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Location: []
We all had an early morning with a 6:00 am wake up by our host families followed by an early breakfast prepared by our host families. We meet at Gail’s house at 7:00 am and drove three hours to our hotel called the Blue Monkey by the Manuel Antonio reserve. We dropped off our travel bags at the hotel and left shortly after to the wildlife reserve. The bus dropped us off in front of the main beach, and from there, we walked five minutes to the entrance of the reserve. On the walk, there we passed street vendors and small craft stands. The wildlife reserve is very protective of the land and the habitats of the animals. We were not able to bring in any pre-packaged foods or give animals our lunches. We went on a half an hour walk through the jungle to get to the beach. On our way, we saw many animals including, birds, monkeys, and sloths. The sloths were the most exciting, and we went through a special sloth trail. Once we arrived at the beach, we walked to the end, found a nice shady tree, and put our stuff down. We ate our packed lunches from our host families and applied sunscreen before getting in the water. There were three raccoons that managed to steal four lunches, even though we were warned about them earlier. In the end, everyone got some food and happily went into the ocean. The Pacific Ocean was surprisingly warm, and the whole group was in for an hour. Majority of people stayed in for four hours while others walked on the beach, climbed to a looking point and laid in the sun. Those in the water went body surfing, played games, and talked. We were careful to re-apply, but still, we all got at least a little color. We all walked around a small cove and looked at the iguanas, fish, coral, and rocks. We all relaxed and enjoyed the sunny weather listening to music on the beach until 3:00 pm. On our way back on the beach, we walked on a trail where monkeys were crawling right next to us. After, in front of the entrance, we had 20 minutes to walk around the shops and get frozen drinks. We all reconvened and walked to the bus, which we took to the hotel. We spent two hours there to get ready for dinner and shower. We had already chosen and ordered our dinner before, so at 6:30, our food was waiting for us, and we put the tables together and ate as a group. When people were finished, we all went back to a room to relax and watched Madagascar in English. It was an amazing relaxing day, and we all went to bed excited for the next day.