Monkey conquistador

Everyone in Costa Rica that we have met in the service industry has monumental plans.  Our last driver, Tony, who brought along the totally unauthorized passenger on our “private” transfer, also happens to have a PhD in Biology from a university in Florida and he, much like our original driver, Bill, plans a multimillion dollar conglomerate of tours stretching from Panama to Nicaragua.

In a similar fashion, we headed into Manuel Antonio Natinal Park with Manuel of Manuel’s Tours. I’d found him on TripAdvisor and he picked us up at our hotel, loaded all of our belongings into his backpack, and walked us into the park.  Here’s Manual and Ron heading off down the path:

Had it just been Ron and I on the trail, I am confident that we would have spied the giant Morpho butterfly on our own. We also, I guess, would have been able to identify the raccoon that ran up to a bag Ron was carrying later on in the day, piercing it in numerous places.  By contrast, with the help of Manuel, we were able to see numerous sloths, squirrel monkeys, capuchins, howlers, bats, a viper, deer, the raccoons, lots of lizards, an unusual hawk that got Manuel really excited and some cute little mammal that I can’t recall the name of.

More importantly, the Costa Rican government has banned food in the park and so the monkeys that used to line the path, dropping down to steal food and intimidate, are much better behaved and I walked fearlessly…okay, nearly fearlessly…through the park this time. Here’s a few of the monkeys we saw.  They were just a few feet from us:

Manuel was kind enough to watch our stuff so we could go in the ocean in the park at the end of our hike.  I was at this beach 10 years ago and it’s just as beautiful now – I’ve never forgotten it and I was so happy to be back:

After I GOT COMPLETELY INTO THE OCEAN (see Mom? I did it!!), we had a chance to stand around and chat with Manuel as we dried off.  Manuel works with National Geographic for some sort of touring but I didn’t totally understand what.  I really seldom understand 100% of what I’m told when I’m traveling.  I don’t really think it has much of an impact on my experience but perhaps the accuracy of this blog suffers.

But it was impressive sounding.  Manuel’s focus is photos.  He carries with him an enormous Swarovski magnifying lens of some sort, which is on a large tripod, and he walks the park trails using antennae that I know are there but I cannot see.  He’ll stop suddenly, plop that massive thing down, focus it in 2 seconds and wave me over to see.  Then, he’ll take my cell phone, hold it up to the Swarovski, and make me a video just like you’d see on the National Geo channel and he’ll even narrate it.

Manuel’s plan for his business started with climbing to the top ten on TripAdvisor, which he accomplished in 2017.  Now he’s aiming for top five, he’s updating the payment platform on his website AND, his big idea is to be the first guide that provides EACH of his tour members with their very own $3200 Swarovski lens, which would require an outlay of over $30,000. I really feel quite complacent compared to these people.

We saw nearly as much wildlife at our hotel here.  The Byblos hotel is crawling with monkeys, agoutis and there’s even scarlet macaws in the trees.  From our deck, there are at least 15 monkeys flying around the trees at all times.  It’s really quite spectacular and I would recommend this $100 per night spot to you without hesitation as long as you are comfortable with a hotel that has plenty of running water but cannot seem to heat any of it.  Oh sure, we complained to the front desk and they came to look at it.  They came in, declared we had hot water and left.  But of course we did not.

We’re headed back to the airport in the morning.  The food tally for our 7 nights is 3 pizza nights, 3 pasta nights and one chicken nuggets and fries. I’m sure you’re all horrified but at least give me credit for owning up to it.

I was served corn in a pasta sauce, on a salad and it was hidden in a salad at a buffet line once. More troubling is that, even though I had Italian food almost every night, I was served rice and beans each day. Please explain why it is a breakfast food.  Some days it was served to me twice….breakfast and lunch.  Is it rude to wonder what the fascination is?  Cuisine-wise, it’s hard to say if I like Costa Rica less or China less but at least I can eat the produce here.

Costa Rica is pretty amazing.  Small, wily, peaceful and resourceful on a continent that struggles with poverty, violence and crime. It’s impressive to see how much this government and country do with so little.  The standard of living is definitely lower than in the US but the standards FOR living are just as high.  Costa Rican are so proud and happy and are living proof that, on some level, the less you have, the more you’re willing to get as much as you can from it.  These people recycle, conserve energy, limit water usage and protect their animals.  They’re friendly, genuinely glad we’re here and happy to show off their land.

I’m US bound until June, when we head to Budapest and Krakow. Talk to you all then. Here’s our view at dinner tonight: