Manuel Antonio is a national park on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. Since we knew we'd be roughing it in the other stops on this vacation, our plant was to relax for a few days in Manuel Antonio before returning home.

In Monteverde we were picked up by our driver Daniel. He did not speak a lot of English so the five hour drive was a bit like a Spanish class - "Como se llama?" "Me llamo Andy et Jennifer es mi esposa." "Ha visto usted los monos?" "Si, hemos visto los monos." Along the way, Daniel spotted two GIANT ctenosaurs (like an iguana) and a troop of howler monkeys. He also stopped at the Tarcoles River so we could see the crocodiles. We arrived in Manuel Antonio right around noon, which means we made the trip in a little over 4 hours! Coming down the bumpy road was definitely easier than going up.

We stayed at La Mariposa, a charming hotel with an almost 360° view. Our deluxe room (the cheapest category), #21, was HUGE and had an outstanding view of the Pacific and Manuel Antonio National Park. The hotel restaurant was top notch, as was the sunset pool bar, and they had a shuttle down to the beach.

We went on a half day hike with Flanders, a guide that we hired near the entrance to the park. It was high tide when we arrived, so we had to take a small rowboat across a lagoon to even reach the entrance to the park. It seemed like most people here didn't hire a guide, but Flanders was SO worth it. We told him that our main goal was to see sloths, since we'd only seen two on the entire trip and they were both sleeping and looked like a ball of wet hay.

In the 3 hours we were with Flanders, we saw more sloths than we could count - to the point where we'd leave if they weren't facing the right direction. At one point we had a sloth hanging upside down while eating and grooming AND a troop of white faced monkeys within about 50 feet from each other. Which to shoot - monkeys or sloths, monkeys or sloths???

	Three-Toed Sloth Click the image to see him move! Requires Windows Media Player

Flanders also spotted howler monkeys, a male AND a female trogon, jesus christ lizards, bats, and a weird little lizard-like creature that none of the guides could identify. The guides all worked together, using radios to communicate with each other about sightings and they all had swarovski telescopes - we'd be walking along and he'd stop, set up the telescope, and we'd look through and there's be a sloth, or bat, or something - NO idea how he spotted some of this stuff.

We also went hiking by ourselves on the Cathedral Trail - a 1.5 km trail around a peninsula that jets out into the Pacific Ocean. Great views, but not much wildlife. In high tide, this trail provides access to a very deserted beach - by the time we left the tide had receded and we were able to walk out through the main beach. When we got back to the park entrance, the boats were no longer there because the tide was out and you could easily walk across.

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