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Our Year of Adventure
Our German neighbours were up and out early without a sound, and we had the house to ourselves. It was a bit of a novelty to actually make breakfast for ourselves. Nothing fancy though, just cornflakes and milk then toast and eggs.
It was mid morning before we managed to get out the house. The bus only took a few minutes to get from the village to the entrance of Manuel Antonio National Park. The park is a humid, tropical forest with a lot of easily spotted wildlife and a few beaches.
It was a lot busier than the last two forests we had visited but this was by by the beach and hot so probably a more popular destination for North Americans on a short vacation. There were loads of animals too, we were no more than 50m down the track when we came across a tree full of capuchin monkeys. There were so many people with guides (we were too cheap to pay for one) that you could just look to see where they were looking and see some of the harder to spot animals. It wasn't all one way though, quite a few times we had to point out animals to the guides so they in turn could tell their groups.
Half the park was closed for maintenance but on the short trail we walked, we saw loads of insects, butterflies, a red crab, a rare stick bird (not a joke), green lizard, huge iguanas, more capuchin monkeys and the rare squirrel monkeys. The highlight though was seeing a sloth even though it was sleeping high up in the trees. There was even a second sloth which had a baby (according to guides) and this was even harder to see.
The trail led down to a spit that over the years connected to an island and created a spectacular beach on each side. There were raccoons everywhere and they looked and acted like suspicious burglars. They had the stereotypical mask over their eyes and they were trying to get into swimmer's unattended backpacks whenever they could. We walked round the island path and came across a couple of agoutis, they are rodents without a tail - easiest to see a photo. There was another group of cappuchino monkeys, including a baby still clinging to it's mother, that came within touching distance (although we didn't of course).
The day finished with the most intense storm we've ever experienced. It was like the storm sat above our head for a couple of hours and dropped a years worth of rain in that time. The lightening covered the entire sky in flashes which lasted up to 2 seconds and the thunder felt, and sounded, like it was 10m above the house. The house was actually shaking with the biggest flashes that touched the ground. Really amazing experience even if a little worrying at times...
It was mid morning before we managed to get out the house. The bus only took a few minutes to get from the village to the entrance of Manuel Antonio National Park. The park is a humid, tropical forest with a lot of easily spotted wildlife and a few beaches.
It was a lot busier than the last two forests we had visited but this was by by the beach and hot so probably a more popular destination for North Americans on a short vacation. There were loads of animals too, we were no more than 50m down the track when we came across a tree full of capuchin monkeys. There were so many people with guides (we were too cheap to pay for one) that you could just look to see where they were looking and see some of the harder to spot animals. It wasn't all one way though, quite a few times we had to point out animals to the guides so they in turn could tell their groups.
Half the park was closed for maintenance but on the short trail we walked, we saw loads of insects, butterflies, a red crab, a rare stick bird (not a joke), green lizard, huge iguanas, more capuchin monkeys and the rare squirrel monkeys. The highlight though was seeing a sloth even though it was sleeping high up in the trees. There was even a second sloth which had a baby (according to guides) and this was even harder to see.
The trail led down to a spit that over the years connected to an island and created a spectacular beach on each side. There were raccoons everywhere and they looked and acted like suspicious burglars. They had the stereotypical mask over their eyes and they were trying to get into swimmer's unattended backpacks whenever they could. We walked round the island path and came across a couple of agoutis, they are rodents without a tail - easiest to see a photo. There was another group of cappuchino monkeys, including a baby still clinging to it's mother, that came within touching distance (although we didn't of course).
The day finished with the most intense storm we've ever experienced. It was like the storm sat above our head for a couple of hours and dropped a years worth of rain in that time. The lightening covered the entire sky in flashes which lasted up to 2 seconds and the thunder felt, and sounded, like it was 10m above the house. The house was actually shaking with the biggest flashes that touched the ground. Really amazing experience even if a little worrying at times...
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