Quepos - Costa Rica - Day 3

We just got back from a guided tour of the Manuel Antonio Park which is one of the highlights of this area of Costa Rica. It is a small national park with only 1700 acres, of which only 5% is accessible to the public. We opted for a quided tour by a local naturalist, which really paid off. He carried a telescope with him and was able to show us things we would never have noticed. We saw some Howler monkeys and some white faced monkeys. We were also fortunate to see both species of sloths that inhabit the park; the two toed and the three toed. The sloths were high up and pretty much stationary - so not that exciting for the kids to watch.

Yesterday was the local farmer's market day in Quepos. Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. The kids had a shaved ice cone with cherry syrup and condensed evaporated milk poured over it. It was tasty, but a little too sweet for my liking.
In the afternoon we went to the local beach, and I showed the kids how to body surf in the waves. Katie and Tom body surfed non-stop for about two hours and that coupled with getting up at 6:00 a.m. this morning for the tour has their butts dragging a bit this afternoon.

We hope to go back to the beach this afternoon. It is hottest from 12 to 2 so we will try and avoid that time of day. Today we might have another issue as it just started to pour rain. I haven't yet figured out if it is a shower or if it is settling in for a while.

I have attached some our intital photos we have taken. The picture of the grasshopper was taken last night in the cabanna just in front of our unit. It was flying around the lights and then landed. As you may be able to tell from the picture it is quite large, maybe 5 inches long. For some reason Chris and Kate were a little hesitant to get too close to it.

That's all for now.. Hope all is well where you are.

Ian

Quepos Costa Rica - Our first picture posting