David worked for a short time in San Jose, Costa Rica around 10 years ago. The friendly people and beautiful forests and beaches were so impressive that it was a long term aim to go back to the country with Cathy. We decided to take advantage of being relatively near in order to visit the country during the Christmas break.  After the 3 hour flight from Lima we met Frank and Angela, our friends from Holland, at the airport. We then drove to our destination, Manuel Antonio, on the Pacific central coast.

We rented a small but beautifully situated house overlooking the coast. The house was at the top of about 120 steps but it was well worth the effort getting up them, for the views we had from our balcony. 

Rain Maker river and canopy bridge tour

The guidebook suggested this was the most impressive canopy walkway in Costa Rica so we made the short drive to the start of the walk. The area is a 1500 acre privately owned rainforest reserve located 30 minutes drive from Quepos. Situated in the Fila Chonta Mountain Range, Rainmaker forms part of the Quepos Biological Corridor. This is home to 60% of all the flora and fauna species found in Costa Rica, many of which are under threat or endangered. We looked forward to seeing a great biodiversity of flora and fauna found on the hiking trails.

The trail wound its way through the lush and precipitous forest climbing higher and higher until we reached a series of impressive suspension bridges. Each bridge was consecutively longer that the others with the longest bridge reaching a span of about 300ft. The views from the bridges down into the dense rain forest were really impressive.

Our tour left at about 10:30 in the morning so we were a bit late to see many of the endangered bird species that the reserve is famous for. However we did see tree frogs, reptiles and a very impressive stick ( or should it be log) insect.

We had a truly memorable day - highly recommended.

Manuel Antonio National Park

Costa Rica's smallest national park packs an impressive collection of natural attractions: lots of wildlife, rain forest, white sand beaches and rocky coves. The forest is dominated by the massive ficus and gumbo-limbo trees and is home to the two and three-toed sloth, green and black iguanas, snakes, agoutis, four species of monkey and 200 species of birds.

It is also the most visited attraction in Costa Rica so it is no undiscovered wilderness.

Monkeys are undoubtedly the superstars of the park. It is impossible to tour the park without seeing at least the white throated monkey. The howler and squirrel monkeys are a lot more elusive. As well as monkeys we also saw the impressive Boa and Bushmaster snakes hanging about in trees near the paths.

Around the house

The house had such a wonderful location with panoramic views of the forest and sea on three sides of it. Consequently we spent most mornings and late afternoons sat on the veranda watching the abundant wildlife and later in the afternoon sipping cocktails as the sun set magnificently into the Pacific. Over 30 species of bird were spotted and identified from the field guide, as well a squirrel and white throated and squirrel monkeys. The howler monkeys woke us up every morning at dawn but we didn't see them as they are more elusive.  

A Latin style New Year Eve celebration was had at the Jazz Zone. Music was provided by a Cuban dance band who played a selection of Salsa favourites. Plenty of dancing was a great way to start 2008. 

The club also has some great posters of the jazz greats and David managed to take some photos of the posters of his favourite artists. A prize to anyone who can name the musicians in the photos.