Manuel Antonio National Park tour

​The breakfast buffet was adequate although not the best of the 3 so far; made to order omelette station after a morning treadmill run felt well deserved and the Al fresco seating with the family overlooking the ocean made these 3 breakfasts quite memorable. 


Our transport with Manuel’s Manuel Antonio park private guided tour picked us up promptly at 10.20am and took us to the park entrance where we met with our friendly and tall guide Ali with his curly locks ted on a ponytail. With Al’s expert guidance we were able to spot some cool spny tailed iguanas 🦎, sloths hanging out on the tree tops, a snake and cappuccin monkeys. Learning about the behaviors of each of these creatures combined with the anticipation when he adjusted and perched his scope ready for us to view made it all the more fun for the kids and us parents. 

strolling in the national park




The 2 mile walk through the national park introduced us to less than 2% of this habitat, the rest of it is uncharted territory for obvious preservation reasons to avoid any human impact on this unique ecosystem. 





Kahan spotted the tree on the beach with my picture in the Pura vida photo book at home and asked me to recreate it. The beach in the park here is unique with the rainforest so close. 



Manuel Antonio beach


We parted from our guide outside and spent part of the afternoon at the beach in the town with pizza and French fries lunch, Varun-Chinmay enjoyed a few beers 🍻 while Anu and I went hunting for souvenirs. Anu successfully found t-shirts for the kids. 



We hung out at the Parador pool and were excited to have Thanksgiving dinner at Casa Planta, a Matthew Kenney plant based restaurant that Anu had found. The restaurant which was a few tables in a colorful lt space and our outdoor table for eight is at a cute hotel Ugloo beach lodge. The menu wasn’t as extensive as I had expected based on my online search, but the fresh fruit pina colada, patacones appetizers and veggie pizza were delicious nonetheless. Ths was another long laid back meal, like most places in the last few days were- a great exercise in family bonding over a satisfying dinner.





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