A fast speedboat and a couple of local buses brought us to our next destination of Manuel Antonio, still on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. On the way we found out we were traveling with a fellow south-Londoner who was from Clapham. We asked her how long she was traveling for, to which her response was "a year and a half, so far" - amazing!

We checked into our nice hotel, went for a swim to try and beat the heat and humidity before heading out for a quick supper, as the plan was to be up early the next day to hit the nature reserve before the crowds descended. We didn't quite manage it, arriving just behind three huge tour buses filled with American school kids. Fortunately they got distracted by the snacks on sale and we overtook them. Manuel Antonio National Park is one of Costa Rica's most famous tourist destinations and was listed by Forbes as one of the worlds top twelve most beautiful national parks. There's a huge biodiversity of flora and fauna, loads of different birds and a huge variety of animals (everything from snakes, lizards, monkeys and sloths to whales and dolphins), great hiking trails and beautiful natural beaches. As a result it attracts all sorts of visitors, surfers, swimmers, birders and ecotourists. We spent a good few hours tromping the various trails around the reserve. This was proper rain forest jungle territory, hot, humid and very sticky. We opted to do without a guide this time and it turned out to be a good decision, we saw loads of animals but most especially the monkeys which were everywhere, we saw (and heard) howlers, spider-monkeys and the smaller white-faced variety, as well as loads of birds, butterflies and lizards, but no sloths! Probably didn't help that we weren't overly sure what a sloth looks like. The reserve was situated along the coast and had a few spectacular beaches which we spent some time at before the cloud rolled in and the rain came down. There wasn't much else we felt like doing so it was back to the hotel for a beer and some quality pool-time!

Pura vida,
KL