Went on a tour of the mangroves today. It was a perfect morning to be on the boat. We saw many different kinds of birds: blue herons, great blue herons, kingfishers, egrets, osprey, sandpipers and many others that we can not remember the names of. A large boa constrictor, yellow in color, was in one of the trees(picture included). Can you see it? The amazing part was the white-faced capuchin monkeys. There were a number of them in the mangrove trees. Not only did one monkey like our camera, but he also sat on Bill’s head! It was so cute!

We saw many baselisks, which are called, “Jesus Christ lizards”, because they can walk on water. Actually, they can run sixty feet on the surface of water without sinking.

Bill had a massage today! We both walked the beach and swam in the pool. I finished by book today, and continued with one I had started before the Holidays. Watched the sunset and stalked a crab. Overall, a great day! More new adventures tomorrow!

Today we drove to the town of Uvita. Beautiful drive through this area (1 1/2 hrs). This area is mostly African Oil Palm tree plantations. The orange-red fruit is harvested and transported by cart pulled by the oxen. Heading back, we stopped at the hippy town of Dominical. The one place Bill can wear his tied-dye and fit in (walking the streets we noticed he forgot to wear it). We have traveled to many places outside the USA, most have been English-speaking, with most posted information also written in English, but not so here. We are starting to think that maybe a lot of US tourists do not come to this part of Costa Rica. It has been so amazing that Bill has been able to figure out what they are saying with just what he learned of Spanish before we left home. Next, we took a little side trip up a mountain 3 minutes on an unpaved road with hairpin turns to a restaurant at the top that Bill had read about that had great hot sugar cane wings. Got to the top after some bumpy rocks and the place was closed.:( But the view was awesome. Our next stop was the Hacienda Barú National Wildlife Refuge. First stop there was lunch. Then we walked the trails to the beach. We started down the trail, and coming across the path was an incredible line of ants, miles long, carrying cut leaves. Then we heard noises in the trees. Looking up, to our wondrous surprise, we saw monkeys. I was so excited! We watched them for a long time. As we continued along the path, I was frightened many different times by small animals scurrying across the trail. As we got closer to the beach, I could hear the surf and I knew we would make it out alive. We came across a turtle hatchery, just as a lizard was running across the top of it. We finally made it back to our car, hot, sweaty and ready to head back to the resort. We again had an amazing sunset! What an awesome day. Tomorrow is a rest day… so excited! 🙂

Today we just hung out at the beach and pool.  Room safe battery went out, not able to put in or take out items as needed. Service is very laid back(very slow) here. Not sure if you have noticed but the pictures of the beach we are at have no or very few people in them. There are times when you may be the only ones on the beach. We love this! We have watched every sunset since we arrived and walked our private beach everyday! There is a man who pushes an ice cream cart each day up and down the beach (even has a bell).

Something new at dinner tonight, a big female frog serenading us. So loud!

Wow! So many animals did we see! I am so glad we went with a guide. If he would not have been pointing them out (knowing where to look, as this was his second tour already today) we would have missed them all. Following animals we saw:
*Masked Tree Frog and Red Eyed Tree Frog
*Termite Nest (the guide ate some of the termites) ugh!
*Two Toed and a Three Toed Sloth
*Toucan (great picture attached)
*Howler Monkeys and White Faced Capuchin Monkey
*King Vulture
Awesome beaches, but very crowded compared to our beach at Clandestino Beach Resort.

Late lunch at El Avión Restaurant made out of an airplane and with a great view of the Pacific Ocean.

Finally able to use an ATM.