Costa Rica Day 7 - 13 Manuel Antonio

After a 5 hour van/bus we made it down to Manuel Antonio/Quepos and our hotel Castillo de la rivera was sat perfectly between the two towns!

Our first morning was a 3 hour walking tour of Manuel Antonio National Park with a perfect guide recommended by our friend called Edwin. He had x-ray like vision and luckily for me a telescope with his phone camera attached to it! Meaning I had at least a chance of seeing what he was describing.

We saw all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures - from sloths hanging in the trees, to white faced monkeys jumping between them. We also saw an anteater crossing the road, the most deadly snake in Costa Rica and a lizard that runs on water... The Jesus Christ lizard of course!

The following day after some long walks exploring both towns we settled on dinner at a bar with an old Cargo Aeroplane one of two involving the Reagan administration, Iranian Arms deal and some Nicaraguan Rebel Groups! The food was delicious and the restaurant itself was set on a cliffs edge with beautiful see views, making the effort to transport a Cargo Plane in pieces up there seem even more impressive! The plane even had its own bar which was unfortunately closed but we still got to have a walk around it.

The next day we had heard about a public beach which was very private but was also 'difficult' to get to... We set out on the walk and it became immediately apparent 'difficult' was an understatement! Luckily as we walked the winding up and down path, we had been made aware that the giant red and black crabs werent poisonous, though avoiding their giant pincer was advisable. The path became narrower and steeper seemingly in unison with a rainstorm but we safely made the beach! The dark sand and rocks surrounding made it look like something from Jurassic Park - but the changing weather meant we only had a short while to soak it up before making our way back up the mountain!Read more