Dec 31-Jan 5: Manuel Antonio and Un Año Nuevo

2024’s penultimate day was spent at Manuel Antonio National Park. The park is Costa Rica’s smallest national park but is one of its most popular tourist destinations due to a great combination of beautiful beaches and biodiversity. On my tour of the park, we spotted sloths, howler monkeys, tree frogs, and more. Although it was a pretty touristy atmosphere, Manuel Antonio was a stunning area. It was really cool to see Costa Rica’s ecotourism prowess in full force. Also of significance on Monday - I clinched a Fantasy Football championship in my Peace Corps cohort’s inaugural league.

Tuesday was another travel day as I returned to the San Jose metro area. Tuesday was also New Year’s Eve. I assumed Costa Rica’s capital city would be party central for the holiday, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Even in San Jose’s trendy Barrio Escalante district, almost all the bars and restaurants were closed. After consulting some fellow volunteers and some Ticos, it became clear that New Year’s Eve was not a day for going out like it is in the States. Rather, most Ticos prefer to ring in the New Year with friends and family at home. So, long story short, my New Year’s celebration was pretty tame this year and I didn’t mind that at all.


New Year’s Day is a pretty big holiday here, so most businesses were closed the next day and people spent more time with family. For me, I didn’t have any big excuses to take the holiday completely off, so I primarily spent the day catching up on work (and watching college football of course). Similarly, Thursday was a day to catch up on work and to run some errands. For example, every month I have to bus over to the capital of the cantón to visit an ATM in order to pay my host mom, so that trip occurred this week.


Friday morning was a pretty typical day as well. That evening, I ventured into San Jose to meet a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer’s family who was in Costa Rica visiting him and vacationing. It was fun to meet his kids and share our Peace Corps experience with them. The rest of the weekend wasn't particularly noteworthy; I spent ample time writing, running, and watching some sports. The next week or so I’ll mainly be working on fine-tuning my report on the community as it is due in the next couple of weeks before I go abroad on vacation.

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