Manuel Antonio National Park and the Last Day in Costa Rica

¡Buenas noches!

We have had a couple of busy days! Yesterday we spent the day at the Manuel Antonio National Park, which possesses stunning beaches on the Pacific Ocean and a variety of trails to explore.

The view of one of the beaches at the national park.

While exploring the trails, we found many animals native to Costa Rica, including the white-faced monkey, a sloth, and iguanas. We certainly had plenty of interactions with pesky raccoons as well!

A closeup of a white-faced monkey.

Un perezoso (sloth).

The only bad news from our second-to-last day was the outbreak of a stomach virus in our group. It started with poor Jenna, and now roughly half of the travelers are suffering from indigestion, nausea, and, in my case, a fever and chills.

Today, our last day in Costa Rica, a few of us woke up to enjoy the sunrise at the beach at our hotel. The views were magnificent! After breakfast, we traveled for many hours to San José, with stops at a Costa Rican high school, tourist shops, and Sarchi for lunch. It was a long and painful trip for many of the travelers!

The sunrise at the beach.It was low tide, so the exposed wet sand beautifully reflected the colors of the sky.

Once we arrived in San José, many of us attended the optional excursion for a "folkloric night" with traditional food, dance, and music. The kids had a great time, and they also had a chance to dance themselves before and after the performance. The restaurant where this occurred was on the top of a hill overlooking the city of San José, the capital of Costa Rica.

The view of San José.

Siera, Kim, and Lauren enjoying the view.

The tradiontal dance and music performance.

At one point, Becca and Kim even had the opportunity (albeit forced) to join in!

A  picture of the folkloric group outside of the restaurant.

Tomorrow, we head to the airport at seven for our long day of traveling. We will be back to Vermont around 9:30 pm! However, as we all know well, anything can happen to our itinerary...

Hasta mañana,

Señor Thurber