John and Lucy in Costa Rica: 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.