Costa Rica is a mountainous country at the tail end of the Rockies, so travel is seldom in a straight line, yet we covered a lot of ground in a short time. I walked around the grounds before breakfast, and it is truly a wondrous spot.
At 8:30 we had a Manuel Antonio National Park nature walk with a guide named Rooster, and he was very good with his spotting scope that we took pictures through. I could not see many of these things with the naked eye. Guides talked amongst themselves up and down the trail when they spotted something interesting.
We came to a caged snack area where Rooster brought us some fresh fruits and tea. It is caged because the monkeys love to snatch food when they can. Then we walked down to a lovely beach where we swam and walked for an hour or so. Heading back up the other side of this peninsula was another beach that was much less crowded.
In a rare opportunity, we had the afternoon off. We all went to the pool where we could order lunch, beer or coffee and relax. There was a hot pool, a warm pool and a cold pool with a waterfall. What luxury! Ed’s son, Joey, got a beer and talked with the bartender for a while. He had two aged rums made in Costa Rica, one 25-year and one 30-year. He said they are similar to a Brandy, meant to be sipped. At dinner we tried the 25-year, and it was excellent. I think it was Ron Centenario, made from sugar cane and aged in oak barrels.
