Manuel Antonio

And so the story of my life continues: slept right through the alarm clock again. I was going to get up early to have a better chance of seeing wildlife in the Manuel Antonio National Park, but my usual self took care of that silly idea. Breakfast was great, pancakes, eggs, rice and beans with fruit and coffee, all for about $3. I got to talk with Estella on Skype again before she went to sleep halfway around the world.

I ended up getting to the park at about noon and thought it a bit weird they had no maps to give. That worried me not because I'm afraid of getting lost and eaten by monkeys, but because the trail leading in was more of a driveway, and was crowded with tourists led by their guides. They paid a ton of money to see all the same stuff, but with super cool telescopes. Good for them. It was looking even more like the park was going to be a bust when I got to a beach stretch totally crowded with families and screaming kids. But I moved past onto a trail that looped around a peninsula. That's where things started getting good. First I came across a basilisk:

No, it's not a big scary Harry Potter snake, but it's one of the cooler lizards out there. Moving on I heard some rustling to the left and chased after an agouti, those goofy little rodents of unusual size. Shortly after that was where I met the monkeys. They were the same capuchins I had seen in Montezuma, but they were up close and personal. These guys were fearless, only caring about the jackpot of berries they'd found and not at all about the American and Israeli hikers who had shown up to the party.  And that's when the coolest thing happened:

I got to hand feed a wild monkey. It was totally comfortable taking the berries right out of my hand. I could feel the strength in his little hands as he snatched up his free snack. That's an experience that's too cool for words.

I hiked back towards where the beach trail began and got some great pictures of a big iguana.

He was a great model- love to work with him again. The trail split off and went up and deeper into the forest. The first path I took was blocked off with caution tape. Nothing that's ever stopped me before. It was a great walk through the trees, where I spotted another agouti and a red-headed woodpecker. It led to a spot that headed down towards the ocean, and once I had scrambled down a couple ropes I was completely alone in a beautiful rocky cove on the Pacific.

Back up on the trail, I pressed on until the path disappeared into the brush, forcing me to turn back.  The second trail from the main fork was all uphill, but I walked under several groups of capuchin monkeys who were jumping around in the treetops. At the end of the trail was a viewing station overlooking another ocean bay. A sloth was enjoying the view too, moving sloooowly as he ate leaves. This was a different kind from the speedy sloth I'd seen on my way to Monteverde. This guy blended in with the tree trunks and moved with the reckless abandon of a dead snail. His camouflage was so good that pictures were inconclusive.

On the walk back I met a group of guys who were traveling together, some from the States and an Aussie from Perth. We all went to dinner, chatted and had some cervezas while watching USA beat Panama in the Gold Cup (where they'll be playing Mexico in the final on Sat). It's raining a lot now, glad it decided to move in tonight. In the morning I'll be heading to Dominical, traveling with the Aussie to do some more surfing. The rain should make sleeping a breeze. That and dreaming about my new monkey friends. Pura vida.