Life in Manuel Antonio and Puerto Viejo

this is the beach outside our hotel in manuel antonio
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So this past weekend I went with everyone to Manuel Antonio located on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. It's a touristy beach town located next to the Manuel Antonio National Park. We arrived by bus around 10:30 at night on Friday. We got to our hotel/hostel (which wasn't spectacular and had huge cockroaches) and ran down to the beach. It was really magical! It was pitch black, so we could just barely make out the waves of the Pacific crashing down on the beach. There was also heat lightning in the distance with patches of stars showing through. We walked the length of the beach to this big boulders, one of which we climbed. On top of the boulder, we started singing our hearts out to Disney tunes. It was really fun! Afterwards we walked some more on the beach, and someone had the idea to "be one with nature." So, most of us stripped off our soggy, sandy clothes and ran naked down the dark beach. It was such a release!

view from the mini mountain in the manuel antonio park
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Afterwards, we went back to our rooms, rinsed off and went to bed. We had an early start the next morning. We ate some breakfast at the soda at the hotel then headed to Manuel Antonio National Park. The park, despite being quite small, was wonderful! It had very lush forests with a nice, short 40 minute hike up a small mountain. We had some great views of the Pacific from the top of the hill. There are three beaches located in the park. They are all gorgeous! They have crystal clear blue/green warm water with soft white sand. The wonderful vegetation lining the beaches was also a treat.

We were able to touch both the Pacific and the Caribbean within 24 hours of each other!

the beach we hung out at in manuel antonio park
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After hiking to the best beach (numero 3), we laid our towels down and jumped in the water. When I came back to rest for awhile in the shade, we were joined by a few furry friends. About 10 white faced capuchin monkeys hung above us and around us! It was wonderful how close we were able to get to them! They so similar to humans...like little men. They're also very intelligent. First, one stole our garbage and then another stole an unopened pringles can! He was smart enough to first of all, know it was food and second, open the can and start munching! It was incredible. I took a million and half pictures of them. We even got to see a mother milking her baby. There were also a bunch of hermit crabs, a few regular crabs, and three huuuge iguanas on the beach.

monkeys!
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After relaxing for awhile on that beach, we walked to fill up our canteens and head to another beach. On the way to the water, we lucked out and saw a sloth sleeping in the tree above us! We've been anticipating seeing a sloth ever since we first got to CR. It was so exciting! Now, the only thing I crave to see is a Toucan. ;) Anyway, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the second beach which was a little less crowdy and had more waves.

We went back to the hotel and showered up for the night. We got some food at a restaurant in town and then walked back towards the hotel on the beach. We really lucked out and found an abandoned firepit with hot coals still glowing. So, we scavenged for firewood and brought out the guaro. We hung out with this nice Costa Rican guy who had been near the coals. Some people went skinny dipping, but I decided to take a relaxing walk along the beach to have some time alone. I love walking at night next to a large body of water. It can be such a surreal feeling sometimes to hear and feel the water, but barely be able to see it.

hermit crab
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The next day we spent on the beach where we had our fire the night before. We left around 3pm for San José. The following morning (on Monday) we headed out with the class for a week long trip to the Caribbean town of Puerto Viejo located in the Talamanca region of Limon. We arrived around 2pm yesterday, which meant we were able to touch both the Pacific and the Caribbean within 24 hours of each other! How exciting. :) We spent some time doing a discussion of environmental economics and an analysis of our stream health project before having the rest of the night off.

mom feeding her baby
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This morning we visited the Biological Corridor project. It's a very cool thing what this NGO is doing. They're trying to link all the reserves and protected areas in Central America so that animals located all the way at the end of Panama could potentially migrate up to Guatemala or Belize. It's a very exciting prospect. We had the afternoon off so a few of us wandered around the town exploring. I really like this place. Even though it has it's fair share of tourists, they're all very low-key backpacker types. Also, the unique, laid-back, afro-caribe culture of Puerto Viejo is still very much intact. The history of this region of Costa Rica is very interesting. Back in the late 1800s, rich foreigners started up banana plantations in Limon and brought over Jamaicans to work in the farms. Ever since then, there has been a huge Jamaican influence in this part of the country. It's very cool. The climate is pretty nice too. It's around the same temperature as San José (70s, 80s), but it also rains a lot more. It's actually nice to see rain. We haven't had any in San José since I got there.

iguana
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Tomorrow we're visiting an organic banana, cacao, and timber farm. On Thursday, we're going to visit an indigenous reserve and talk with the people there. Overall, this should be a wonderful week. I'll be back in San José on Sunday for a week before heading out into the field again. Ciao!