We have booked a private tour to Manuel Antonio National Park through Freddy and promptly at 7 am Ronald appears in a 10 passenger van. He will be our guide and driver for the day.
As we drive south on Highway 34, I explain that we did not have time for breakfast. Ronald has a solution - a bakery in the town of Perrita. Perfect! We each pick up some savory pies and off we go.
About 90 minutes after we leave Playa Hermosa we arrive at Quepos, the gateway city to Manual Antonio National Park. Ronald expertly parks the van and proceeds to pull out his spotting scope while the rest of us load backpacks with waters from the cooler. We walk a few blocks to meet up with the ticket and entrance line. It takes about 15 minutes and we are in. We are not 100 feet into the park when Ronald stops by some banana plants and pulls out his scope. Hidden in the leaves are some bats!
As we drive south on Highway 34, I explain that we did not have time for breakfast. Ronald has a solution - a bakery in the town of Perrita. Perfect! We each pick up some savory pies and off we go.
About 90 minutes after we leave Playa Hermosa we arrive at Quepos, the gateway city to Manual Antonio National Park. Ronald expertly parks the van and proceeds to pull out his spotting scope while the rest of us load backpacks with waters from the cooler. We walk a few blocks to meet up with the ticket and entrance line. It takes about 15 minutes and we are in. We are not 100 feet into the park when Ronald stops by some banana plants and pulls out his scope. Hidden in the leaves are some bats!
In describing what we would do for the day Ronald said we would walk an hour to an hour and a half to the beach, depending upon what we spot along the way. It actually takes us over two hours to reach the beach. We have a great time seeing sloths, colorful grasshoppers, a huge caterpillar, red crab, frog, iguana, spiders, a special kind of lizard and various birds and monkeys. If we didn't have Ronald with his skills and spotting scope we probably would have only seen the iguana, some birds and some monkeys. We are so happy that we decided to hire him over renting cars and doing the park ourselves (which was our original plan).
We rest and play for an hour at the beach and the start our walk out of the park. Along the way we see raccoons, monkeys and birds, even a toxic tree!
We're all starving and quickly agree to go to El Avion for lunch. In addition to great food and a good view it distinguishes itself with a complete old US cargo plane. The margaritas and cervezas go down easy. As we leave we have one more gift of nature. In the tree near the van there are two sloths and one is quite active making his way around the trees. So we take another 15 minutes to watch them.
The ride home is where Paul and William appreciate Ronald even more. If we would have been on our own they would be driving back. Instead they can put their heads back and relax.
Ronald drops us off around 4 pm, with enough time for a quick nap and a dip in the pool before sunset. This has truly been a memorable day, made even more special because it was shared as a family.
Ronald drops us off around 4 pm, with enough time for a quick nap and a dip in the pool before sunset. This has truly been a memorable day, made even more special because it was shared as a family.
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