A weekend at the beach

My second week of volunteering passed quickly and without any problems.  I now know the routine of the centre and what the children do when, which always makes things easier.  I was a little bit cheeky for my second weekend and took Friday off as I wanted to venture a little further afield and needed an extra day.


Manuel Antonio is a small National Park on the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica.  It's white sandy beaches are lined with wild jungle and monkeys can be seen playfully swinging through the trees that line the beaches in the park. It's extremely popular with tourists so is definitely not a place off the beaten track.  However, I'd read and heard great things about it and really wanted to visit.


A simple and easy bus route took me from Palmares to San Jose and onto Quepos. Quepos is the town 7km north of the park and I decided to stay there for more amenities, cheaper accommodation and easy access to the return bus.  Arriving at 11.30am, I checked in, dumped my small bag into the room (being sure to grab a good bed first!) and then headed out to jump on a bus down to Manuel Antonio village and the beach.


The short, windy and hilly road hugged the pacific coast all the way down and ended up in a tiny village by the sea.  The beach by the town was outside of the park boundaries so was visited at no cost.  It was long, gently curving and with pounding waves, not unlike those that Amy and I saw at San Juan Del Sur.  After a little wander around the town, the heat of the day meant that the only place to be was in the sea!  I jumped some waves, got badly pounded by a couple and generally enjoyed the coolness of the water.

The main street in the town of Manuel Antonio.

Playa Norte - outside the park, 
next to the town.

Saturday was another hot day and the day to enter the park properly.  I booked onto a guided walk through the park as this always increases your chances of seeing wildlife.  Being as popular as it is, the park was packed with tourists which was a shame, but didn't take away from the excellent wildlilfe spotting.  The guide had a tremendous telescope which allowed us to get up close, well, visually anyway, to the variety of big and small animals in the park.  My sightings of sloths increased as we found lots and lots in the trees. However, I got my first sighting of a two toed sloth, and a baby!  There were also lots of monkeys and creepy crawly types of things.

A tree crab.

Colourful grasshoppers!

Mummy and baby two-toed sloth
(taken through the telescope).

With the wonderful guide, Miguel.

Wild flowers dotted the jungle tracks.

After the guided walk, I strolled around a new trail to some view points of the coastline before heading down to Manuel Antonio beach for a refreshing dip, followed by an afternoon of reading under the shade of the waving palms.

View of Manuel Antonio beach from the
walking trail round the headland.

Enjoying the beach, ready to find a shady
spot to spend the afternoon!

It's been a lovely weekend here and I'm glad that I visited.  It really is a beautiful part of the country.  I certainly haven't visited anywhere else where cheeky monkeys frolic around in the trees while you sit and watch from the soft, sandy beach!

With one free weekend left, best I get thinking about how to use it to the best of it's possibilities!