To the beach!

After spending nine days in rural Mastatal, we then packed our belongings and traveled to Playa Palo Seco. We checked into the hotel and were very appreciative of the accommodations: air conditioning, backyard pool, indoor toilettes, laundry machines, and secondary napping beds. The food the hotel served was amazing (though very American) and meals were always served with fruit smoothies. We also had the neighboring beach—pristine with palm trees, driftwood, and white sand—all to ourselves! 🏖 

The hotels were also close to an artificial mangrove habitat (home to the family of plants of the genus Rhizophora) and we were able to embark on a boat tour to explore the marine wildlife. Along the way, we encountered many unique creatures like pit vipers, white-faced monkeys, silky anteaters, green herons, etc. This venture demonstrated that the biodiversity of Costa Rica was not ubiquitous and uniform throughout; changes in flora/fauna species fluctuate tremendously in varying regions of Costa Rica. 🐒