Costa Rica - Part 5

The final city we went to was Quepos, which meant we were back on the beach! This time it was the Pacific Ocean and the waters were much rougher, but the views were just as beautiful. Besides lounging on the beach we went to the Manuel Antonio National Park. This is Costa Rica's smallest National Park, which makes it very easy to see wildlife. We spotted some sloths, lizzards, and lots of monkeys. This time it was the white faced monkeys which we hadn't seen yet. The monkeys have become accustomed to people and were very close to the beach hoping to snatch some food from the visitors. I was able to get some really close up shots of them. We took a hike up to Cathedral Point which had some great views of the ocean. While on our hike we came across more monkeys in the wild, which felt much more natural. The beaches inside Manuel Antonio were gorgeous as well. Our hotel had a swimming pool so we enjoyed many dips in the pool after retuning from the beach. It was a very relaxing way to end the trip.

Once we were back in San Jose we had a final group dinner and had to say goodbye. Magnus and Jenni headed off the next morning for Honduras. They are continuing their travel for a total of 7 weeks! Right now I believe they are in Canada. Monique was headed home to the Netherlands and is now cheering on the Dutch team in the World Cup. They will face Spain in the finals this Sunday!

Ted, Daniel and I had all arranged to stay in San Jose for an extra day so we decided to go white water rafting again! This time it was on the Pacuare River, which is one of the top 5 rivers in the world to raft on. They picked us up at our hotel and we had about a 2 hour van ride to get to the actual river. The drive was very pretty and took us through the mountains. Rafting on the Pacuare was much different and very cool. The water was faster and higher, which made for some big rapids including four Class 4 sections. Somehow I managed to stay in the boat the whole time! The river took us through some very dense and lush jungle. We spotted many beautiful waterfalls and at one point the water was calm enough to jump in and just float. We all agreed it was the perfect way to end our trip. The next morning I left very early for the airport and arrived in Nashville that afternoon with no complications. I feel very lucky to have gone to Costa Rica and had such a great time while meeting some new friends.
The pictures for Quepos are included in the Monteverde slideshow.