Costa Rica: Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio

The last full day of our trip we decided to visit the enormous national park that was right on our front doorstep.  The Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio is the smallest national park in Costa Rica, but is visited by large amounts of tourists annual due to the biodiversity and the beautiful beaches in the park. The park entrance tickets were US$10 each, and we paid an additional price for a guide at the entrance of the park.  The park guides are willing to negotiate, though we found that after the negotiation, the guide was still able to make a few extra bucks by adding other people to our "private" tour.  The guide was great at pointing out animals, birds and reptiles that we never would have seen on our own, but didn't offer much of a "tour" of the park.
 We certainly never would have spotted the sloths that he showed us during the tour.  Even this guy that was only a few feet above us in the trees would have been a challenge to spot.  This is a 3-toed sloth that looks remarkably like the friendly, docile 2-toed sloth - though we were told that this one will kill you if you cross him.

We have been told that there are a limited number of visitors allowed inside the park on any given day, this was not an issue for us, but it certainly can get crowded as the day goes on.  We arrived around 10:00am, and there were times that the path was full of folks trying to see whatever animal the guides were pointing out.  Another reason to go early is that it is incredibly hot and humid during the day. Gretchen was ready for a bath and a nap as soon as the tour was over.  She was remarkably well behaved on the tour, though she did NOT want to get inside the backpack carrier we had borrowed for her.  So, she walked:

And at times was carried by various members of the group:

I'm not sure who is hotter in this picture, baby or Daddy...

 At the end of the hike through the park, we came to some remarkable beaches.  Beautiful sand, crystal clear water, and hardly a person to be seen.  The difficulty is that you need to do the hike to get to the beach - needless to say, less people come here.

Our Family Christmas Shot

The park is truly beautiful, so much green space, lush forests and a coastline to dream about.  We saw monkeys, sloths, many different birds, crabs and a nasty looking iguana, so we certainly were right in there with the wildlife.  At the end of the hike, there was a very small creek that some kind locals were able to "ferry" you across (for some sort of tip) or you could walk across a few yards down.  We all walked across, we all ended up with wet shoes, but no one was worried about it.  Especially my mom and Kyra, who were either having a great time, or really excited about the margaritas we had waiting at home.  

 

Chris is deep in thought...

 And after a hot day's tour, we all enjoyed lunch at El Avion, the bar made out of an airplane that we had been hearing about all week.  The airplane part was cool, but the view from the restaurant over the water made it a perfect lunch spot.



After lunch and a full morning hiking in the hot air, we were all ready for a bit of this:

What a great way to spend our last day in Costa Rica.  The only place that I have not mentioned in a previous post is where we ate our Christmas Dinner, the restaurant of a hotel called Arenas del Mar.  If we ever return to Manuel Antonio, I will seriously consider staying at this beautiful hotel.  The restaurant was great, we were picked up in golf carts, driven through the pitch black forest into an open air bar and restaurant that was really great for a night out.  The servers were attentive, the menu was full of delicious fresh seafood options and it worked out perfectly for our group of 10.

We had a wonderful trip, and we are so grateful for our families that spent the holidays together with us and helped care for Gretchen throughout the trip.  We look forward to many more amazing vacation trips together!

Costa Rica: The Water

Costa Rica is a country with lots and lots of coastline, both on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.  We were staying on the Pacific side, so all of our water time was in the Pacific - which despite it's reputation for being cold, it was the temperature of bathwater. 

The last excursion we booked through the concierge was a fishing trip for the guys.  The trip was a 3/4 day private tour through Luna Tours and honestly, it was a bit underwhelming.  The guys running the tour was great, but the lunch was a generic sandwich and though though drinks were provided, they ran out after only a hour.  

They were out on the water for a LONG time and nothing was biting.  Low and behold, Jon's line had a bite.

And what a bite it was!  A sailfish that was almost 10 feet long and estimated at 120 pounds.  And he was a feisty sucker!  It took close to a half hour to reel in the first fish of the day.

And he made a great picture!  Sailfish are protected in Costa Rica (maybe elsewhere as well, I only know what the boatmen told us), so this beauty went right back in the water to enjoy another day.  

The fishing trip was not over yet.  Just as they were pulling in the lines to call it a day, another line snagged...

Ted spots something on the horizon

 During dinner the night before, my brother Chris stated that he planned on not fishing at all, just taking pictures - and guess who's line caught? Of course, it was Chris. The fish gave him quite a fight, and after 40 minutes of reeling, he pulled in a blue marlin!

The fish was estimated at 300 pounds! They pull him onto the boat, for fear of killing him, and blue marlin are also a protected species. He sure was cool though - and Chris was one unsuspecting fisherman!

We also spent a day at the Mar & Sombra beach, which was a 5 minute drive from our house.  There are a couple of small beaches to choose from in Manuel Antonio, but this particular beach has Erik, a guy that will set up umbrellas and chairs for you, as well as bring drinks and food.  He was a really nice guy, working for tips, and has been at this spot for 10 years (so he tells me).  One of the greatest things about Erik is that he used a bucket of seawater to keep a cool path to the ocean from our chairs, the sand got crazy hot during the day.

The beach had all sorts of fun things to do, like renting a wave runner,

Ted and Kyra riding into the sea

Hanging out and eating snacks with Grammy,

Finding rocks, and then throwing them back into the waves,

And... Parasailing!  The idea started with my mother-in-law's lifelong wish to go parasailing, and continued with the constant string of parasailers visible from our living room. By the time we got to the beach, we knew we weren't leaving until someone was pulled behind a boat.

You can fly in pairs, so Lornie and I partnered up and got ready to go!  It was easy - walk down the beach until you take off!

Flying High!

Next up - my mom and Chris.  There were a few extra nerves on this trip, but soon enough they were up in the sky enjoying the breeze!

Everyone used the same company, Aguas Azules, and they were great.  We had lots of fun, and I can say that we thoroughly enjoyed everything that the water in Costa Rica had to offer!

Costa Rica: Ziplining

The other excursion that we booked as a group was the canopy tour (better known as zip lining), with the exception of Papa Mas and Gretchen, who spent some quality time together at the house.

The canopy tour was booked through Canopy Safari, and again, it was a great experience.  The tour was on the outskirts of Quepos, the medium-sized town nearest to Manuel Antonio, so it took about 40 minutes to get there from the town of Manuel Antonio. Again we were expecting a much less extensive tour, and were surprised to find a full hot lunch, a drive through tour of a palm oil field and a butterfly garden.  None of the additional items were necessary, but certainly made the tour more interesting.

The tour was fun, though a bit more extreme than anyone had anticipated.  We all completed the course, 10 zip lines, 2 rappels, and 1 Tarzan swing.  We ranged from complete confidence to total fear - but everyone completed the course - and was glad they did.

The only person we're missing is Jon, who was the photographer for the day.  The tour was great, though I have no idea how high up we were, it felt like 200 feet.  The scariest part for me, my Mom and Kyra might agree, was that the first two zip lines ended on really small platforms built around a tree.  There was little room from where we stood to the edge of the platform - and all 9 of us along with 2 guides were up there together at the same time.  This is when a guide spotted a toucan, though I was too scared to look around.  Don't get me wrong, we were secured to a line through the entirety of the tour, but it was unnerving for this heights-phobic.

Robbie was told it was a formal affair

Our group of zipliners

For those that are considering zip lining in Costa Rica, it is really a great time.  That being said, it was more advanced that I had expected, and had other people in our group not been so scared, I would have been the one freaking out.  The Tarzan swing was literally a rope attached to your harness that swung you from one platform to another, easy and safe enough, but I was terrified.  I'm pretty sure the guide ended up pushing me off the edge.  So, this is not a walk in the park, if you are seriously afraid of heights, or death by zipline, you may want to skip this tour.  If anyone asked me 6 months ago if my mom would ever go zip lining I would have said no - but alas, she conquered it!  Congratulations to our group!

Costa Rica: The Catamaran

We took part in quite a few excursions during our trip, using the concierge services at Escape Villas to book them all.  The prices were similar to what we would have paid on our own, and by using the concierge, we were able to make decisions based off of our group.  For example, we brought Gretchen to the catamaran tour with the knowledge that small children had taken the tour before.  Luckily we did, because she loved the boat!

We started the vacation off with the catamaran tour the day after we arrived.  This tour was booked for us through the Planet Dolphin company, and I would highly recommend using them in the future.  Nice staff, safe, clean boat and acceptable bathrooms.

 Gretchen's first boat ride was a blast, she loved it (even though mama wouldn't let her get into the ocean) and her lack of water time was fulfilled by a never ending supply of watermelon.  

We knew that we would be going snorkeling, which was fun, but the water is so salty that it is difficult to see through - and stings your eyes.  What we didn't realize, was that the tour included a full dinner and fruity drinks from the on-deck bar, this was great news for the group!  Gretchen enjoyed the watermelon, fruit skewers, and a delicious kabob, that turned out to be fish even though some were tricked into thinking it was chicken.

Gretchen is ready for the big blue sea - someday...

Our boat "The Tomcat" was also equipped with a super-steep slide, taking you from the 2nd story of the boat right into the ocean - a slide named the "Tsunami".  I did not take the Tsunami... but Jon did, as did most of our group.

Robbie opted for a different way into the water.  Jumping from the 2nd story:

The front of the boat was another highlight for Gretchen.  We saw dolphins, including watching a few of them swim with the boat for a solid 10 minutes, and there were nets to sit on and admire the water below.  She spend lots of time pointing out the agua to everyone.

It was a great way to start the vacation, and despite the fact that Christmas week is one of the most popular vacation weeks in Costa Rica, this catamaran was far from capacity.

We also got to see a beautiful sunset on board.  The sun went down really early, around 6:15pm, so it was just the beginning of the rest of the night.  The colors and the water were incredible, and set the scene for the rest of our vacation. Not too bad for a first boat ride for our little girl!

Costa Rica: Christmas in Paradise

The amazing view from our living room

At some point during the year, Jon and I proposed a group vacation to a central spot for Christmas - virtually everyone was on board - and a trip to Costa Rica was born!  We chose a house in Manuel Antonio, an area widely regarded as the most beautiful town to visit, and booked through a company called Escape Villas.  This company was great in responding to all of our pre-vacation questions and offered a concierge service that booked all of our excursions - something that would have been complicated to do from afar.

Manuel Antonio is most certainly beautiful, what we didn't totally realize is how incredibly FAR it is from just about everything.  Once we all arrived to the San Juan airport, due to construction, traffic and time of day, we still had a solid 4 hour drive to get to the house.  We probably could have flown into Quepos, a small city much closer to Manuel Antonio, but these flights are (no doubt) expensive and on really small airplanes - something that we didn't even want to attempt.  All in all, it wasn't a bad drive, it was just really, really long after a really, really long night of travel for everyone.

The house we booked had plenty of space, a great pool, enough bedrooms that no one was forced to share, and had an amazing view of the ocean.  We were in the jungle (if there are beachfront homes in Manuel Antonio I didn't see them) and had a front row view to the great wildlife that goes with it.

Like these little guys:

Who started out as a novelty act, we baited them with bananas and I laughed at Jon who didn't want us to encourage the animals.  Then the got closer and closer, and started entering the living room:

Going down...

And the food-giving shenanigans were over. These Capuchin (or White-Faced) monkeys are extremely common in Costa Rica, and are especially bold in the areas where dopey tourists leave out bananas, food and other items for them to claim.  We were also told of their tendencies to steal cell phones, sunglasses and sunscreen bottles, so we tried to keep everything locked up.  Apparently these monkeys can also eat the babies of other monkey species, so our thoughts of them came full circle throughout the week; excited to see them, baiting to get them closer, hiding things from their view, concern that they are too close, ending with mild fear that they would try to eat Gretchen.  Nothing happened, except some difficult clean-up spots when they left us presents on the floor, but it was an emotional roller-coaster week with these monos.  No one liked the monkeys more than Gretchen. At one point she spotted a monkey inside the house on the roof rafters, pointed and said "Mono!" while we all laughed and told her that yes, there are monos in the trees...little did we know that he was inside the house, and the only one who noticed was the littlest person there.

Then there is this little monkey:

Gretchen was showered with nothing but gifts and attention all week, and she was LOVING it!  She enjoyed breakfasts with Gran:

Lunches with Papa: aka Papa Mas, which he was coined by Gretchen during the trip.  We were trying to figure out how to differentiate between Poppa and Papa (Gretchen's two grandpas), when low and behold Papa Mas was born. Leave it to our clever girl, she straightened us all out.

She was in video-watching heaven with... well, with everyone:

Playing Minnie with Poppa

Watching Sapo Pepe with Aunt Kyra

And she enjoyed lots of pool time with the entire family:

View of the pool from the family room

Gretchen wasn't the only one who was spoiled during the week.  We hired a chef for the week that prepared one meal each day, and we were lucky enough to be given Glenda, the nicest and most talented chef I have ever met in person.  She brought her daughters Kristal and Tiffani throughout the week to help her, and the entire family was a joy to be around.  She did amazing things with food, unripened bananas, plantains, chicken, shrimp, beans, pork, you name it - she can make it.  We all owe a big chunk of our happiness during the week to this fantastic lady and her magic food hands.

I will write more about the tours, excursions and other fun, adventurous things that we did over the trip, but the underlying factor to the entire vacation is that Jon and I are so lucky to have such adaptable families that are willing and able to spend holidays together, which means that we get to spend it with them both.  A treat that not many people get to enjoy, and we are so grateful to them.