Costa Rica Day 9

​Butterfly Garden 

After bidding a sad farewell to Ed and Julie we went across the street to check out the Sukia Butterfly Garden.And yes, I do know this is a cheesy picture. It wasn’t my idea.

The butterflies were in a huge screened enclosure. The Blue Morphos were the most difficult to photograph because their flight patterns were so random. So we pushed our cameras and skills to the max captured the following stills and one video.

The blue ones were so hard to capture in mid flight but here’s my best shot. The Blue Morphos weren’t the only stars of the garden. And this one too…

Here’s the only video on the blog. It’s really the only way to show the beauty of the Blue Morphos in flight. Tap the “Play” button and see them fly in slo-mo.

Nothing too exciting for the rest of the day. Lunch at  Emilio’s hanging out at the “adult” pool. We are basically trying to bypass Charlotte-in-July heat.

One Last Sunset

We’re taking in Happy Hour with one last sunset before we leave tomorrow.

The toucans keep flying in and out of the tree in the center.

Costa Rica Day 8

​Manuel Antonio Nat’l Park

This is Costa Rica’s most famous national park. It teems with wildlife and has a beautiful setting between hills and pristine beaches.Like this one.  So here was my misconception of the wildlife. It seemed like they’d be on display. Nope. They are shy and usually hidden by dense underground. That’s where your guide comes in. Here is Aaron. Our guide for March 3rd!  Patrice is watching him while he quickly and skillfully sets up his telescope to quickly capture some wildlife in his lense.

So… the best way to see the wildlife is thru his lens. Here is a monkey we have only seen at the park.

We also saw sloths and iguanas. Here’s one on the beach: 

By the Time this trip ended, the temperature had climbed to well over 90 degrees. And we were ready to come home. Here we are, leaving and dying for a cold drink.

Chillin at Si Como No

We had a late lunch if leftovers from dinner. We were so beat by the heat we took a long siesta in the afternoon. Sadly, our travel partners Ed and Julie were called home due to a family emergency. So dinner was just a quick pizza by the pool while Ed made last minute travel changes. On the way for pizza, Patrice found this interesting bottle sign/sculpture.

Costa Rica Day 7

Breakfast with a Toucan

I have been hearing Toucans and hearing about seeing toucans for days but never saw one. This was frustrating because one of my stated goals was to see one. Then at breakfast it finally happened!! Here is a close-up of that bird: 

 Here is the same picture zoomed out. If you look closely you can see a little yellow spec on top of the tree..

Beach at Manuel Antonio

We had a wonderful excursion to the beach today. The hotel had a concierge service that set up chairs and a cabana for you. From our spot we watched surfers, para-sailers and other beach occupants.

 After enough body surfing to twist us around and turn us upside down. We returned to the hotel for a quick swim in the pool and a late lunch. The pool was fun because it had a water slide. Unfortunately, it also had a concrete bench at the edge of the pool painted the same color as the bottom.  I smashed one of my toes into it! Walking is kind of painful and one of my toes turned black.

Lunch

We had some unexpected guests who really just wanted to hangout at the bar. Several of our new friends brought their “kids” along. If you look closely at the picture above you’ll see a baby monkey riding on its mothers back.  Here’s a close-up of a monkey momma suckling her baby.

After spending late afternoon hobbling around and doing some shopping we found a great restaurant up the street. OK, it was actually recommended by Melissa. (We are tired of the hotel restaurant) It’s just up the street from our hotel. And I do mean UP.

Even though it’s a short distance, it’s difficult to walk because there’s sections of sidewalk missing and it’s a curvy road. But the food was delicious. It’s called Emilio’s.

Costa Rica Day 6

​Journey from Monteverde to Manual Antonio 

We started our 4 hour journey at 10a.  In the first hour we dropped about 3000 feet and some very windy roads. But the views were spectacular.

Halfway there we stopped for a lunch break. It was near a river (Rio Tarcoles) And there was a long bridge there. Here’s what we saw looking over the railing..

Just look at the size of those footprints in the mud!

We got to our hotel (Si Como No) in midafternoon and waited while they got our room ready. Patrice says there’s a gift shop right outside the main entrance. This is the view from the lobby…After a couple of drinks and a lazy dinner we got together one more time with our new friends Melissa and Eric. Thought I was capable of taking a good selfie but apparently not. 😐 

Costa Rica Day 5

​Monteverde Sky Park Adventure 

Like most days when there’s an excursion we are up at 6a to grab breakfast before the bus comes.

Here we are all trussed up and ready to ride.

We took a tram up 1000 feet into mountains. We were truly in the Cloud Forest at that point. Nothing makes your heart rate like zipping into the clouds!

Here’s Ed coming in for a landing on one of the seven zip lines you have to take to get to the bottom.

We survived!

We will spend the rest of the afternoon resting and recuperating.

We are planning to go to a restaurant in town called the Treehouse. It looks to be a building built around a giant Ficus (fig) tree.

Drinks and dinner were delicious 

Costa Rica Day 4

​Transfer from Arenal to Monteverde

We said goodbye to great couple we met hiking, Melissa and Eric. We might catch up to them later in Manuel Antonio 

As 

usual, Julie and Patrice never miss a chance to clown around. 

The ride from Arenal to Monteverde includes a shortcut across Lake Arenal, CR’s largest lake.

we are saying goodbye to the volcano as we take the 45 minute ride across the lake. This actually cuts our travel time by an hour and it’s a whole lot smoother!

Along the way, our boat captain hugged the shore to show us some of the wildlife. We saw cormorants and this Ibis.

On to Monteverde 

Once we got across the lake we began the arduous journey on mostly gravel roads to Monteverde. It took over 2 hours. It was a rough and jarring journey. You could see the scenery change from the dense rain forest to rolling mountain hills.

We arrived at our hotel, the Poco a Poco in late afternoon.

Costa Rica Day 3

​Hike Up Arenal

We hiked about a third of the way up this guy. It was only a “Costa Rica Mile” or so up to the vantage point… in other words, very steep.

Sloth 

This looks like a fake picture but it was taken thru a monacular of an actual sloth and her baby that we saw at the top of a tree.