Wednesday 27th January 2016
 
Another day and another part of Costa Rica to see. We've already seen the Caribbean coast and the rainforest in Tortuguero, We've had time in the central area of Arenal and Monteverde both quite close but very different in temperature and climate. So today we are going to be driven the 190 km (120 miles) to a completely different area of the country. The very warm and quite humid region on the southern Pacific shore known as Manuel Antonio National Park. Now the roads in Costa Rica are something I perhaps haven't touched on in this blog. They go from farm tracks, that can be muddy and extremely bumpy, like the journey we had from Arenal to Monteverde, 20 mph is a maximum average! Next is the roads hewn out of the rocks, like the first 20 miles out of Monteverde towards the Pacific coast. It's very much like extreme driving in a 4x4 through a quarry for an hour! It churns the stomach and even for a good traveller, is not pleasant. The area around the Hotel Belmar is very green and lush, as we head further into our journey and better albeit single carriageway roads we are down in fertile but flat fields of pineapple and palm tree plantations. Pineapples are the No. 1 export for C.R. after Coffee and then tourism. Palm oil must be in the top 5 and with British Airways starting direct flight in a April, from Heathrow and Thomson's doing charter holiday in the North Pacific coast near Liberia (Costa Ricas second city) I can see the British tourist will really enjoy using here as a winter holiday destination. The people are all lovely, they love their peaceful, lush, beautiful country. The weather is fabulous on the Pacific coast and warm but wetter on the Caribbean. There is so much to see, so much adventure to take part in. We are very much in love with the place. 
 
Half way through our four hour journey south we stop for cool drinks at a series of shops and cafes beside a bridge. What we didn't realise, until Rafa our driver tells us, the bridge is the tourist hub for dozens of travellers to stop, look and pray they don't fall over the edge! Yes, just below in a very murky and muddy river are, we count, 18 huge Crocodiles! They are silent, deadly looking and as still as you can believe, even in quite strong currents. Travellers of the world congregate at a safe distance on this bridge to photograph this amazing spectacle of lethal wildlife.
 
We move on, faster now on the Autopista toll motorway which links the U.S.A. through Mexico and the rest of Central America, onwards through to Panama and beyond. We arrive at our destination the Parador Hotel, a very impressive place perched on the cliffs overlooking the sparkling Pacific. Gosh what an amazing site and once booked in and shown to our room which, with a double balcony has an even better outlook over the pools, restaurants and palm trees. Visitors to our hotel include large Vultures who use the thermals to swoop and fly by. Monkeys who run around the pools and dart back into the greenery as soon as you find your camera. Also Mockingbirds who come to collect the crumbs after breakfast.
 
We wander down to the local beach later in the afternoon and decend into a hot bath that is the Pacific Ocean, the beach is quite small and full of locals as well as a squadron of U.S. Pilots who were having fun, drinking beers and attempting to paddle board quite badly. Oh this is the way to chill in barmy, beautiful Costa Rica.