Bahia Ballena and Manuel Antonio

This weekend was spectacular. It was our first CEA excursion to Bahia Ballena and Manuel Antonia along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Right after our morning Spanish courses, we packed up and headed to the CEA building. A small blue and white bus was sitting there waiting for us. The driver set off through the chaos of San Jose and out into the hills and mountains of Costa Rica. As the labyrinth of buildings and city roads diminished, the landscape transitioned into a mosaic of deep emerald mountains and bright flowering trees. The hills directly around San Jose were somewhat dry and many of the trees were bare as if it was winter back home. The roads curved through misty blue mountains and slowly the vegetation became lush and dense. The mountains sketched an elaborate jagged horizon across the deep blue Costa Rican sky. Eventually, it felt like we were surrounded by thick rainforest. The trees were dripping with moss and lichen and draped with profuse vines. Some of the tallest trees were a brilliant yellow color that created a fantastic contrast to the dark greens of the jungle. This country is beautiful.

Crocodiles

Our bus stopped right before a long bridge over a river between the mountain slopes for a rest break. Immediately upon exiting the bus, humidity and heat engulfed us. The intense tropical weather made me grateful for the wind and cool in San Jose. We inched along the narrow sidewalk on the edge of the bridge to look into the water for crocodiles. On the right side of the bridge were copious crocodiles basking in the afternoon sun or wading in the slow-moving water. I was glad to be so high above the massive reptiles; they each appeared to be at least 4 meters long. Chomp chomp.

After we were finished examining the crocodiles from above, we were back on our way towards the Pacific. We passed Jaco beach and you could see glimpses of the turquoise ocean peaking from in-between the trees. We stopped briefly to take a photo at an overlook by the side of the road. The ocean was far below us and you could see out across the glittering pacific waters for what seemed like miles. A breathtaking view with the rainforest-covered mountains cascading into the tropical sea.

The pacific

As our bus reached the coastal town of Manuel Antonia, someone shouted, “Monkeys!” and I looked over my shoulder out the window to see little white faced capuchins and a couple squirrel monkeys running along the hotel roof and crashing through the trees followed by a pack of zealous tourists. I dropped my bag off in the room and within seconds was outside looking at the monkeys. They came incredibly close to us and would stare and tilt their heads in our direction. One lady was feeding the monkeys a banana she had purchased down the road. In all honesty, it was difficult for me to watch the capuchins clamber over cars and street signs and eat from human hands. How much longer until they become pests?

Our hotel was located across the street from the beach. And what a gorgeous beach it was! The sand was fine and white and the sea was clear and warm. As the sun began to set in the west across the waters, we walked along the sand through the gentle waves. It was the most majestic, spectacular sunset I have ever experienced. A brilliant mirage of reds, pinks, yellows, oranges, blues, and deep purples lit up the sky and reflected across the ocean surface. I cannot deny that there is a God, for there is no other explanation for such beauty.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to go to breakfast before our whale watching tour. Then, the bus took us about an hour away down the coast to a little town called Bahia Ballena. When we arrived, we went directly to a small somewhat run-down office for the whale tours. A guide gave us all life jackets and we walked down a path and into the Bahia Ballena national park and onto the beach. The ocean tide was far out, making the beach wide and flat. We were told to wear our life jackets at all times and then walked out into the surf to enter the boat.

On the boat

Our boat was just a simple motor boat with two benches lining the outer sides and one bench at the very front. It had a canvas covering sheltering us from the sun (thank goodness, it is so easy to burn in the central American sun). We began by boating out to the whale-tail shaped formation composed of sand and rocks and the guide handed us each a snorkel! One by one, we slipped into the warm water to snorkel the coral reef. It was beautiful. The corals created massive formations underwater that were frequented by colorful reef fish. There were schools of turquoise parrot fish and exotic wrasses that swam underneath me. I loved watching the tiny blue fish dart between the rocks and some of the larger fish defend their plots of coral from intruders. Such a fantastic ecosystem under the sea. We were called back to the boat all to soon and I saw a yellow puffer on my way out!

Our boat driver then pushed the motor into full gear and we bounced across the waves out to the open sea. Flying fish flicked out of the water next to our boat. You could see the layers of mountains on the shore in the distance with white bulbous clouds clinging to their peaks. We drove towards two other boats huddling together and found a pod of dolphins jumping and swimming along the surface. Some of the dolphins had spots along their backsides and some of the dolphins were the well-known bottlenose. It was exhilarating as our boat dashed back and forth in attempt to follow the dolphins swimming patterns.

Humpback whale mother

When the dolphins had swum too far for reach, our boat again sped along the sea surface back towards the shore. We stopped several hundred meters from the shore and the boat driver began to exclaim that there was a whale in the water. We all stood up and strained our eyes to see. Suddenly, a large dark fin protruded from the water just 20 meters away. Our guide told us this was a humpback whale and her calf. The pair came within 10 meters of our little boat and you could see the barnacles on the mother’s back and watch her spray water lightly out of her blowhole. It was incredible, I have never seen a whale before.

Costa Rican sunset

After several hours on the ocean, we arrived back in Manuel Antonio. A few of us walked to the beach and waded through a river/swamp connection and walked over a small volcanic island and onto a beautiful deserted beach. The swamp was labeled with a sign that said in Spanish “Be Careful, crocodiles, do not swim.” Oops. However, the beach we emerged onto was well worth the risk. Apparently it was located in Parque National de Manuel Antonio, but no one was monitoring the gate and we snuck in. The jungle crept right up onto the pure white sand of the beach. Palm trees and mangroves lined the shore and the Pacific ocean was calm and clear. It was a spectacular sight as we swam in the tropical waters and watched the sunset begin to paint the horizon with vivid colors.

A white faced capuchin monkey

The next morning, we all woke up early so as to be at breakfast and then out into the national park Manuel Antonio by 8 AM. The initial road leading into the park is wide and was clogged with tourists and tico guides with telescopes and lenses leading around clueless mobs of white visitors. With that amount of disturbance in the forest, there was little chance that we were going to see anything. We had acquired a map at the entrance and decided to find a secluded trail as soon as possible to leave the tourist hordes. We found a trail that led to an overlook near the ocean and quickly entered into the jungle. Almost immediately you could here the forest come alive around you: insects hissing, howler monkeys bellowing, and birds singing. 

Sloth

The forest became denser as the trail narrowed and we were surrounded by massive palm trees and buttress roots laden with dark mosses and fungi. Our group soon began to split into three as some people walked swiftly down the trail and other people, like myself would stop to listen and watch everything. Courtney, Jordan, Lani, Michele, and I found ourselves left far behind the rest of the students as the five of us silently walked through the rainforest in attempt to see all that we could. Later, when we got back, we learned that we had seen more animals than anyone else because we had taken our time and reserved our talking. It wasn’t long before we saw a sloth dangling from a palm branch and a troop of capuchin monkeys foraging high in the canopy above. We hiked up crude steps and found little lizards and insects scampering beneath our feet. At one point, we heard an animal gnawing on a nearby tree and turned to see a small tailless rodent consuming his mid-morning meal. Apparently he was an agouti. The overlook at the end of the trail was spectacular. If this place is not paradise, then I do not know what is. The jungle canopy opened up to look out over the magnificent Pacific with clusters of bright red hibiscus flowers in the foreground. You could see the shore curving in the distance and the jungle hills meeting the turquoise sea.

The view of the pacific from the rainforest with Lani and Courtney

On our way back down the steep trail, we encountered a troop of howler monkeys foraging in the trees above us and saw another small family of white-faced capuchins. We decided to take another trail out onto a land formation called a tombolo that the park had named the “cathedral.” We passed a beautiful white sand beach with groups of tourists picnicking and raccoon families scavenging on the left over food scraps. Then, the trail turned into a series of staircases as we hiked through the coastal palm forest. There were fewer animals in this section and we only saw raccoons and an iguana that ran ridiculously fast. However, the vista points along the hike were well worth the climb. The views of the ocean kept getting more and more unbelievable. Eventually, we ended up on the beach that I had visited last night before sunset. The beach only had a few tourists basking in the hot tropical sun. We walked all the way down to the far end nearest our hotel and went for a quick swim to rinse off the sweat from the rainforest. Besides the Indian Ocean, I have never felt an ocean so warm.

When we got back to San Jose, we were all exhausted but exhilarated with the wonderful experiences we had just had. This country is more than I could have wanted with all its biodiversity and beautiful landscape and intriguing culture. I cannot wait to explore more.

The beautiful beach

"Pura vida"- the pure life

Squirrel monkey