1. The Color Green - There’s a good explanation for calling it the green season.  With the first showers of Invierno (winter), the Costa Rica landscape explodes from leafless parched earth of Verano (summer) to colorful buds and green leaves.  As I watch daily from my terrace I see whole villages disappear before my eyes, shrouded behind thick masses of green.  Leaves the size of Volkswagens.  I agree to the exchange of view for privacy and shade.

2. Quiet Lonely Beaches – Fewer tourists seem to think of Costa Rica for their own summer vacation so you’ll have the place to yourself.  You can walk Carrillo Beach in the morning without passing more than a handful of locals and their dogs.  You can drive up and down the coast from Casa Mango and Casa Papaya to find a number of isolated beaches where you’ll feel like you’ve discovered heaven.  Stop off at an apparently closed soda (café) and you’ll be treated to a hand-cooked delicious meal.  There’ll be no lines at the bank machine.  And you won’t need a reservation to rent a motorbike or quad.

3. Free parking – During the high season, and especially Christmas and Easter, traffic can be maddening.  But during your northern summer months, we have plenty of parking here in Sámara.
4. Rain – No I mean it.  We love rain and we get it in all forms.  Light mists cool the afternoons. Showers in the evening.  And big lightning storms at night with sometimes torrential downpours .  Fascinating and frightening at the same time, as we watch them come in from the ocean.  Mornings are usually clear and sunny so we get our beach in early.  Then head for the Rancho or a beach bar when it starts to cloud up.
5. Adventure – As you explore the back roads of the Nicoya Peninsula, you’ll have to cross at least one river, especially along the beach road.  As the creeks and rivers flow out of the mountains behind the beach, there just aren’t enough bridges.  When we come to crossing, my job is to walk across first so Steve can judge the depth.  Anything less than 8 inches is easy enough.  More than that, we wait for someone else to go first and show us the way . . . . or not.
6. River floats – You can’t do this in the dry season.  When local rivers are full, a kayak float makes for a relaxing afternoon.  Better than a motorized boat tour, it’s another great way to see loads of animals that live near the water’s edge.
7. Cooler temperatures – The dry Verano really heats up in March.  With the rain comes higher humidity and cooler temperatures.  Sometimes I even need a blanket at night.  But just one and only between 3 and 6 in the morning.
8. Happy Animals  - The parrots chatter right through the rain.  The monkeys are thrilled by the change in weather and seem to want everyone to know.  In spite of the thick leaves, we see a lot more birds and animals around the houses and on the beach.
9. Butterflies – Moths and butterflies love July.  What more can I say?  They’re everywhere.
10. No dust – Even thought the roads are paved door to door from both airports to Casa Mango and Casa Papaya, many other roads are not.  If you do much exploring of the peninsula, you’ll appreciate a wet road and lack of dust.

Lavae Aldrich is the owner of Casa Mango and Casa Papaya in Playa Samara.

The eight beaches that make Costa Rica proud in this year’s polling results:

• Manuel Antonio – first place
• Samara Beach – 2nd place
• Playa Guiones – 4th place
• Playa Santa Teresa – 5th place
• Playa Avellanas – 6th place
• Playa Conchal – 7th place
• Playa Hermosa Papagayo – 8th place
• Puerto Viejo – 9th place

Manuel Antonio voted top beach in Central America by travelers polled in 2013

Playa Conchal was ranked 7th in 2013 Travelers’ Choice

Playa Guiones in Nosara won 4th place among Central American top 10 beaches

Samara Beach did so well to be voted 2nd best beach in Central America

Playa Hermosa in Papagayo made it into the top ten beaches with the 8th place

Puerto Viejo was ranked 9th in the top 10 Central American beaches

Playa Santa Teresa was named 5th by TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Award

Playa Avellanas emerges as the 6th best beach according to Tripadvisor’s travelers

Renting a vacation home in Costa Rica

By Marcel Evans July 31, 2012 Costa Rica News at news.co.cr

Here below are things you should consider before selecting a home. A PLACE OF YOUR OWN Like anything else related to lodging, home rental is an option that works best in certain circumstances. It’s best for large groups and multiple families, although a couple with one or two children will have fun in a nice private residence.

It is also best for stays of five days or longer. Most rentals require a minimum three-night stay and in peak season it can be as long as five. Most homes are well stocked with all of the utensils, linens and paper goods you will need. They will usually even have some basic nonperishable food items such as cooking oil and seasonings.

1) Please make sure you know where the closest shopping center or supermarket is and open hours. In Costa Rica if you land after 8 pm in Liberia you will not have supermarkets open at that time so it is better you request a grocery shopping delivered to your home or private residence.

2) Especially when you don’t rent a car and you have transportation set up, please make sure you have restaurants walking distance or restaurants that can delivered food to your home. If the idea of preparing meals on vacation is a buzz-kill in the highest degree, then stick with a hotel. START WITH A PLAN Once you have decided where you are going on your vacation, it’s time to hit the listings.

3) Keep in mind that Costa Rica is a small country, however there are many different activities and a large selection of traveled destinations they have depending what you are looking to do: Relaxing, Surfing, Snorkeling, Diving, Fishing, Exploring, Hiking and more. For instance Playa Grande during High Season is the best destination to look for turtles Las Baulas on the beach and waves are not huge and good for everyone. Choose from detached family homes, townhomes, condos or apartment, depending on the size of the group.

4) The most desirable (and affordable) homes are booked early – satisfied customers will make an annual trek to the same place – so to get going at least three months ahead. You will need to know exactly how many adults and children will be staying. Some contracts even ask for each guest’s name and age.

5) Think about what you will be doing on this vacation. Will you be out of the house sightseeing all day? Do you have elderly parents or very young children who will need special care? There are many nice and wonderful locations in Costa Rica, but in case you are travelling with people who needs special care you need to make sure they can have assistance in case they need it. Pharmacy nearby, clinic, hospital. Are the bedrooms upstairs or downstairs? Are there many stairs to get in the house?

Bathrooms are accessible? Do showers have steps?If you are doing a family reunion, you can check on our site or ask Sabrina the list of the perfect Family Reunion homes. If you are travelling with your 80 years old grandmother, you don’t want to have her sleep on the sofa for the entire stay. Are children of all ages welcome? Also the location makes a big different you don’t want to have your children spend a vacation in Costa Rica during rainy season in a house with no swimming pool.

Is it a non-smoking/allergen-free (no pets) home? Or alternatively, are pets allowed? How close are attractions, restaurants and grocery stores? Are they reachable on foot or do you have to drive? Are there enough bathrooms? How many guests can the dining room accommodate? What about outdoor seating? What is the security/cleaning deposit and what are the rules for getting it back?

6) Price. The nice thing about rentals is that very often the price is negotiable. While hotels will sometimes upgrade your room or run specials, with rentals it’s all about a deal to be made between renter and owner. So ask if the price is negotiable. You are in a better position if the booking date is just around the corner and the owner is “motivated.”

7) Photos. When it comes time to make a decision, the property with the most photos wins. Nothing sells a rental like great photos, of every room if possible. If you see six different views of the distant ocean from the second floor deck — and nothing else — then you have either a clueless homeowner or a very unattractive house. Many listing sites allow a dozen or more photos.

8) Amenities. Often a family, and especially multiple families, will want more than one TV. Are there instructions for using the DVD player? Is there an iPod player? Are any of the games (such as a billiard table) off limits to kids? Is there WiFi access and if so, is the access code listed conspicuously?

9) Exact Location, Neighborhood. If you are renting near the beach, a great deal of criticism in home reviews is not about the home itself but of misinterpretation of what “a short walk” is — especially with beach chairs, coolers and kids.

10) Contact numbers: The manager or home owner and cell number; a repair office if something goes wrong; local police, fire and hospital; and perhaps a friendly neighbor or two. “When I stay in a hotel, I want to get out of that hotel,” says vacation home renter Jennifer Nielsen of Palo Alto, Calif. “When staying at a (house), it’s much more relaxed and feels like home.”

Submitted Photo Brandon Wesneski works at a school building a garden during an alternative spring break program in Costa Rica. Also in the photo are Chelsey Schoch, Kattya Lomel and Christine Mencer.

By Eric Hrin, staff writer at The Daily Review- April 10, 2013

College student Brandon Wesneski recently had a different kind of spring break.

And it makes him thankful for things that Americans take for granted.

Wesneski, who is from Canton and is a senior at Wilkes University, will graduate in May, and will attend law school in the fall.

From March 2 through March 9, he took part in the Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program, which he said has been in place at Wilkes University for a number of years. Wesneski spent time in Costa Rica.

“It allows students to go on community service trips at a decent cost, rather than going on a more traditional break,” he explained about the program. “The cost is off balanced by fund raising that we do. There are usually four different trips, two domestic and two international. This year the trips included Joplin (Mo.), New Orleans, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. Each trip is slightly different, but the goal is to help out in some way those that are less fortunate, whether it be because of natural disasters destroying their homes or more generally because it is a developing nation in need of a little help.”

Wesneski said he got involved with the program because of his professor, Dr. Andrew P. Miller, assistant professor of political science, who has taught him classes such as international law and others on Latin American economic development.

“Dr. Miller sparked my interest in Latin America, so I figured what better way to put what I have learned in class into some context, so I chose to apply to go on the Costa Rica trip,” Wesneski said.

Ten students, including juniors and seniors, went to a small town in Costa Rica called San Marcos, which Wesneski said is in the mountains, about two hours west of the capital, San Jose.

“As part of this trip I took a class that focused on the importance of coffee in this region,” he explained.

He said that a couple days of the trip consisted of learning about the coffee processes and “actually getting out in the fields to pick the coffee fruit, most commonly known in Costa Rica as ‘grano de oro’ (grain of gold).”

“Really, coffee is the backbone of the Costa Rican economy,” Wesneski said. “We spent a day in the fields picking the coffee in some pretty hot weather. The experience was meant to show us how difficult picking the fruit is. In fact, most of the pickers are not from Costa Rica. During the coffee season, Costa Rica sees a huge influx of immigrants, both illegal and not illegal, mainly indigenous Panamanians and Nicaraguans, who pick the fruit at a rather cheap rate.”

“After a day of picking and seeing the process that it takes to get the coffee bean out of the fruit and dried,” he said, it definitely makes you appreciate your cup of coffee “exponentially more.”

Wesneski noted that they also performed several days of community service.

“One day we took part in a recycling project that a few women in San Marcos had put together,” he said. “We picked up trash and recyclables alongside a stretch of road leading to a high school. There is a big problem with people not recycling, so this program is attempting to clean up the streets of San Marcos and teach people about sustainability and the importance of recycling because everything in the ecosystem is connected. So, it is important to have a clean environment. Then, for a couple of days the group worked at an elementary school in the mountains near San Marcos; the village was called San Guillermo.”

Here, he said, they built an organic garden and planted several rows of vegetables.

“Once grown, these will be used by the teacher in the school lunches she cooks for the children,” Wesneski said. “We also put in several tires in the ground and painted them different colors so the kids had something to play on at school. We then poured concrete for a 12-foot by 6-foot pad, which we then placed two tables on as a sort of patio area. This would have been an easy job had there been an electric cement mixer. We had to carry about a ton and a half of sand and a ton of rock, as well as numerous bags of cement, up 150 feet of steps to the school. We then mixed all of the concrete by hand before we were able to ‘pour’ it. In humid and hot weather, this was difficult work. We finished all of it in about two days, though. We also got to spend time with the kids who attend the school and they helped us paint and water the garden.”

Miller was impressed by Wesneski’s contributions on the trip.

“He was right out front leading the group and worked really hard,” Miller said. “He’s a great kid.

The task involving the concrete made quite an impression on the educator

“It was like one of those strongmen competitions on at 3 a.m. on ESPN,” Miller commented.

Wesneski said the experience of the trip made him appreciate things in his own country.

“I guess what I got out of this experience is that we should be thankful for the little things that we have here in the United States,” he said. “Each day, Americans consume copious amounts of coffee, but I do not think many realize just how much hard work is put in to obtaining the beans. Everyone should spend one day experiencing picking coffee because it will definitely make you appreciate your cup or two of coffee in the morning a little bit more.”

“And also, the small technologies we take for granted here, such as a cement mixer, can be hard to get in the mountains of Costa Rica,” he said. “We have to remember that we, in this country, despite the recession, are still very well off compared to other nations. Going to a developing country is definitely an eye opening experience. Most Americans go to developing nations, like Costa Rica, for the beaches and resorts, but do not experience what the country is really like. I think that if you go to a developing country and experience the ‘real’ country, you’ll come away with a respect for the work people do in that country to live, and definitely be more appreciative of what you have back home. It will definitely be an experience I will never forget.”

Wesneski reminded the public that the ASB program is always accepting donations to help fund these trips. Donations can be made online at the following address: http://community.wilkes.edu/s/344/index.aspx?sid=344&pgid=524&gid=1&cid=1181&ecid=1181&post_id=0.

He noted that any donations made are greatly appreciated.

Wesneski is the son of Jodi and Rob Wesneski of Canton.

Ventana Beach on the south Pacific coast of Costa Rica

By Erin Morris – March 6, 2012 http://internationalliving.com 

Life in Costa Rica feels like a dream—but one I don’t have to wake up from.

The climate here is awesome. Sunrise and sunset are at the same time every day, allowing my internal clock to get into a natural, uninterrupted rhythm. The sun rises at 5.00 a.m., warms the land and fills me with happiness for 10 months out of the year.

A cool breeze flows through the Central Valley, where I live, never allowing the temperature to get too high. I live in a house without air conditioning or heat and enjoy the fresh breeze as it wafts through an open window or door.

My dog can run freely in and out…I don’t have to worry about insulating or paying outrageous energy bills. Back in the States, I suffered with allergies. Here, they have almost entirely disappeared.

And that’s not the only health benefit to life here.

The food in Costa Rica is delicious, inexpensive, and so fresh. Fruits and vegetables grow in profusion and if I can’t pick it myself, I only have to stroll to the nearest fruit and vegetable stand to stock up.

I buy my produce at a local farmer’s market (feria). Each town has its own farmer’s market, usually on the weekends. Dairy, eggs, nuts, seeds, and beans are also delicious and cheap. I eat less red meat here, but the rich chicken, pork and seafood more than compensate. These days, I eat healthier.

Even in the city, I’m still surrounded by a natural kaleidoscope of colors. Exotic tropical birds buzz and fly from flower to flower. I find it incredible that they all come to my backyard to feast on the abundant fruit.

Each town in Costa Rica boasts a slightly different culture, but they are all full of friendly people. One of my favorite pastimes is to attend the various festivals they hold. In a town festival, I can expect a horse parade, Tico-style bull fighting, yummy festival food, and music and dancing.

Trips are easy and frequent for me. The Pacific is a one-hour drive from my home in the Central Valley, while the Caribbean coast is four or five hours away.

When I feel like a change from being at the beach, I head to the mountains for something more adventurous—maybe white-water rafting or zip-lining. Another favorite destination is the volcanoes. I love to relax in the hot springs and hike around the craters.

When I’m craving something off the beaten path, I head to see the crafts in Sarchi, churches in towns like Cartago, or odd destinations like the ‘haunted’ former insane asylum at the base of Irazu Volcano.

I fund these frequent vacations and my life in paradise by teaching English. The average monthly salary for a native English speaker is $1,000 per month for 20 to 30 contact hours. Here, $1,000 a month easily pays for rent, utilities, food, transportation and vacations.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would like teaching at first. I had no prior experience and no desire to teach. But after hearing friends rave about how much fun it was, I decided to try it out. I love it—and everyone tells me I’m a natural.

The students are eager to learn and treat teachers with a high level of respect. This promotes a positive learning environment and you can see the positive effects that your teaching has.

Teaching English in Costa Rica is very rewarding and has allowed me to live a life in paradise that brings me happiness every day.

“In Costa Rica, most Ticos involved in the tourism industry speak English.”

By Erin Morris – January 9, 2013 http://internationalliving.com

When I first arrived to Costa Rica on vacation, I was told by a local that there were only three phrases I needed to know in order to communicate effectively. They were:

• Pura vida: This can mean anything from “hello” to “goodbye” to “doing fine” to “life is good.”
• Una más cerveza por favor: One more beer, please.
• Dónde está el baño?: Where is the bathroom?

He was right.

Most Costa Ricans, or Ticos, involved in the tourism industry speak English. For anything more than a hello, or a request for beer or the bathroom, I was able to communicate in English.

It’s not that I didn’t try to communicate in Spanish. I actually had a combined total of seven years of it throughout grade school and University. Unfortunately, as I soon discovered, learning hundreds of extraneous vocabulary words, various verb tense lessons and conjugation exercises did absolutely nothing to aid in my attempts to effectively communicate in the Spanish language.

On top of being unable to string together a sentence, I realized that a lot of the Mexican or Spanish vocabulary words I had learned in school were inapplicable in Costa Rica anyway.

For example, I tried once to compliment a friend on her car and told her in perfect Spanish, “Me gusta su coche.” She asked me to repeat myself a few times and with gesturing I was able to get the point across. But she still looked at me like I was crazy. What I didn’t know was that “Me gusta su coche” means “I like your cart” in Costa Rica, not “I like your car.” I had just insulted her by comparing her car to a grocery cart. I later learned that the more acceptable and natural phrase would have been “Que lindo su carro” (literally, “How nice your car”).

Another embarrassing moment came when I wanted to say I was excited about going to a concert. I tried to translate what I wanted to say via the Internet. That was a mistake. The word Google returns is the word people in Costa Rica use to say they are aroused…

Sometimes things would get extremely frustrating, too. While planning to move to Costa Rica, I had a lengthy and extremely stressful conversation with my ex about a “kitchen wire.” Over the phone, before I moved, he asked me to bring down some “kitchen wire” because apparently his “kitchen didn’t have wire.”

Confused, I asked him, “Does the kitchen need wiring? La cocina? (The kitchen?)”

“Yes,” he assured me.

“I don’t understand,” I told him. “I know you can get wiring in Costa Rica; there is electricity there. Why do you need it from the States? It’s going to be expensive and cumbersome to haul a suitcase full of wire down!”

But he insisted I needed to bring kitchen wire and said it wouldn’t be cumbersome. I asked what type of wire. He responded, “The type a kitchen needs. Let me tell you what type the kitchen is…”

“I am not a contractor. I need to know the type of wire, not the type of kitchen!”

After a lot more back and forth, I realized he was talking about an oven. I needed to bring the cord for an oven. Duh. In Costa Rican Spanish, “cocina” can mean “kitchen” and “oven.”

After several miscommunications, I knew the first and most important thing I needed to do was to learn Spanish, again, once I moved full-time to Costa Rica.

I enrolled in an intensive course at a well-known and well-established institute in Costa Rica. It took three months of going to school for eight hours a day, five days a week to complete the course and receive certification.

Outside of school, I practiced Spanish with the non-English speaking family that I lived with. Levels of education varied among the family members and it was with this family that I learned some of the most valuable lessons in communicating.

The combination of a formal education and conversations with non-English speakers has been a very rewarding and effective method for learning Spanish. After three years, I’m still learning—and still making amusing mistakes—and am looking forward to learning even more.

Pura vida.

Magnificent Frigate Bird. Photo provided courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Many people come to Costa Rica to see birds and Manuel Antonio is a great place to see a wide variety of birds. There are approximately 350 different species of birds in this area. Even people that aren’t normally birders, find themselves taking note of the interesting species.

You can go on an organized tour to see birds with guides that know where the birds that tourists want to see are commonly found. Or you can just enjoy the birds as you walk the beach, eat in open air restaurants or sail on a sunset cruise.

Some of the best romantic places to stay in the area which have only one bedroom are the appropriately named Villa for Romance and the Romantic Wood Chalet.

Some of my favorite birds to see are the water birds, which include the Magnificent Frigate bird (which is pictured above) the brown pelican, the roseate spoonbill, the white ibis, the neotropical cormorant and the anhinga.

The brown booby is a harbinger of dolphin as they eat the same food.  Become familiar with this bird, so that you can easily find dolphin when you are out on the water.

Other water birds include a wide variety of herons, sandpipers, kingfishers, gulls and ducks.

If you have more people that you wish to accommodate on your vacation, consider The Ocean Penthouse which has 3 bedrooms and sleeps up to 6 or Los Elementos: Villa de Agua which has 4 bedrooms and sleeps 8.

As many water birds as there are here, there are more birds to be found in the nearby jungles. Here you will hear parrots and parakeets. I love seeing the variety of the colors of the tanagers, warblers and the cuckoo birds. The chestnut-mandibled toucan and firey-blled aracari are two of my favorite birds.

There are many varieties of hummingbirds and honey creepers which always delight visitors and many locations have hummingbird feeders to attract these popular birds.

If you have a large party to house, consider Villa Vigia which has 4 bedrooms and sleeps up to 12 or Tanager Villa which has 7 bedrooms and sleeps up to 16.

Birding isn’t limited to the day at Manuel Antonio.  At night you can hear and see a wide variety of owls that call this area home.  There are also night herons, nighthawks and nightjars.

There are many excellent birding books that you can purchase either before your trip or after you arrive in Costa Rica that can help you identify these birds.

El Avión Restaurant in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica.

Manuel Antonio is a popular tourist location in Costa Rica and there are a wide variety of places to dine here, from simple coffee shops to gourmet restaurants.

Some of my favorites include:

El Avión  – This restaurant offers a history lesson within the restaurant.  It features inside the restaurant a Fairchild C-123, airplane, the sister plane to the one in U.S. that was shot down over Nicaragua during the Iran Contra affair. Learn more about this incident, while dining on delicious seafood and enjoying a great view of the ocean.

While in Manuel Antonio you can stay at the Villa Mot Mot which features 2 bedrooms, or the Carpe Diem (‘Seize The Day’) which offers 4 bedrooms. Both can accommodate up to 8 people.

Another very popular place to eat is Kapi Kapi which translates to “Welcome” in the language of the Maleku Indians of Costa Rica, This restaurant features elegant food with an Asian influence.  Desserts here are spectacular.

Other places to stay if you have a slightly larger group are Villa El Salto and Casa Feliz both of which sleep up to 12 people. 

El Patio de Cafe Milagro-Bistro Latino is a great place for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It offers a wide range of coffee drinks, fresh-baked sweets, salads, sandwiches and wraps.  It received the 5 out of 5 spoons! Tico rating.

Another great vacation home is The Beach House which sleeps up to 8 people in 3 bedrooms.  If you have a large group, an amazing facility is Casa Fantastica which can accommodate up to 22 people in 8 bedrooms.  This is an amazing 10,000 square foot home featuring a 30 seat cinema, a 20 person jacuzzi, a huge gym and a game room.

Casa Romantica, boasts 5 bedrooms and sleeps up to 12 with 6,000 sq. feet of living space and 7 bathrooms. http://costaricabedfinder.com/vacation-rental/746/award-winning-luxury-estate-home

I have a hard time choosing my favorite beach in Costa Rica, because they are all so beautiful and different in so many ways. However, Manuel Antonio is high on my list because it is really the tale of two very different kinds of beaches.

In Manuel Antonio National Park, you have several fabulous beaches to explore, Playa Manuel Antonio, Playa Gemelas, Playa Puerto Escondido and Playa Espadillo Sur.  As admission to the park is limited, these beaches are never too crowded and the areas around the beaches are packed with nature. The last time I visited, I saw deer, sloths, all four types of monkeys, raccoons, coatimundi and a wide variety of beautiful birds.  The water was clear and beautiful and we took lots of photos. Some of my favorite places to stay when I visit here include: Mot Mot Villa which has 4 bedrooms and sleeps up to 8 and Discovery Beach House which has 3 bedrooms and sleeps 6.

Right outside of the National Park is Playa Espadillo Norte.  It is a fun beach full of activities. There are makeshift kiosks selling clothes, jewelry, art and food.  There are places for renting beach chairs and umbrellas. The beach is set up for volleyball and other activities. You can rent boogie boards, take surf lessons, or go parasailing.  This is also the place to schedule a time to go snorkeling, dolphin watching, sailing or fishing. Playa Espadillo also offers great people watching.  You can walk to bars and restaurants to get a bite to eat.

If you visit with a large group there is a beach for everyone and activities to keep even the most energetic group members busy.  Several of the vacations homes can house large groups. Both Casa Grande and Casa Elsa have 4 bedrooms and sleep up to 12 people. Another popular vacation home in Manuel Antonio that sleeps 12 people is the 5-bedroom Casa Romantica. Closer to Quepos, Tropical Jacana House has 5 bedrooms and sleeps up to 13.

Central American Squirrel Monkey near Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
Photo by Michelle Reback

Manuel Antonio is at the top of my list of places to visit in Costa Rica. In the next few weeks I will be describing many of the reasons to come here and some of my favorite places to stay, including two huge vacation homes, Casa Maravilla, which has 6 bedrooms and sleeps up to 16 and Casa de Anjali, which has 7 bedrooms and sleeps up to 15.

One of the things I love about Manuel Antonio is the monkeys, which are called monos in Spanish.  Most of my friends that come to visit me want to see monkeys. You can find monkeys many places in Costa Rica, especially the howler monkeys (congo in Spanish) that live in the trees and howl as their name implies. Manuel Antonio is one of the few places that you can see all four different species of monkeys that exist in Costa Rica.  A few of my other favorite places to stay here include Casa Paraiso, which has 5 bedrooms and sleeps up to 12 and Casa de Agua also boasting 5 bedrooms that accommodates 10.

Here you will also find the white-throated capuchin monkey (cara blanca in Spanish).  These are what we think of as the “organ grinder” monkeys. They are smart and curious.  Be careful what you pack to take to the beach as these are the monkeys that may steal bananas right out of your picnic basket.

The spider monkey (mono colorado or arana in Spanish) is the acrobat of the monkey world and moves very quickly.  Unfortunately the number of spider monkeys are declining due to loss of habitat, but can still be found in Manuel Antonio.

However, the reason many people venture to Manuel Antonio is to see the Central American squirrel monkey (titi in Spanish). The status of this monkey has recently been upgraded from endangered to vulnerable. This monkey exists only in Costa Rica and Panama and Manuel Antonio is one of the best places to spot one. Like the howler monkey the Central American squirrel monkey lives only in trees.

One last place that I recommend staying while you are here is Casa Fleur de Lis, this is a fabulous vacation home with 4 bedrooms that accommodates 8 guests.