Watch out there’s a sloth about !

Another day, and another new place to investigate.  A gentle 5 hour drive brings us to Manuel Antonio, that has the smallest national park in Costa Rica. 

I don't think I'll bother..

We locate our hotel on a very steep hill and on a narrow road.  Once checked in, we’re surprised to find that we have to drive to our room – further down the hill to a small block of 4 apartments overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  The view from our picture windows are stunning and we get to watch the sunset from our giant sized veranda complete with large electric fan.

A room with a view

The guy that owns the hotel also owns the diner at the top of the hill.  He’s clearly an aeroplane buff as one of the bedrooms is in a converted Boing 727 fuselage 

Yours for $600 a night

whilst the bar at the El Avion restaurant is a Fairchild C123 which looks as if it has crash landed into the diner.  The story goes that the US government bought the plane in the 80s for the Nicaraguan contras but in the light of the Oliver North, Iran-Contra scandal the plane never left San Jose and was picked up for $3,000 and transported here.  The diner does fantastic food and fantastic views.

It’s an early start and after breakfast we’re picked up by Iguana tours to go into the national park.  Now the national park is small, has amazing diversity and has jungle, swaying palm trees and a white crescent sandy beach and crystal blue waters.  Unfortunately, it’s one of Costa Rica’s biggest attractions and is easily accessible from San Jose (oh for those Monteverde roads) and that means hundreds of tourists and tour parties, ours included.

The crowd assembles

I am shocked to see large queues for tickets and lots of groups being instructed by their respective guides.  We’re not happy but luckily we have Roy, our guide whose mum was a big fan of Roy Rodgers.  He combines a sharp eye for wildlife with a good sense of humour and despite it feeling like the January sales, we enter the park and follow the throng.

The pace soon settles and our group becomes Roy’s ‘family’ and we often hear Roy calling for ‘his family and Mr Green’ who has a tendency to wander off.

Despite the crowds and the racket caused by chatty elements  we see a surprising range of wild life from the 2 toed and the 3 toed sloths, howler monkeys,  white tailed deer, raccoons (which we love but Americans hate).

3 toed sloth

Looking for a sofa

Basilisk aka Jesus Christ lizard that runs on water

Heh heh heh, heh heh heh!

Howler monkey - noisy chap

The tour finishes at the beach which is stunning although I have seen less people on a beach in Ibiza.  Unwary tourists who leave bags unattended as they dip in the water run the risk of losing their possessions to the raccoons who already look like burglars with their little masks and the white faced capuchin monkeys who try to mug the raccoons for scraps of food or cameras.

The burglars move in ....

Little muggers wait their chance..

Not another sloth........

Back at the hotel, the adult only pool offers a cool dip, cooler beers and great views.  We watch the ginger spider monkeys and the vultures that continue to fly overhead.

Ginger hair is not acceptable

On the road next day to Dominical, it’s a short drive and we easily find our hotel. We’ve got a lovely wooden cabin set amongst the trees and palms.  It’s laid back and low key.

It’s another early start as howler monkeys high in the trees wake us.   Our visit to the Villas Alturas Wildlife Sanctuary is fascinating. The Sanctuary looks after animals and birds that have had accidents, been abandoned or seized by the Costa Rican authorities.  It is illegal in Costa Rica to keep any wild animal or birds as a pet.  Unfortunately, many of the seized animals are so domesticated that they could not survive in the wild.

Kinkajou

Dwarf Hairy Porcupine

Trouble

Double Trouble

Cutee

It's a hard life

Mike, the director of the sanctuary gives us a passionate tour of the small centre giving us the stories behind each of the residents.  Although the baby sloth is a crowd pleaser, it’s Gonzo the anteater who steals the show.

Mike and Gonzo

A star is born

On the way back we visit a centre for reptiles and again, the variety of snakes, lizards and frogs is amazing.

Basilisk

Tagu

Vine Snake

Pit Viper

Jumping viper (made me jump!)

Water Monitor

Christmas day tomorrow, its about 90 degrees here and we’re on the road again.  Merry Christmas everyone from John and Lucy in Costa Rica

Happy Christmas from Gonzo and the bandit

Head in the Clouds

We leave Arenal ready for the next adventure and the sat nav  (let’s call her Gladys) has mapped our route suggesting 3 hours should do it.  The route is painful on the joints with unmade roads up hills and down again with amazing drops and the side of the road.

Just like home...

Luckily I drove the first part which wasn’t too bad but the last 35 kilometers took us an hour and a half and included me legging it into a bar in a small village for a banos break. Walking into a bar full of Ticos who all turned and watched me, I wasn’t sure that I would get out in one piece but when you’ve got to go you’ve got to go! John sat outside with the engine running.

Eventually we arrive at the Trapp Family Lodge on roads that made us long for Arenal.  One wrong turn has Gladys recalibrating to a dirt track which was akin to a scrambling course.  This is the worst yet and John refused to go out again after we got to the hotel and hit the bar before I could argue.

Cloud + Forest = Cloudforest

Very early the next day we head across town to the Santa Elena cloud forest back along our previous route.  We’re met by Enar, our guide for the morning’s trekking and we are immediately caught up in a frenzy as a young grey hawk has perched in a tree overlooking the car park.

Juvenile Grey Hawk

The walk is a little less strenuous than we are used to but the cloud forest is fabulous  and Enar points out birds and plants.  He also helps coax a large female tarantula from its deep hole - John insist on poking her with a stick till she pokes out her head and looks threatening

Be careful what you poke into holes..

You never know what's going to pop out

We enjoy a leisurely afternoon in the town of Santa Elena before heading back up the bumpy creek.

Not at home...

We are only 10 mins walk from the Monteverde cloud forest but not being big believers of local estimates of time and distance we take the car.  Good move – as it takes us 15 mins and mostly uphill avoiding pot holes. We decide to dispense with the services of a guide and after some clear instructions from the park ranger about the different treks we set off.

Alone in the forest

We see hundreds of interesting butterflies and birds and even catch a glimpse of a coati 

Glasswing Butterfly

Unfortunately the forest is full of people with loud annoying voices and after telling John to ignore them I can’t stop myself while on one of the hanging bridges turning to tell a loud mouth t…t to shush. He marched on at a pace and misses the gold prize.  

A minute later John spots the bird we have been trying to spot, a resplendent quetzal. We get some great shots before word gets round and we’re surrounded on the bridge in a ruck of telescopes, tripods and big Canon lenses all vying for the perfect shot.  The bridge has a sign very clearly stating a maximum capacity of no more than 10 people – no one bothers but we move cautiously from the bridge.

Bridge of Shsssss

Resplendent Quetzal

After the walk we head to a coffee shop to watch the humming birds.  The café has a number of feeders and there is a huge number of humming birds / fly catchers and other birds that buzz around.  It is spectacular and after an hour of watching the spectacle we head back.  Hardly anyone else seemed to know about the café.

Bronzy Hermit

Blue Sabrewing

Room for everyone..

On the way back John gets stopped for a document check by the police.  Ooops we don’t have any identification but in our best British style we claim no entiendo and the policeman waves us on our way.

Next day we are off on the 4 hour drive to Potrero.  Unfortunately, before we can really get going we have to retrace the first 35 kilometers of dirt track before we hit roads with tarmac. The drive is not to bad until we have to negotiate getting onto the Pan-American Highway.  I don’t know what I was expecting – Mad Max meets  the Good, the Bad and the Ugly but its actually quite tame, not least because most of the highway is dug up and under reconstruction.

Road signs are unclear and when I eventually join I am convinced I am driving up the road the wrong way and panicking a lot before another car overtakes us and  somewhat relieved we press on. The navigator for this stretch is excellent and we reach Potrero where we intend to relax for the next 5 days on a beach.

Potrero Beach

The place is lovely. The Pacific Ocean is like getting into a warm bath, The brown pelicans are dive-bombing the water and emerge with bills full of fish.

Dive dive dive

We quickly settle in to the beach bum phase and enjoy a good few refreshments at the Shack, a local bar where one night a live band is playing  and we end up dancing the night away

The sunsets are amazing and last from 5.30 to 5.45 unfortunately we share the  event with the local mosquitoes who seem impervious to our combinations of bug sprays that have no effect on them whatsoever.

Blog again when we get to Manuel Antonio – for now I’m hanging loose!

Cheers