Chapter 4

Our time at Manuel Antonio Park and nearby Quepos is at an end.  We've spent a great week in our "treehouse" which I found astonishing!  Larry had to put up with no AC, but at night time we really could sleep without it!  Since our house is almost 100 ft. up in the treetops, the breezes from the nearby ocean cooled us off.  Every morning we enjoyed our cups of coffee on the deck, just watching the birds and animals in our treetops 10 ft. from our chairs.  Lovely and thrilling.  I probably took a bizillion photos!  Most of all the monkeys came three times to our pool area and deck and trees.  They were the light-orange/brown squirrel monkeys and the white-faced capuchin monkeys.  How exciting to hand-feed them!  They weren't afraid of us at all!  From here, the Manuel Antonio park is only 6-8 minutes up the road.  Fascinating!  We hired a certified guide and did over a 2 hour hike thru it.  There we found the howler monkeys at play.  It was difficult to get them on the camera but we did the best we could. Several magnificent beaches line the Pacific adjacent to the Park.  Long, long stretches of surf and sand.  Everyone knows how much I like the sea and sand!  The road is sprinkled with tons of restaurants and entertainment.  One of my favorite enjoyments is shopping in the local markets. Such interesting fruits and veggies!  The pineapple and bananasd are to die for!!!  If only we could take some home! We did cook at the house on occasion.  Their meat selections are "interesting" as well.  Often you would find stomach and tongue both done up in some kind of stew which they call cassados.  Those we didn't venture into.  Their sausage though is far better than ours back home.  Overall, we love the typical Tican food and regularly we ate at their "mom-and pop" places called sodas.  Cheap too!  Tomorrow we head north to Allajuela where we will stay 2 days.  On Monday we fly home.  Eager to get back but not eager to leave wonderful Costa Rica!