Manuel Antonio had been so bloody hot and long. We walked for 5 hours in the sun, and it was amazing, but we desperately needed refreshing. Our original thought for the afternoon had been to go to Playa Ballena, also called “Whale Tail” because at low tide and from above it looks like a whale’s tail. Johan, our guide, asked what our plans were and we told him and he said “May I ask why? You’re going to drive for an hour, pay your money and then see this beach and go. It isn’t a good beach for hanging out at.” Then he provided a number of alternatives, and the one that caught my ear was the Nauyaca Waterfalls. Because waterfalls are cool, and also because waterfalls are cold.

We hiked for an hour in the heat again, with the loudest blood crickets you’ve ever heard chirping constantly around us. The hike was worth it, these were stunning waterfalls!

There were 2 sets, and the photos are jumbled up so I’m going to caption each one. We started at #1, but didn’t stay long because there was no where to swim – it was just massive, 165ft with boulders at the bottom. #2 was way nicer, with a huge pool at the bottom and only 60ft tall, but oh my god was it amazing to swim in cold water. The ocean is hot, if you remember.

And with that, I think I’m out of photos to post from Costa Rica! I’ve got one “lessons” post that I’m sitting on so I can brainstorm more ideas, and I’m going to collect “The Best Of” to put onto Facebook for people who don’t like blogs, but after that I’m all done with Costa Rica! 😀

We didn’t take that many videos, so here are a smattering of decent ones. If you only watch one, watch the zip lining photo because it’s awesome!

Ziplining: https://vimeo.com/120127795

Hundreds of tiny fish I found while snorkeling in Playa del Coco: https://vimeo.com/120127794

While rafting, the waterfall had fish in it that we were told were relatives of piranhas. Except they didn’t eat meat. They sure enjoyed the pineapple and cookie though: https://vimeo.com/120127793

At the bottom of the first rappel when we went canyoning – the wind is just ripping the water off the rocks! https://vimeo.com/120127792

I just noticed I forgot to post Miranda’s photos from our epic 4x4ing trip. Our unexpected 4x4ing trip, that is.

We’d left Playa del Coco and headed the most direct route that Google Maps could take us. That was a poor idea. Google Maps doesn’t tell you that you’re about to embark on a 2 hour journey along a road that is only populated by motorbikes and horses.

We crossed about 6-7 rivers.

That last one is the view when Miranda opened her door. 2 hours. Wow.

We had a 9 hour layover on our way back, so we stepped out of the airport and rented a car for the afternoon. We went to In’n’Out burger, had frozen yogurt and saw the Phoenix Zoo!

We walked past a “pay extra” exhibit where you got to pet sting rays. Miranda was so excited we had to do it. Also, she had leftover USD to spend. 😛

I love her excited face. 😀 Also, petting sting rays is bad ass!

Long lens to the rescue! These giraffes were a long way away.

This kitty would not sit still, kept pacing back and forth.

I took this photo quickly because this lioness looks like Gypsy with her tongue all waggling about. 🙂

This monkey is my favourite. He’s sitting there, all “whatevs, man”.

And what I think is my last post for today, a few purchased photos from ziplining.

This operator continued to not meet expectations, by providing a CD of photos where at least half the photos were identical to the rest. Dude had his “machine gun” mode on while taking photos, so there’s a stream of the same scenery moved by half a second. As well, they only took photos from 2 of the lines. Maybe 1.

Anyway, the photos are fun!

Miranda accused me of being superserious, and it’s true. Every one of the machine gun photos taken of me here I can’t crack a smile. This photo is the closest I come, and I think it’s because the sun is about to go into my eyes. 😛

These are the last photos of our trip that I have to post on my blog! I’m going to make a “best of” album to post to Facebook for lazy people who hate reading, and I have a few cool videos to share and then we’ll move onto Japan! (…6 weeks until I go to Japan!! :D)

We bought these photos from the company because we were certain they’d be good, and some are just great fun!

This man enjoyed pulling people into waterfalls.

I love this photo. 🙂 She just looks so happy to be tormented. 😛

This one is just before the “monkey drop” where everyone was saying “despacio” lots (which means “slow”) and then they dropped her anyway.

These last two are us going through the big waterfall at the end. It’s one big jump!

Manuel Antonio is another national park (there’s a lot of them). The place is said to be worth the visit, even though it is overrun by people every day.

We were walking up a hill at one point, and I said to the couple with us that I could see as many people in that one spot, as I saw over 4 hours in Monteverde several days earlier. Lots of people here.

We hired a guide, mainly because he was #1 out of 54 in Activities in Manuel Antonio on TripAdvisor. How does a person get to be #1? We found out, this guy was phenomenal. A really personable dude, who had great English, loved to show you the animals and tell you about them. By the end of the trip we were just talking about things, like we’d known each other for months instead of hours. Johan Chavez. Solid dude.

Monkey!

I took a photo of this spider, and it was until Johan was looking at my LCD that he noticed that there is a second spider on her underside just between her top-most legs. Apparently her husband, he was being used for energy for their offspring. As in, he was dead or dying.

This bug is hilarious looking.

SLOTHS!!

Johan had a spotting scope that went up to 800x magnification. The best part was that you could put your phone up to the looking lens and take a photo through the lens. 🙂 These last few were taken like that.

We booked a rafting tour near Quepos, on the Savegre river. It was a class 2-3 river, which according to the wikipedia article on rafting classes should be enough fun and excitement for me, and enough moments of peace and calm for Miranda. She was quoted as saying “ok, I could do a little more…” at which point the river exploded into the most exciting part of it. 😀

This was a super fun tour, taken with Rio Tropicales. It was us, another couple who were tons of fun to hang out with, and one guide on a little raft.

We stopped at a waterfall for a snack. This was a fun waterfall, but we had been at a cooler one the day before (which I haven’t posted photos of yet…)…not that we were comparing waterfalls…because they’re all super cool.

I climbed the rocks. I was told “no falling”.

We hopped out and floated for a bit.

Floating is srs bsns. 😀

Rafting selfie!!

Alright, I’m onto posting photos that I didn’t want to process while I was away. 🙂

We tried to go to Monteverde while we were in La Fortuna. The geography seemed good. Until we Google Mapped it, and asked a local, and it turns out it was 3.5-4 hours away. There was a volcano in the way.

After we found Santa Teresa not to our liking, we quickly booked a place to stay (Monteverde Rustic Lodge, not rustic, but gorgeous) and drove and ferried to it. We really enjoyed Santa Elena as a town, and Monteverde was majestic. Stunning.

I feel as though this photo is of a kid staring up in wonder.

The “advertising photo” of Monteverde. 🙂

Just a great close up of some greenery.

“Danger”…of what?

This is a very large bug.

The continental divide!

Lots of places had hummingbird galleries. 7 hummingbirds in one photo, total win.

I got one to land on my hand! It’s easy. They hover while drinking from the sugar water…if you hold your hand really still before this, you can slowly raise your hand up and the bird will stand on your hand instead of flying away!

Miranda is so adorable! Also, terrified. 🙂

Blogging from my desk is so much easier. Except that adding captions to photos you need to add them to all the photos, or they “jump” to the top…ah well.