After traveling from Parrita and the Clandestino Beach Resort, all 9 of us (with 5 children!) made our way over to Manuel Antonio, about a 2 hour drive through a lot of dirt roads. We stayed at a rental home with a guest house and a wonderful treehouse, which quickly became an office (when air conditioning wasn’t needed!) Thus began the week of working from a treehouse in Costa Rica in Manuel Antonio!

 

Driving from Parrita to Manuel Antonio

If you are making the drive, I highly recommend one thing: if you see food you’d like to eat, stop and eat! You don’t know when (or if) you’ll see good food again on this long trek through lots of dirt roads and winding hills. Also, stock up on water, but be prepared to search out clean restrooms. I also recommend making this trip in the daytime and not at night, as it’s very hard to see. We learned that the hard way on the incoming trip to Parrita. My daughter was so exhausted she passed out with my laptop bag. Another tip: We brought our own car seat; the cheap, foldable kind. It was actually safer than the really bad one from Avis.

Manuel Antonio

Manuel Antonio is a beautiful area with nature reserves and a National Park. We didn’t do any of those tours, although in hindsight, I wish we had. After reaching the Park area, we drove another 40 minutes or so to a home that we rented. Our friends found the home from a travel agent they had worked. It had a main home and two guest houses. The accommodations were so-so. I much prefer staying in hotels and would recommend doing that instead of renting a house. At least be sure your air conditioning works!

 

Nature

The area itself was full of beautiful nature! Monkeys were all over the power lines and trees around us. A big three-toed sloth was chilling in a tree right by the front door. Iguanas and beautiful yellow crabs were all over the property. If you want to see nature, this is a gorgeous place to do it.  You won’t need to make a trek into the rainforest to get to see the monkeys. When you stay as a local, they’ll be living among you. In the distance, you could see the beach as well. It was not within a reasonable driving or walking distance, unfortunately.

This is a monkey hanging in the trees by the front door to the guest home

A three-toed sloth chilling in the trees. It’s said he would come down every five days to defecate and then climb his way back to his spot. I was not able to confirm or deny this.

Things To Do

There were many restaurants and shops to go and visit, and it was easy to stock up the home for the week. With 9 mouths to feed, it was quite a lot of stocking! We had a private chef come in every night (at least that was the plan) to do the big meals for everyone. By the fourth night, most of the children had severe fevers (104-105) and one of the other travelers blamed the chef for improper food handling. (I am convinced it was a virus and not food poisoning) Nevertheless, he canceled the chef for the rest of the week and made for some awkward moments with the travel agent. Despite that, she was really accommodating and helpful to get refunds from various people involved. I rarely see the value of travel agents, but it was apparent in this trip. (She also served as the “concierge” for our stay).

Some Tennessee Moonshine at a shop in Costa Rica!

Working from a Treehouse in Costa Rica

I prefer air conditioning. Always! But there were times, just for fun and for the view, that I brought my laptop with my MiFi (a lifesaver) into the treehouse to work! It was a great change of pace, albeit very slow and cumbersome to work in. The Internet access and WiFi at the house was terrible, so working was not so easy but I got the primary things done. LTE access wasn’t an option; I had 1 bar on 1G with Verizon and my companion on AT&T didn’t have anything better.

 

This was the view from the treehouse – not bad!

Easter in Costa Rica

We happened to go during Easter. I didn’t plan it this way, I was just negligent in looking at a calendar. Still, the treehouse proved an awesome spot for hiding eggs and the kids enjoyed it immensely. While I was working from a treehouse in Costa Rica, the kids were finding eggs. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things To Do in Manuel Antonio

While we didn’t go to the National Park, we did take a Titi Canopy Tour with the kids. This was essentially “kid ziplining”. They had a blast with a GoPro on their helmets and made some great memories together!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also found some horses to rent and took a leisurely horseback through some beautiful parts of the countryside, discovered some super tiny frogs and watched a tree fall across the trail just 30 seconds behind us (eek!). There was a small restaurant with traditional Costa Rican food at the end of the horseback.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside of her hands is the tiniest of frogs!

After several more days, we headed back to the airport. It’s such a long way back (and most flights are super early) that we stayed near the airport.

 

 

The Journey Home

We made the 12 hour journey back to LAX, which turned into 19 hours thanks to more flight delays and high fevers. While Costa Rica isn’t on my bucket list anymore (nor do I plan to return anytime soon), it was a good experience and one my daughter will never forget. Plus, I got to say I was working from a treehouse in Costa Rica!