5th Challenge

Manuel Antonio Beach V
Originally uploaded by No Fixed Abode.


Challenge: Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image hosting site.

A couple of years ago, I had the fortunate experience of vacationing here for a week on Manuel Antonio Beach in Costa Rica.

Friends of my boyfriend invited us to share a house with them near this beach. It was a 5 minute walk through a beautifully forested area to the private gate that led to this beach.

The sunsets would reflect in the wet sand turning everything into a stunning salmon color.

There were tiny hermit crabs walking around carrying their shell houses on their backs.

We could walk along the beach to the very end where the Manuel Antonio National Park was located. We spent all day combing the park trails for the endangered Central American squirrel monkey. There were fascinating sloths, colorful birds, huge iguanas, lightning-fast lizards, playful capuchin monkeys, and many scurrying red and purple crabs....but we didn't see a single squirrel monkey.

The next day, we were resting at the house....and an entire troupe of Central American squirrel monkeys came to visit the front yard of the house. It was amazing! A couple of mothers had tiny babies riding on their backs. The squirrel monkeys were so petite in size, compared to the capuchin monkeys....which eventually chased the squirrel monkeys from the yard.




It was a wonderful vacation.