Back in April of 2019, my very generous BFF Nicky invited me to join her on a trip to Costa Rica as she won a bid to stay a the beautiful GAIA hotel near the Manuel Antonio National Park. Costa Rica has always been on my bucket list. We only had 6 days so just got a taste but its definitely a country a want to visit again.
Since I was coming off NAB in Las Vegas, we met up at the airport. We had a wonderful drive through the mountains to get to our hotel which is located in the Central Pacific region of Costa Rica. The views from the hotel were magnificent! We really enjoyed the sunset ever night.
For the first day of activities, we woke up early as we had a tour of the Manuel Antonio National Reserve and had to be there when it opened to see the wildlife. Our guide was fabulous and knew exactly where to find the animals. Our first sighting —- the SLOTH. Of course, it was sleeping. Can you see it in the photo below? Our guide had a telescope which allowed me to take a close up photo! We found sloths to be quite common in the neighborhood but always sleeping in the trees.
Next, we went looking for the monkeys that live in the reserve. The reserve is home to 3 types of monkeys: The white faced capuchin (which if very common), the elusive howler and the endangered squirrel monkey which only weigh about 1.5 pounds. We were told by our guide that we will have to be very lucky to see the howler and the squirrel monkey but we saw all three! We heard the howlers while doing the walk but didn’t see one until the end of the walk. We saw the squirrel monkeys but they are so small and fast that it was very hard to take a photo!
What makes Manuel Antonio Park special as the trail leads to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Of course, its a hike but wow the beach was gorgeous.
On the walk back we saw some birds and also saw a white faced capuchin mom and baby
For the next few days at the hotel, we went to the local beach a few times which is on the pacific ocean so the water was cold, went on a snorkeling trip where I got a bad case of sunburn and took a boat ride through the mangroves. There is so much to do in Costa Rica and the people are just wonderful.
For our snorkeling trip, after each snorkeling tour, the boat took us to an island for lunch and snacks. The first island we visited was home to a ranch with horses and a great swimming beach. The second island had black sand beach. Since we were on the pacific side, the snorkeling was OK. I’ve heard snorkeling on the Caribbean side is amazing!
For our last couple of days in Costa Rica, we stayed at the capital of San Jose and took a coffee farm tour. The weather in Costa Rica was much cooler and pleasant. We went to the Britt Coffee plant which is a famous coffee bean maker in Costa Rica. Given we didn’t have a lot of time, we did not visit the farm deep in the mountains but where their processing center where they taught us the process of making coffee from a bean to brewed cup of coffee! I learned to never use boiling water to make coffee. Who knew?
The trip was fabulous and way to short. I am very thankful and lucky to have friends like Nicky who love to travel and share the experience. Can’t wait to travel again once this pandemic subsides.