Manuel Antonio National Park

We think the best way to end a trip is to go to the beach, and Costa Rica has a multitude of choices.  One popular place on the Pacific side is Manuel Antonio National Park where the rain forest comes right down to the ocean.  Like the in the cloud forest, we took a guided tour and saw many animals.

Here is a three-toed sloth, behaving sloth-like.  There are also two-toed sloths in the park, but we didn't get as great a photo of those.

 Manuel Antonio has three kinds of monkeys.  Here's a howler, hiding behind the leaves.

 Here is an adorable ti ti monkey, also known as a squirrel monkey.  They jump long distances from branch to branch.  We even saw some mothers with babies on their backs jumping.

Here are the mean white-faced monkeys, or capuchins. They are all over the beach trying to steal food from your backpack and baring their teeth at you.  

 The park has many iguanas and basilisks.  This is a Jesus Christ lizard.  Here's a little video about this kind of basilisk which can run across the water.

 There are several beaches in the park, but the best one is Manuel Antonio Beach, also called Beach No. 3.  We spent quite a few hours just sitting under a tree and soaking up the warm, moist air and watching all kinds of people.