A day at Manuel Antonio Beach

A long drive after the crocodile bridge we finally arrived in Manuel Antonio and checked into an amazing place: La Posada, which is owned by a home inspection client of mine, Mike Auvil. He's done a lot of work on this place over the past couple of years and it's now at the top of the list for favorite places to stay at the beach. The place is just a few minutes walk from the beach, is bordered by the National Park, has a large, two-storey house (where we stayed) and four little cottages, plus a swimming pool. Mike treats everyone like family, so we really felt at home.

Here's one of the few remaining giant trees in the area, with our gang in front:
Here's some shots of the upper floor where we stayed.
And Mike brought his parakeet over for Sasha to enjoy. (Interestingly, note the leather rocker. This is a chair which was designed by a Peace Corps fellow whom I met in Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras, in the late 60's--Harry Van Oudenallen (now an Architectural professor at U. of Wisconsin). He was trying to help out some local carpenters to have something lucrative for the tourist market in that little town. Now you can find it all around Central America.)Barry and Kathy Marder in the dining area below our apartment.
A whole band of Spider Monkeys showed up to frolic around the patio while we were there.
Well, we did actually go to the beach. You've seen pictures of beaches and this one is typically gorgeous, so I'm posting shots of important people instead. Here's a lovely pink beach bunny I spotted there:After the beach, and naps in the cozy apartment, we walked downtown to get an early dinner.
This very friendly Lab showed up under our table. Sasha was not sure that he was so welcome.