Manuel Antonio National Park

We have heard fabulous things about this national park, so we decided to drive the hour and a half and spend a couple of days checking it out. Really good choice.

This place has beautiful beaches, warmish water, and backs up right into a jungle. (Plus, it has cheap happy hours!) It is really the best of both kinds of Costa Rican travel, all in one. We were staying right by the main public beach, which is gorgeous, and we were quite content to chill out there. To get a sense of the beauty we're talking about, check out these pictures.








Just at the end of this public beach is the entrance into Manuel Antonio National Park, and we definitely wanted to see what made this one of the top tourist spots in the country. Upon entering the park, you walk along the jungle path for maybe 10-15 minutes toward the main beach that most people are drawn to. It isn't long before you encounter wildlife along the path, however. For us, we first saw a sloth hanging way up in the tree (a first ever for Lisa) before we found a family of racoons wandering on the path ahead of us. We walked with them for a while, taking tons of pictures, until we ran into a huge crowd of monkeys. Then came the iguanas (see below). Not to mention the bajillions of hermit crabs everywhere. And all of these families of animals were hanging out in the same place at the same time. It was so fun to get so close to the animals without them getting scared and running off.



We eventually kept walking until we found the beach, where we decided to sit down at a picnic table and eat our lunch. We were just breaking into our PB&J's when this little guy came crawling onto our table hoping to snag a little lunch for himself. But the park people ask you not to feed them, so we refrained. It didn't keep him from trying, though. These monkeys are actually really bold and quite good at stealing people's unattended bags in the hopes of finding a few morsels to eat. Reade saw one monkey grab a bag and take off into the trees as its' owner started yelling, and he would have gotten away with if he hadn't dropped the bag by accident to the ground.

A few more monkey pictures (yes, we loved the monkeys)...





Although we only stayed for a couple of days, we had a great time and took full advantage of our time there, soaking in the natural beauty of the place. We head back to Jaco for another night or so before making our way back to the capital city where we'll catch our flight to the United States. We can hardly believe that our time in Central America is almost done. Sigh. It's too bad that all good things must come to an end. What an unbelievable experience. We are truly two of the most blessed people in the world.

Jaco, Costa Rica

After a 16 hour bus ride from Tegucigalpa, we finally found ourselves in Costa Rica and a little bit of culture shock. First of all, we spoke almost no Spanish there. We were disappointed to learn that almost everyone speaks English. Second of all, we were back with American prices, which we had been warned about, but still had a hard time stomaching after the last several weeks of our lives. And while we would not necessarily say that what we saw of Costa Rica was first world, it sure wasn't third world either.

We decided to take it slow and instead of trying to see too much in one week, just stay in the same general area and enjoy some relaxation and sun. After arriving in the capital city of San Jose, we drove about 2 hours south to the closest beach called Jaco. This is where most of the locals go, especially on the weekends. We like locals, and at least this time around, didn't want to spend our whole time in completely touristy areas. You can see a couple pictures of the beach below.






One of our favorite places to eat was a place called the Taco Bar. This place was fantastic. First of all, there were swings instead of stools going all the way around the outside of their tables. As if that is not cool enough, they have a big salad bar type thing for you to load up whatever kind of taco or burrito you order. Their fish tacos were pretty phenomenal, as were their smoothies. Plus, the people were really nice. What's not to love?

Our hotel had a really nice pool and was a few blocks from the beach, so we got lots of good sun and swimming in. Breakfast came with the room, and it was tasty every morning. Our room even had a fridge, so we boughtt stuff for PB&J's and our lunches were set for the entire week. Lisa read two and half books in the time we were there, which was pure joy for her. It was a great opportunity for us to take some time, rest up, and begin to process through the last few weeks of our lives. We thought and talked about the kids from Nueva Suyapa several times a day and already miss them quite a lot. We truly wish that we could have brought them with us.