After our pants-crapping experience whitewater rafting the day before, we decided to take it easy and head to the beach in the Manuel Antonio National Park adjacent to our hotel. It was maybe the best day spent of our whole trip...
Entrance to the Manuel Antonio National Park costs about $10-15/person to enter the park- it's like the deal of a lifetime for what you're getting! Make sure you wake up early so you're not stuck standing in a long line in the sun (or rain)...you are in the rainforest. You can take guided tours of the park where guides will point out plants, animals and species of interest, but we had no problem spotting our own amazing scenery...
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We were eager to get to the beach and soak up some tropical sunshine, so we took the shortcut through the canopy. Even though we took the shortcut we were still rewarded with sightings of monkeys, crabs, and the scents of a fresh tropical oasis that a candle could never copy.
In agreeing to come down for this trip, the ONE THING that I had my heart set on doing was seeing a sloth. And they are an icon in Costa Rica. They are on billboards, souvenirs- even the currency! BUT! I am excited to report that we spotted some sloths!
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Sloths look like little stuffed animals stuck up in a tree, until they start to move veerrry slowly. They have contrasting faces that look like they are smiling. One you spot a sloth, you start seeing several in the canopy. We hung around and watched the one above for quite awhile, but as you can see, since they move so slow, after awhile, there's not really a lot to see- this one just kind of scratched himself and changed branches. We saw another giant blonde sloth that just hung around and ate leaves. They like to just hang around and eat all day (what a fabulous life, right?). Finally we made it to the coveted Manuel Antonio Beach, the best in the region:
This beach looks like a Microsoft screensaver come to life. The water is perfect. At most ocean beaches I've been to (growing up vacationing in Florida) the water is either so salty that it stings your skin and gives you razor burn OR the water is so freezing that you just don't bother. This water is like bathwater that you can actually swim in. This beach is the exception. This beach is the experience worth flying down for!
There is a sloth hiding in this tree somewhere....
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