For our last day in Costa Rica, we visited Manuel Antonio National Park. Elba, Nilla, and Mario spent the day relaxing on the beach, while Andrea, Alan, and I hiked some of the trails. What was unique about this National Park was the natural exposure to wildlife. There were capuchin monkeys running around a few feet away from us. The locals call them the “white-faced monkeys,” and they are also known for their thievery. In one of the pictures Alan was wearing a baseball cap and got a little too close. Being 6 ft 3 in., he scared the poor primate, who nervously glared as his ball cap. You can see the capuchin monkey’s reaction to his unexpected proximity. Close by, there were also monitor lizards, iguanas, and macaws. We could hear howler monkeys in the distance, and somewhere way up in the canopy there was a sloth or two.Once on the trail, Alan and Andrea began to scavenge the coastline for coconuts, an obsession that began at the genesis of the trip. They found a few fallen coconuts and one of the guides showed us how to quickly crack them open. He explained that there were certain trees to look for (with thick, smooth bark), and on this particular tree we found a knob, which served as a perfect contact point for cracking the coconuts open. We used a pocket knife to create holes on the inner shell.

That night we went back into town to celebrate our last night in Tico Land. We celebrated a successful, adventurous trip with our friends – in particular, we learned on this venture that “Pura Vida” is a wonderful way of life!

For more information, please visit: Manuel Antonio National Park

Cheers! Salud!

NOTE: All blog posts, articles, and photographs are the intellectual and creative property of Melissa J. Koziol. Thank you for reading!