park is closed on Mondays. When we reached the little town of Manual Antonio it felt deserted. Most of the little shops were closed and there were very few people at the beach. What a difference from yesterday. Not that a didn't love it!
We played in the surf for a couple of hours. We also met a nice guy from St. Louis on vacation with his sister (he just finished his physician's assistant program) and we spent too much time in the water yukking it up. The water is ridiculously warm so it's so easy to just hang out for a long time.
After realizing we probably had too much sun, salt and sand we went in search of Pipa fria (fresh coconut water).
Of course we had to stop and watch the monkeys playing in the mango trees that line the beach.
I could watch these guys for hours! I can't believe how many mangoes they consume. They have such personalities. They like throwing the mangoes down on us too. This has definitely been my favorite part of the trip.
Ah, finally scored that pipa fria! Delish!
After catching the local bus back to the hotel (walking that 1000 ft. climb yesterday in this heat was enough), we settled in to relax around the pool.
I brought my coconut to our bartender/waiter/everything guy (Luis) and asked him if he could give it a whack for me so I could eat the coconut. He did it one better and turned it into a smoothie for me. Ned scored on that one too...delish!
The pool here is so beautiful, set in a jungle garden.
At this little hotel the wildlife comes to you. There are lots of iguanas and other creatures (I have no idea what they are called) that are constantly skittering about. The iguanas will hang out, the smaller reptiles are more shy. Here's one of the iguanas stopping by our lounge chair near the pool.
There is one creature here that I've never seen before. It's the size of a jack rabbit, but looks like a large rodent with no tail. They have really long legs so they look out of proportion. I keep trying to get a picture of them, but they're too fast for me.
We tossed about a couple of plans for this evening, but then happy hour happened.
We finally decided on eating a pizza in our room and watch the Warriors Game. Go Warriors!!
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