Manuel Antonio

So now I'll do a real update about what I've been up to. Not that it's all that much really. My first night here I met a bunch of people that have started travelling together: an american, an israeli and 2 swiss. Was kind of cool because it's the first time I've used any significant amount of french on this trip. While we were hanging out, one of the owners of the hostel convinced me and the 2 guys to go on their Mangrove tour the next morning. So there I was up bright and early yet again, but boy was it worth it! Saw a bunch of the same animals as I've seen already, although Mangrove is very different from rain forest so that was kinda cool. But for sure the highlight of the tour was when we got a whole family of monkeys to hang out on and around our boat for like 20 minutes while we fed them mushed up banana! I know probably not the best thing to do for the environment, but they were SO cute and it was SO fun! I think my new friends have a bunch of pictures of me with a baby monkey on my head, so I really hope they keep to their promise of sending me pictures. The other most interesting part of the trip was they found a snake sleeping in a bush. I, of course, was not nearly as cool and collected as I was at the serpenterium and immediately ran (or probably actually walked quickly) as far away as I could (which wasn't far since I was on a boat) as everyone else got to within a couple of feet to try to take a good picture. I know it was a harmless snake, but that doesn't mean I want to voluntarily get close to it!

Anyways, we were back from the tour relatively early and all 5 of us headed to the beach for the afternoon. Relaxing, and not too eventful. Exactly what I needed! Last night we all hung out again and called it an early night. This morning my new friends all left together heading a bit south where apparently you can swim with dolphins. So I've had a full day to myself where I went to the beach, slept in a hammock, listened to my ipod, read my book and enjoyed the view from the hostel. Pretty full day eh? Now I'm planning for a little more of the same for the evening. Maybe I'll make some new friends or maybe I'll just call it a night early. Tomorrow I'm up and off to San Jose where I'm meeting up with Stacey on Sunday.

Talk to you later!
Kaila