Manuel Antonio National Park

On Friday we went to Manuel Antonio National Park.  Although it was way overcrowded with tourists we manged to see some beautiful wildlife.  We saw three-toed sloths, all kinds of iguanas, white-faced capuchin monkeys, a coatimundi (the raccoon, monkey, bear mix mammal we also saw in Uvita), frogs, crabs, and lots of butterflies.

"That frog looks like asparagus!" -Cal

Two of the sloths were up in the trees but one walked across the trail immediately in front of us!  It moved slowly and awkwardly dragging its belly on the ground.  It was reaching out with its long weird arms and folding and unfolding its legs as it went.  It was incredible and amazing to see it so close.  We were also surprised to see that the pattern of the fur on the sloths back looks just like an animal's face.  It has the same shape and coloring, but the stripe is vertical not horizontal, like the sloth's face.

See the face?

The monkeys were hanging out in the trees along the beach.  Unfortunately they were close to the tourists and they were snatching food and drinks when given the chance.  One of the monkeys stole a banana and another was drinking from a juice box (which we all hoped it didn't eat and swallow the plastic afterwards.)  It was pretty pathetic to see how many tourists thought it was funny to let the monkeys steal their food so they could snap a picture.

Danny visited this park about 22 years ago and it sure has changed.  In that area before there were no large hotels, no tour guides, no trinket shops all over the place, just beautiful white sand beaches and hiking paths through the jungle to see monkeys, birds, and other animals.  It felt a lot less wild this time around but we were still happy to see the animals we did.

This picture reminds me of (the muppet) Rolf the Dog