Manuel Antonio Park

Mike, the owner of the condo that we’re renting, showed up on Tuesday.  We heard some noises coming from upstairs, and assumed it was him.  We went up sometime after dinner; and introduced ourselves.  Nice guy, and within a few minutes we hit it off.

He told us that some of his relatives were here from San Jose and that they were going to Manuel Antonio park on Friday; and asked if we wanted to come along for the day.

We packed a lunch; and headed out the door late morning; and arrived in Manuel Antonio about an hour later.  Nice drive along the way and Mike was able to give us some history about the area.

Within a few minutes of entering the park, we saw a 3 toed sloth.  He was pretty high up in the tree; and the only picture I got is a bit fuzzy, but it was still cool to see one.

We then continued along until we got to the beach.  We found a place to sit; had some lunch; and just enjoyed the beautiful beach.

After a while, Mike and I took a walk and came across some monkeys and raccoons.  There were half a dozen monkeys and just as many raccoons.  The monkeys were mostly up in the trees; and some had food that had been snatched from people.

We stood and watched their antics for a while; and then continued along our walk.  There were lots of young kids here; turns out that school children are on their summer break.  The weather is a lot nicer at this time of the year then in the summer months; so it makes sense that their school break is now; instead of during the rainy season.

I was surprised to see all the raccoons here.  They were very aggressive; and more than one tried to go after food brought by the people.  A few times, we watched as people tried, unsuccessfully, to shoo the coons away with a stick.  The coons here are also a lot skinnier here than at home. 

We left the park late afternoon; and went in search of a restaurant for dinner.  We finally found one that was right on the beach.  Kind of a strange place.  Figured it was the kind of place that the “Rubbles and Flintstones” would eat at.  The tables and chairs were all stone and very uncomfortable.  Guess its easier to take care of, being right on the beach.

The food was okay, and Mike’s cousin Joseph treated everybody, as well as us.  Very nice of him.  We left there, and headed to restaurant #2... Never before have I left one restaurant and gone directly to another.  Everybody ended up eating again… except for me and Mike. 

While the others were eating, Mike and I looked in some of the shops; and then headed across the street to watch the waves.  There were also a couple of bonfires going; and we stood for a minute to watch the fire.  Way to hot to stand close for too long; but it was nice to watch a fire.  One of the things we miss the most from home is our nightly campfires.

We arrived back in Jaco around 9pm and Mike took the first exit in to town.  Lots of people out and about.  Within a few minutes we started to see motor cycles.  There must have been a couple of hundred of them; some really nice looking. 

It was a little disconcerting to see the colours and names of “The Hells Angels” and “Bandidos”.  I’m sure that the hotels and restaurants downtown are thrilled though; as business would be hopping. 

Yesterday, Mike took us shopping to get a few things that we needed for the condo; we then picked up his 2 older cousins; and headed back downtown for dinner.  The whole main street of Jaco was alive with 1000’s of people.  We ended up finding a quiet little place and all chowed down on pizza.

Over all, it was a nice weekend; it was nice to finally meet Mike the owner; it was also really nice to finally get to Manuel Antonio park. 

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My Birthday in Los Suenos

On a cold winter night (-18c), in Fort William, Ontario, a beautiful baby girl was born on January 22.  And that's when I entered the world.  I weighed in at 8lb 5oz and was 24 inches long.  I was always grateful that I had long legs, never in my life have I had to have a pair of pants shortened.

For those of you who don’t know this, Fort William no longer exists.  It’s kind of cool to say that I was born in a place that is no longer.  On January 1, 1970, Fort William and Port Arthur, along with two townships, Neebing and McIntyre amalgamated and became known as Thunder Bay.

It’s hard to believe that 45 years have gone by.  And this birthday, was definitely the warmest I’ve had yet.  It was very overcast, but still 31 c.  A long way from those freezing cold ones up north.  Much prefer spending a winter birthday in shorts and t-shirts rather than parkas and long johns!

We had heard about this place called Los Suenos; a marina with boats to take out tourists.  We had looked on the map for it; and since it wasn’t listed, thought it was a small fishing village.

I couldn’t have been more wrong!  We called a cab and headed up the highway just a few minutes before we turned off heading towards the ocean.  A few minutes later, we turned into this absolutely beautiful resort.  Called Los Suenos.  And for the next few hours, we got a glimpse of how the wealthy live.

Along the way, there was one beautiful condo after the next; and according to our driver, the really “nice” houses were on a private road.  Apparently Michael Jordan has a place there; and prices were said to be in the millions.

We also passed the Marriot hotel complex, and were told that a night there is $500 plus.  We then drove to the dock; left our cab and started looking around.

There were lots of really really nice boats.  In fact there were 3 of them, that we figure we could afford about a half a tank worth of gas with our yearly income.  Oh to be that rich!

There was a Tiki Hut style restaurant that wasn’t open yet; but we poked our heads in to take a look.  The first entrée listed was filet mignon for $40.50 - Yikes!  Obviously we weren’t going to be eating here.

We headed out to the pier and found some rocks to sit on and just watch the comings of goings of a marina.  We even stopped at a fishing tour company and inquired about some prices.

First price was for a boat, 3 bedrooms and holds 6 people.  Full day $3595.00 - YIKES!!! The cheapest boat available for a half day was $995.  You guessed it… we didn’t go out for a fishing tour!

Around 4:00, the boats started coming in.  They used the dock closest to where we were sitting; as a drop off point.  And not one of the boats had a successful catch.  A couple of them had “bites”.  Seems like a lot of money to spend to have a “bite”.  But to live and play in this area, you have to have a lot of money; and for some of these people, 4 grand is just a drop in the bucket.

We headed over to The Hook Up for dinner.  It had been recommended to us; and turned out to be a good choice.  Most of the people in here seemed to know each other.  Lots of the boat captains; and many of their passengers.  The place was really hopping.  The food was great; and it didn’t cost an arm and a leg to eat there.

All in all it was a great birthday.

There was also a special birthday in our family on Friday.  Mike’s baby brother turned 50!!!  Tomorrow, our niece Stephanie turns 24; and on the 27th  the latest addition to the family turns 1.  We wish all a very happy birthday and hope that everyone enjoys their day.

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A visit to Carara National Park

Yesterday was spent at Carara National Park.  We got up, packed a lunch; and headed out the door shortly after 11 am.

We walked down to the highway; and luckily for us; there was a bus just a few feet up.  There is some road construction going on; and the bus was in a stopped line.  Worked out perfectly.

We spent roughly 20 minutes on the bus; and got to see some new parts of Costa Rica.  We had one quick stop in a small town; and it gave us a chance to see how the locals live.

This is when you realize how good we have it at home.  Even some of the poorest homes in Canada or the States are in better shape than a lot of what we saw.  Will definitely have to go back; get off the bus; and wander for a few hours.

We arrived at Carara National Park just before noon; paid our admission, got our map; and away we went for our first Costa Rican rain forest hike.  We had heard about this place; and the draw of lots of monkeys, plus a roosting site for macaws was definitely the main reason for going.

It was a pretty humid day to begin with; and within minutes of walking on the trail; we were both soaked.  Good thing that I bought a new bandana to help stop the sweat from pouring into my eyes.

The foliage was beautiful; very lush and green.  Reminded me of being in the Avenue of the Giants in California; or of being in Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island, BC; and of the Achafalyan Basin in Louisiana. 

The huges trees in this park weren’t giant redwoods or cedars, but cypress trees and cashew trees.  Some of the roots along the trails were really high.  And standing next to some of the trees, you looked and felt pretty small. 

There were also tons of leaf cutter ant colonies.  And watching these critters in action is something else.  Walking along the trail you would see the ants, carrying leaves heading in one direction.  Some of these would be up to 6 inches deep; and the width of the trail.  Some of their nests were right up to the trail; and others were quite a way into the bush.  We must have seen at least a couple of dozen colonies in action; and it was pretty cool to watch.

The reason for heading to the park was of course to see the monkeys and macaws; but the total for monkeys in the park was 0; the total for macaws in the park was 0; the total for macaws outside the park; while waiting for a bus to take us home was 3.

Other than the ants, we also saw a lizard basking in the sun.  We’ve seen more macaws from our balcony than we did there.  But the hike was still nice and we enjoyed it.

Hopefully there’s more wildlife at Manuel Antonio, which were hoping to see by the end of this week.

We were both pretty tuckered out when we got home; and really really sweaty!  So needless to say, after each having a nice long shower; it was a pretty quiet evening.  In fact, I was in bed by 9:30.  Guess the 4 km long hike through a really humid rain forest just knocked it out of me. 

And although it's a day early, Mike and I want to wish my Dad a very happy birthday for tomorrow!  Hope that he has many more; and enjoys his day in Florida - Love you Dad!

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New Years in Jaco

It’s hard to believe that the first week of 2011 is already done.  Where does the time go? 

During the week between Christmas and New Years, there were an awful lot of fireworks being shot off on a nightly basis.  We wondered a few times what New Years was going to be like. 

We ended up seeing one of the best and longest fireworks displays… ever!  Shortly after dark, which was about 6 pm the fireworks started.  We couldn’t see all of them, but you could certainly hear them. 

At 11 pm, we watched the ball being dropped from Times Square.  And about 11:50 we headed upstairs to watch the ever increasing booms in the night sky. 

Didn’t matter which direction you looked; there were fireworks being shot off.  And when midnight struck - holy moly!  Never saw or heard that many being shot off at once.  We had a really nice view of two displays that were going off at the same time; and both were non-stop for a good 45 minutes or more. 

We headed to bed shortly after 1 am and were jostled awake a few times with more going off; and the last time Mike heard one, his watch read 5:15 am.  Guess Tico’s really like their fireworks; and love having a reason to shoot them off.

Years ago, I had an opportunity to watch the Benson and Hedges Symphony of Fire on the Toronto lakefront.  Until this recent display, that was the best fireworks that I had seen; but New Years in Jaco, Costa Rica topped it by a long shot!  It wasn’t a fancy choreographed production; but the length and the amount were amazing.  At least 15 - 20 displays being shot off at the same time; and that was only the ones that we could see.  Both mountains surrounding us; were lit up from the far side.  It was an amazing sight to see.

This past week; has mostly been spent lazing around the pool.  Now that it’s empty again.  Three times during the holidays we headed over, to look down and see 15 or more people.  Much more enjoyable when it’s just us.

On Tuesday, we headed down to the beach; and watched another spectacular sunset.  Strolled along the beach and then to Lemon Zest for some crème boulee; but unfortunately they didn’t have any. 

We then caught a cab; and when stepping up and in, I experienced one of the worst Charlie horses that I’ve ever had!  I had this excruciating pain rip through my right calf; and within seconds, also in my left one!  Ouch!!!  It’s a good thing our cab driver understood enough English; cause it made me yell out in pain; and he might have thought I was crazy or something. 

As a result of this, it’s been a quiet past week.  Other than hanging at the pool and out on our balcony.  You never know what you’re going to see out there.  Along with a slew of beautiful birds, we’ve had a hand glider, a helicopter and recently, a colony of leaf cutter ants.  We been entertained for a few hours, watching these amazing little critters destroy a couple of big leaves in a mere few hours.  I’ve got some pretty good shots of this.

And this morning, I was woken by a torrential downpour.  You couldn’t see the mountains, or hear anything except for the rain.  And just when you think it’s raining harder then you’ve ever heard, it rained even harder.  Lasted for roughly 3 hours; but by the time we got up it was over. 

At this time, we want to wish all of our family and friends a great new year.  Happy New Years one and all!

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