Manuel Antonio

A morning’s drive from Monteverde took us to Manuel Antonio, on Costa Rica’s southern, Pacific coast. We boarded the bus reasonably early in the morning and travelled in air-conditioned comfort until we reached Orotina for a rest break. The driver slid open the bus door and…it was hot! Yes, we’ve arrived in the tropics, and away from the rain forest. Expect temperatures to reach 31°C during the day, and to fall to 27°C at night.

Why is Manuel Antonio so called? No-one seems to have a definitive answer. It’s like finding a town in the UK called Dave Johnson, but not knowing  who Dave Johnson was.

It took us another hour or so to reach our destination – Playa Espadilla, in the Manuel Antonio National Park. Our room wasn’t ready for us on arrival, so we went and had a leisurely lunch in the restaurant. Our hotel is in fact in two parts – Espadilla Gardens and Espadilla Hotel. We’re in the Gardens part, which has a pool and reception but no bar or restaurant. So we need to cross the road each time we want to use those. No matter. At 2pm we returned to a blissfully airconditioned room. There are lizards to be seen all around the place - we quickly identified Lizzie, Eddie, and Guttie, who lives in the gutter. We spent the rest of the day lollygagging. In the evening we went out and admired the sunset over the beach, and found a restaurant on the main drag alongside the beach to have dinner.

Eddie Lizard

The next day, we were up early-ish for a guided tour of the Manuel Antonio National Park. Even though we started early (8 o’clock) there were crowds of people trying to get into the park. Many were in guided groups, like us, but large numbers without guides too. It reminded me of a cruise ship day at Zealandia when three coaches arrive at once. Our guide, Allan, sorted us out pretty quickly and took us down a side track to try and avoid the most egregious overcrowding. As on previous tours we’d taken, the guides all carry telescopes on tripods to view the wildlife, as it’s often high up a tree. We saw lizards, white-faced monkeys, more bats, and some birds, including the majestically-named nighthawk, which ought to be something more substantial than a species of cuckoo. And of course more sloths – both three-toed and two-toed varieties. Allan was a fount of knowledge – he’d done a degree in marine biology and had been a tour guide on Costa Rica’s best place for dolphins and whales before coming home to Manuel Antonio.

We ended up at the beach, where we took a twenty minute break (swimming optional – we hadn’t brought our togs so not for us) before finishing the final part of the tour. This is where we had a close encounter with the white-faced monkeys – they are quite accustomed to having people around, and walked along the rails of the walkways with no problem. At the end we had refreshments – iced water or tea – and melon and pineapple. The tour had ended quite close to our hotel, so we decided to walk back instead of waiting for the bus.

After a quick dip in our pool to cool down – difficult as the water is like a bath – we then headed over the road to the restaurant and poolside bar for the rest of the afternoon.