Manuel Antonio
After three days lounging in Tamarindo, our group moved on the Quepos, just outside of Manuel Antonio National Park. The drive from Tamarindo to to Quepos was about five hours, but it gave us a great opportunity to traverse the Costa Rican countryside. They don’t really have freeways here, so most of your driving is done on country roads, which I found to be really relaxing. The scenery is lush and vibrant — rolling hillsides, dense forests, no shortage of rivers and waterfalls.
We rented an awesome house in the hills above Quepos for this leg of the trip, and the entire family enjoyed the treat of having our own pool. Honestly, we spent a lot of time lounging around the pool, lol. But we did venture out a few times to sample some of the local restaurants (such as El Avion — A+ for ambiance!), and spent a full day exploring Manuel Antonio National Park.
Our visit to to Manuel Antonio was great. Even though you don’t need a guide to hike within the park, I recommend spending the extra money to hire one. The park is filled with all kinds of animals (monkeys, sloth, iguanas, frogs, birds, etc), and our guide did an excellent job locating animals for us (often through a little telescope), and telling us what exactly it was we were looking at. Totally enhanced our experience within the park. The hike is out-and-back, and the turnaround point is Manuel Antonio Beach, which is a great place to stop for a picnic lunch. The calm waters also make it a great place for swimming (no rip currents here!) and relaxing in general.
We also spent a day zip lining as a family (minus Kiki and the elders) at Titi Canopy Tours and had a blast. Would definitely recommend this place as well. 
Sadly, Quepos was the last stop of the trip for Bill’s family. We parted ways here, and as they headed back to the States, James and I journeyed on to check out Montezuma…
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