Central Pacific Coast - Costa Rica - page 817

table. As if this wasn't enough, add a ubiquitous population of iguanas, howlers,
capuchins, sloths and squirrel monkeys.
Sights & Activities
Hiking & Swimming
After the park entrance, it's about a 30-minute hike to Playa Espadilla Sur and Playa
Manuel Antonio , the park's idyllic beaches, which is where most people spend a good
part of their time in the park. There will be numerous guides leading clusters of groups
along the flat hike, so a bit of eavesdropping will provide solo shoestring travelers an in-
formal lesson on the many birds, sloths and monkeys along the way. Eventually, the obvi-
ous, well-trodden trail veers right and through forest to an isthmus separating Playas Espa-
dilla Sur and Manuel Antonio. This is also where there's a park ranger station and informa-
tion center (its hours are random, but we've yet to see it open, so be pleasantly surprised if
it is staffed).
Geography fun fact: this isthmus is called a tombolo and was formed by the accumula-
tion of sand between the mainland and the peninsula beyond, which was once an island.
Along this bridge are the park's two amazing beaches, Playa Manuel Antonio, on the ocean
side, and the slightly less visited (and occasionally rough) Playa Espadilla Sur, which faces
Manuel Antonio Village. With their turquoise waters, shaded hideouts and continual aerial
show of brown pelicans, these beaches are dreamy.
At its end, the isthmus widens into a rocky peninsula, with thick forest in the middle.
Several informal trails lead down the peninsula to near the center of it, the Punta Cated-
ral . If you bushwhack your way through, there are good views of the Pacific Ocean and
various rocky islets that are bird reserves and form part of the national park. Brown
boobies and pelicans nest on these islands.
At the western end of Playa Manuel Antonio you can see a semicircle of rocks at low
tide. Archaeologists believe that these were arranged by pre-Columbian indigenous people
to function as a turtle trap ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ) . (Turtles would swim in during high
tide, but when they tried to swim out after the tide started receding, they'd be trapped by
the wall.) The beach itself is an attractive one of white sand and is popular for swimming.
It's protected and safer than the Espadilla beaches.