Walked approximately 2km to Manuel Antonio national park. Temperature I guess about 30 degrees C and near 100% humidity. Quite sticky. Queued for a ticket ( usual rip-off, 16 dollars for foreigners, 1 dollar 60 cents for locals) then queued to get in. It is the smallest of the national parks and perversely the most popular.
Trails are short but in these conditions quite taxing. They are well constructed and maintained, albeit sometimes with a brutalism which ill reflects the setting. The redeeming feature is the provision of potable water taps without which despite carrying 2 litres of water we would have had to curtail our visit.
Animals were mostly restricted to monkeys although armies of guides with Carl Zeiss spotterscopes were enthusing to their clients about barely visible organisms in the treetops.
We followed one trail to a dried up waterfall, more of a water trickle, then hit the beach.
The beach is why most people visit the park. It is a sheltered cove on the leeward side of the tombolo where the water is warm and relatively tranquil. We found a spot guarded by an old iguana, although still had to fend off the predations of bandit raccoons.
After lunch we walked the trail around the head of the tombolo. All deciduous hardwoods with a few palms, notably a ferocious black palm which I think was the inspiration for pigeon spikes.
When we got back to the beach everyone had disappeared. It was like the Marie Celeste. We walked back to the entrance expecting to be thrown into jail for being in the park after closing time, but the gates were open and we just walked out. Very strange.
The sun set as we walked along the beach to get back to the hotel. It was beautiful.
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