Siesta Time - Happy Friday

After class and lunch we take a nap #thegoodlife 

Our Last Day at Manuel Antonio

On Sunday we are breakfast early, and left for the Manuel Antonio National Park. This park holds some of Costa Ricas diverse animals. The park was basically like a forest with a walkway through the middle. Without binoculars it was difficult to spot some of the animals but we did see a Three toed sloth! Also, we saw some red-eyed bats which were pretty cool.

Without binoculars it was difficult to spot some of the animals but we did see a Three toed sloth! Also, we saw some red-eyed bats which were pretty cool.

 

Random crab we saw

At the end of the park, there was another smaller beach which was just as beautiful. There were monkeys on this beach too. They were grabbing bags off of the visitors' beach towels, and herd of 5 or more raccoons were stealing food from everyone.

It was really hot outside (around 97 degrees), so we decided to buy a coconut after the long walk. It was seriously the sweetest coconut we had ever tasted.

YUMM 

Bahia Ballena

Our day started quite early. We woke up at 6, and headed to breakfast buffet at 7am. Right after, we left for Bahia Ballena, which was 45 min away. We went to Bahia Ballena for a whale watching tour. In Spanish, ballena means whale. It is really cool because an aerial view of the beach shows how the beach is shaped like the tail of a whale.

Dolphins right near our boat! 

Even though there are so many tourists that come to visit the beach, it was really clean and the waters were bright blue and green. Even though we visited Bhai Ballena off season, we were lucky to spot whales and dolphins from our boat. The whales were so close! They were only 3 feet away. Our tour guide said that the mother whale was teaching its child how to swim and flip.If we really wanted to, we could have thrown our hands outside and touched the dolphins. There were so many dolphins in one area.

 
The head of the baby whale shooting out of the water

After watching the whales and dolphins, we went snorkeling near a volcanic rock. There were not too much coral, but there were some blue fish underneath. 

Our last stop on the boat was a natural cave formed by the rocks. It was pretty big; a boat could easily pass through the cave. 

We arrived back at our hotel around 3 pm and spent the rest of the day enjoying the waters of Manuel Antonio beach. 

1st Day of our 1st Excursion

Last Friday, after Spanish class, we left for the beach Manuel Antonio around 1 pm. We had an amazing weekend planned out by CEA, the program that we came with. First we stopped at a bridge that goes over Tracooles River, which is famous for it's crocodiles.

There were around 10-15 crocodiles lounging in the sun just under the bridge. The guide told us that when a crocodile has his or her mouth wide open it is regulating its body temperature. We had never seen so many crocodiles in one area!


Then we finally got to Manuel Antonio, and as we walked out of the bus, we were hit by the intense heat. We weren't expecting it to be so hot because San Jose is around 75 degrees usually, but Manuel Antonio was 90 degrees! The hotel was nice, with a pool and wifi, so we were happy.

First day at the hotel in Manuel Antonio

When we arrive at the hotel, we were greeted by a bunch of super cute monkeys. So we spent a good 20 min. running around trying to feed the monkeys.

 Then we rushed to the beach, which was only a 2 minute walk from the hotel, to watch the sunset. Luckily we reached just in time to watch the sunset. The sky was beautiful. We were surprised at how fast the sun set. It was less than 3 minutes.

It was even more beautiful in person

After sunset, we browsed the shops on the beach and then ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant.