Travel to Costa Rica: Fainting Plants and Tree-Climbing Crabs, part ii

Altogether my favorite part of our journey was the trek through Manuel Antonio park.  We went with a guide and while I begrudged handing over the money for it initially, it was truly worth it. Our guide, Edgar, was a funny and extremely intelligent guy who became quite chatty when he realized Stephen and I spoke Spanish. He had an incredibly keen eye for spotting camouflaged lizards, hidden crocodiles and tiny colorful insects.

“What a cute little anole!” I pointed out on a leaf, to which he gave me a side eye and asked if I was a herpetologist. As surprised as he was that I knew what an anole was, I was kind of surprised he actually knew how to say herpetologist in English. “Nope, just a nature-loving hippie.”

 

Which is quite true. I was enthralled with learning about Costa Rica’s wildlife and had studied up on the local animals and plants by getting any material I could get my hands on. One of my favorite plants on our trip was the touch-me-nots that were abundant throughout Manuel Antonio.

“Touch it!” Edgar told me, pointing to the fern-like plant. I shook my head, saying absolutely not. General knowledge of things in the rainforest dictated that most things had evolved to maim, kill or cause a person discomfort. I was not interested in any of the three.

After some coaxing, he did get me to poke the plant. And suddenly the plant “wilted” looking as though it had died altogether. I learned that this plant had evolved to droop when touched but would reopen minutes later. Poking them became Stephen’s favorite thing to do whenever he saw one. I can’t blame him though, it seriously never got old!

Altogether we had an amazing time in Costa Rica and I would gladly go back someday. Costa Ricans are truly making strides to preserve their country’s gorgeous ecosystem and are ahead of many countries when it comes to environmentalist efforts. My one piece of advice to fellow travellers is to know ahead of time that eating in Costa Rica can be quite expensive due to the taxes (we are talking about 23% here).

Manuel Antonio offered some great hostels with really cheap and yummy food. Costa Linda was our favorite and will probably be our first choice for place to stay next time. Travelling with my love was so much fun but my hope is that we can do it again as a family. Rosie would really get a kick out of the monkeys and probably join them in a tree haha. 

To read part one of this adventure, check it out here!

& for more pictures of our time in Costa Rica be sure to check out the #travellingmermaid hashtag on Instagram!