love of local in Utah
Manuel Antonio Costa Rica
Everyone told us we need to go to Manuel Antonio National Park when visiting Costa Rica. It’s a national park where you can take a hike and see monkeys, birds, frogs, sloths, etc. in their natural (ha with too many visitors) habitat.
Visiting Manuel Antonio with a 5 year old, 4 year old and 7 month old is much different from going with older kids or just as adults. This is definitely a place we would come back to just as a couple or when our kids are older. But we are still glad we went, because the girls rate it very high on our adventures as a family on this trip.
I would recommend, though, if you are going with little kids to:
#1 NOT hire a tour guide (oh, and boy do they push you). You will kick yourself if you do because it will be a waste of money. They will tell you that you will NOT see anything without one. But really, how about you just stop where the other people are crowded around and look up to see what they see!? Really, you’ll be fine.
#2 Bring a nice camera with a longer lens so your kids can look through it and you can snap some great pictures. You will be able to see the animals a bit better. Sometimes they are far away in the jungle.
#3 When your kids get tired, just turn around and go back to your car. Then take your ticket stubs and drive your car to the exit! Then you can walk around the exit and won’t feel like you missed anything!
Anyway, here are some of our snapshots from the hike:
Trying to catch up with Mommy!!
Poki thought she made the monkeys start howling...so cute
Do you see the sloth? He looks like a ninja!
And my favorite crazy monkeys:
