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Popular British Journalist Enjoys a Manuel Antonio Villa Vacation

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The British television presenter Penny Smith travelled to Manuel Antonio and Quepos in the Central Pacific, Costa Rica as part of a beach vacation review for the best selling newspaper, The Daily Mail.

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In an article published on the 29th of May, Penny Smith details her exciting eco tourist adventure to the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica, where she stayed in a luxury villa in Quepos. Smith opens her review with a reference to the resident sloth, explaining that the Costa Rican pace of life is laid back and that’s not without reason. “Don’t get me wrong – there are speedy animals here, including jaguars, apparently, but the sloths are the ones that do the place justice. It’s a country where it pays to take your time. Stand still and you suddenly spot all sorts of things.”

Smith stayed in a luxury vacation rental close to Quepos which was nestled on one of the many verdant foothills that contour Costa Rica’s Central Pacific coast. The villa overlooked a deserted beach and included a 24 hour concierge service, “What a wonderful thing to have staff. It means that the mountain of washing-up that accrues with a large party does not become a source of acrimonious arguments.” Smith explained.

While the vacation rental’s ocean view Jacuzzi proved a big hit with the adults, the children loved to feed their newly

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adopted pet lizard hibiscus flowers from the tropical garden. Eager to enjoy several Costa Rica eco adventure tours, Smith and her family took an exciting horseback riding tour to nearby waterfalls, trekked through the Manuel Antonio National Park, and went mangrove fishing.

After coming home with a tasty red snapper, the male vacationers said that fishing in the mangrove swamps was the best part of their vacation! Smith expanded, “They said the trip had been so fantastic because it felt like something they couldn’t have done as normal tourists.”

The television presenter was amazed at the amount of Costa Rican wildlife, “Costa Rica is awash with animal life, including the four-eyed opossum, the silky anteater, the jaguarundi and gaggles of monkeys. Spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, capuchin monkeys and howler monkeys all rollick through the trees or traipse about in search of food or adventure. If I’m not mistaken, Costa Rica has more wildlife per square inch than anywhere else on Earth.”

Smith’s most memorable part of her beach vacation was hiking through the award winning Manuel Antonio National Park, “…My favorite moment was hiking through a huge national park and finding a beautiful white sandy beach where monkeys fooled about in the undergrowth.”

Although perhaps not so well known in the U.S, Penny Smith is a household name in the United Kingdom, thanks to her long stint on the morning program GMTV and as a newsreader on Sky News. A regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Smith has travelled to numerous destinations in Central and South America. Smith exclaimed Costa Rica is, “Utterly beautiful. It is incredible that in such a small country, there is so much to see.”

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And a last parting piece of advice for all those image conscious travelers, “ If your hair goes mad in the damp, prepare for some frightful photos, or at least stand next to a sloth – its hair never looks good.”

Quotations from: Erupting volcanoes, lizards and life in the sloth lane for Penny Smith in Costa Rica, The Daily Mail, 29th May 2011. Publishing most of their travel reviews online The Mail Online is reviewed daily by nearly 3 million users.

Photo credits: Photo of Penny Smith, Daily Mail.

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