Leaving Monteverde, we headed down to the coast, again braving the rutted dirt road. We stopped to see the crocodiles on the Tarcoles river, then headed in for a walk through Carara National Park, where we got out first glimpse of a pair of scarlet macaws nesting. We then had a fabulous lunch at El Pelicano on Herradura beach near the Marriott hotel - great fish, very fresh and well prepared. Then off to our hotel with another gorgeous sunset followed by dinner at El Avion, a restaurant with a story.
The next day we went off to Manuel Antonio park, which is along the shore. A few animals on the way in, including iguanas, basilisks, agoutis and reccoons. Plus a sloth high in the tree at the beach/picnic area. On the way out, however, a troupe of capuchins came through, almost running over Ross's foot and hamming it up for the camera (see pictures and video). We also saw a couple more sloths and long-nose bats. In the afternoon we went for another zipline ride. Again lots of fun, and we did see a few titi (squirrel) monkeys. Our last dinner at the hotel, then packing for the flight out the next day.
On the drive back to San Jose we stopped when we saw a flock of Macaws playing in the trees. We made it to the airport in plenty of time, especially since our flights were delayed. Everybody but Ben and David made their connections at Miami, which has to be the worst designed airport win the world, so we got to spend a night at the lovely Miami Airport Holiday Inn compliments of American Airlines before catching flights to Boston and DC (on standby, of course) the following morning.
Despite the final airport snafus, a great trip!