It is finished and is the best summary of my most recent trip which you can thumb through electronically for free in my bookstore or click the cover image below:
Manuel Antonio-Quepos, THE BOOK
“Flagship Hotel” Okay but Not the Best
This morning I left Si Como No Hotel in Manuel Antonio after 6 nights at Christmas time. They call it their “Flagship Hotel” of the Greentique chain of 4 eco-hotels in Costa Rica. Their marketing department or ad agency is doing a fabulous job with websites (which hooked me) and other advertising, but they touted so much that the actual experience was a let down at Si Como No.
I had two other experiences with Greentique which were very positive, so I got here more because of those experiences than their marketing of this location. Back in May 2017 at Drake Bay (link to my photos) I stayed in the Aguila de Osa Hotel (link to hotel site) which was pricey but not as expensive as Manuel Antonio’s Si Como No. I loved Aguila better in every way! I got all the nature tours I wanted and did not here. The room was bigger and better with equal ocean view and the food was so much better there!
Then in November 2017 at Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort (link to my photos) nearer me at San Ramon, I was one of few guests still in the low season and got fabulous service and nature experiences and again much better food! Villa Blanca (link to hotel site) is on an old farm and is a much quieter, relaxed setting than either of the other two, but again I liked it better and felt like it was worth what I paid. Si Como No is way overpriced for what you get!
Now, with all of that said and maybe only the second time for me to be negative (I didn’t like a B&B in Orosi), let me show you some photos of my room and the grounds of this old but nice hotel or you can see my total experience at 2018 Christmas at Si Como No trip photo gallery. And I must say this was maybe my best ocean view anywhere and one of the better sunsets anywhere. Just bad service and food!
My Room at Si Como No
Hotel Grounds at Si Como No
All good hotels tend to lead people to do things they wouldn’t necessarily do at home.
~Andre Balazs
See my Trip Gallery for this 2018 Christmas at Si Como No Hotel
Damas Island Estuary, Quepos
This morning I got to go on a boat trip through the mangroves and thus saw lots of birds! Though mostly water birds, I did get one new species there that is not a water bird, it is the Common Pauraque (a type of Nightjar bird) which is pictured above. Here’s all the ones I got photos of:
BIRDS at Damas Island Estuary
River Scenes
Lizards
A river is more than an amenity, it is a treasure.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
See this TRIP GALLERY 2018 December Si Como No.
Next to Last Sunset Here
I have really enjoyed the sunsets here from my room and try to be there between 5 & 5:30 every evening when our sun sets here pretty much year around. Tonight I used a real camera instead of the cell phone and it does make a difference I think, though I did not try to make the trees green tonight but let them silhouette into black. That is another difference with more contrast.
See this TRIP GALLERY 2018 December Si Como No.
Birds at Hotel & Park
That’s a Fiery-billed Aracari in above feature photo which is the rarest bird yet for me here, shot from the deck of my room. I’m doing this as a separate birds post from what I will see tomorrow on:
Damas Island Estuary Boat Trip
Discover the complex estuary system of Damas Island. From your covered boat, you’ll wind you way through coastal mangroves for up-close looks at the abundant wildlife, including a variety of sea birds and tropical birds, reptiles, and monkeys. ~from the hotel website Tours descriptions
Note, that even with their own “Wildlife Refuge” at this hotel, I have seen fewer birds here than most of the lodges I visit and in this national park the only bird photo I got was of the stationary Hermit Hummingbird nest. I did see a Kingfisher and Woodrail on the hotel night hike but no photos. I expect my most bird photos tomorrow in the mangroves.
Si Como No Birds:
Birds are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain.
~Douglas Coupland
I have started my TRIP Gallery for this 2018 December Si Como No trip.
Good Night from a Seaside Rainforest
The sunsets from my room are worth every penny of the trip here! Every night is absolutely beautiful!
“Harry looked down and saw deep green mountains and lakes, coppery in the sunset.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Yes, just a cellphone camera, as with all of my sunset shots.
See this TRIP GALLERY 2018 December Si Como No.
Night Hike
This was last night’s hike at Si Como No Greentique Wildlife Refuge and as with all night hikes, photography was difficult and our conscientious guide would not let us shine lights on sleeping birds or a couple of other animals. I would loved to have gotten a photo of the sleeping Kingfisher and the sleeping Gray-necked Wood Rail. We saw but could not photo a sloth and a Kinkajou (too high in tree & moving). None of these pix are particularly good, but they give an idea of what you see on night hikes all over Costa Rica. Though I think my Red-eyed Tree Frog, Glass Frog, & Bullfrog are pretty good. There were also a lot of insects, especially spiders & scorpions of which I got no useable photos.
Night Hike Slideshow
“I often think that the night is more alive
and more richly colored than the day.”
~Vincent Van Gogh
¡Pura Vida!
See this TRIP GALLERY 2018 December Si Como No.
Manuel Antonio National Park Tour
Yesterday, 23rd, was a full day with tour of the park and the night hike here at hotel wildlife refuge – thus I did not get photos all processed until today, the 24th, the anniversary of me living in Costa Rica four years now.
I think I have said this before in the blog, but I will repeat that Manuel Antonio National Park is the most visited of all 28 or so national parks in Costa Rica and thus generally my least favorite because it is “loved to death” with too many people (think Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the states with the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge mess). My last time here was in 2015 with Kevin Hunter and the park tour was different in that we saw some different animals and probably had a better guide who grew up in the area. We saw squirrel monkeys then which we did not this time nor the parrot snake I photographed on that visit, but otherwise similar. And this time we went to all three beaches in the park, while only going to the one main beach last time.
And this time there are now more trails and a really nice series of bridges or elevated walkways through the mangrove swamp, handicap accessible with braille signs! Though behind the U.S. in handicap accessibility, Costa Rica is moving fast in that direction!
I go mainly for the wildlife, so that is the main slideshow below, but many people come here for the three different beaches inside the park and pay the $16 admission just to spend the day on one of the beaches, so a shot of each of the three beaches is in the second slideshow. Overall, Manuel Antonio is just too “touristy” for me and I have no desire to return here. The hotel with its own wildlife refuge is nice and I love the views from the hillside, but it too is rather “touristy” and overpriced, so I don’t see myself returning here either. But glad I’ve had all these experiences! The Costa Rica tourists see.
Manuel Antonio Wildlife
Beaches of Manuel Antonio
“Adventure is worthwhile.”
-Aesop
See this TRIP GALLERY 2018 December Si Como No.
Sunset from Room
I just had to make a second post tonight with this sunset from the deck of my room. Even though I think the room is overpriced, I really like having vistas like this from my room. 🙂
“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”
― Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds
See this TRIP GALLERY 2018 December Si Como No.
Butterflies
On the hotel property’s “Wildlife Refuge” or nature trail is a “Butterfly Garden” like you find all over Costa Rica, a big, high ceiling cage with lots of flowering plants and continuously hatching butterflies. Here’s some of the ones I saw there today in a simple little slideshow. I do not have my butterfly book with me, meaning I could have mis-labeled one or two and there is one I have no idea of the name and there was no attendant to help me label them. Most I already knew from all I have photographed all over Costa Rica. Enjoy what Robert Frost calls “Flying Flowers!”
Today’s Butterflies
“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
See all my butterflies in my Costa Rica Butterfly Gallery
See this TRIP GALLERY 2018 December Si Como No.