Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Alrite, so again I gotta catch up, but I get to recount all about my wonderful weekend in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica. This was definitely my best weekend thus far, and my favorite place.
So starting with Friday...We left in the bus at about 1 pm, which seems to be the standard leaving time for our weekend trips. We started driving out to the Pacific Coast to Quepos, which is the town right next to Manuel Antonio National Park. On the way there though, we got to stop at Rio Tarcoles, which is famous for its population of crocodiles. They live underneath the bridge which crosses the river, and people walk along the bridge and watch them down below. There were probably somewhere between 8-12 of them, one can never be sure because some of them like to lay down underneath the murky water. It was incredible to see. The biggest one there was probably somewhere around 10-12 feet long from nose to tail, which is certainly impressive. While watching these guys I even got to see some scarlet macaws do a flyover, which was cool to see them fly along squawking.
After seeing the crocs, we drove along the coastline towards Quepos. The Pacific Coast in Costa Rica is just breathtaking. Imagine lush jungle vegetation running straight into rocky coastline with beautiful waves and beaches. The sun was out (which never happens in San Jose) and was reflecting beautifully on the water, with enormous clouds overhead. Absolutely stunning. Once we got in towards Quepos we stopped to get some supplies at the supermercado, and lo and behold, across the street on a telephone wire was a sloth, hanging out with a fistful of leaves. I didnt believe what I was seeing at first, especially because I was not anticipating their size. This guy was pretty darn big, like the size of a small child. It was amazing to watch it slowly eating its food, and just really not caring at all that we were all gawking and taking photos.
We finally got into our hotel at about 7 pm, which overlooked the ocean beautifully. We went and ate dinner at this one restaurant with a giant cargo plane hanging over it, pretty good food, but very inauthentic, very touristy and they spoke to us in english, a good sign it was not going to be a typical costa rican place. But I got to eat a whole barbequed Red Snapper, which was delicious, I even tried the eyes which are sposed to be a delicacy, and they were ok, just not something I will try again.
The next morning we got to sleep in till about 8:30 (yes, that was a real treat, kinda sad huh?) and then went down to Manuel Antonio National Park. I wasn't entirely sure what to think when we first got there, mostly because I've never seen a national park in a foreign country, and it seemed a little bit odd. But I was pleasantly surprised. Once you enter the park you walk along a series of trails which lead to different lookout points, and the many different beaches. While we walked along the trails going towards the beach, I enjoyed what was probably 100% humidity and 90 degrees, which was brutal. I was literally dripping with sweat, which is always pleasant and incredibly attractive.
Once we arrived at the first beach we were going to be spending some time at we got to see one of the things which this park is famous for...its monkeys. A group of capuchin monkeys (like Marcel from Friends) were running rampant through the trees, eating mangoes and torturing tourists. They are hilarious to watch. They always have what looks like a very grumpy expression on their face, make a lot of noise, and have absolutely no fear of humans. I watched one monkey climb stealthily through a tree which was hanging over a group of people laying in the sand relaxing, then jump down right next to them, grab something (most likely food), then run back up the tree and discuss its treasure with its friends. I saw some of them playing with someone's sightseeing scope as well.
The beaches there were incredible. Pristine beautiful sand, vegation running right up to the beach, even the water in some locations, with big rocky islands out a ways in the water. Being how I am, I immediately had to get in, and pretty much spent all my time in the water. A word of wisdom...be aware of the ocean's power to take things away from you, as well as strip you of clothes and sunscreen. By the time I left the beach, I had given up both my earrings to Poseidon (and i didnt bring an extra pair, oops), my Hopi ring, as well as had the sunscreen stripped off me so that I got to burn myself silly, and look like a damn lobster. But at least I got to swim in some incredible waves. The waves here are amazing, bigger than I experienced in Hawaii, or California, or anywhere. Bodysurfing was really fun, except for when I got the occasional facedrag on the sand...always pleasant to be aggressively exfoliated by Mother Nature. Once the tide came in, things got a little crazy. We had placed our stuff way up high on the beach, on top of a log which was raised up even higher on a sand dune. Needless to say, we didnt think the waves would ever come near our stuff. But as high tide came up, and the waves really started getting nasty, we watched as a wave attempted to drag our stuff away forever. We sprinted up to our stuff, quickly hauled our backpacks up into a tree, then chased our shoes as they started to go out to sea. We were mostly lucky, one girl lost her shirt, but no one had to go home without a lost camera or shoes or something.
That night we had a BBQ with our guides, which was awesome. Listened to some Latin music, hung out, chatted, and walked along the beach under a full moon. THe food was incredible. Luis, the guy who runs all the trips for students, made some awesome meats for us to put on corn tortillas and just toss down the hatch. Everyone here is obsessed with their local beer, Imperial. Its pretty good, but runs along the lines of like PBR or Bud or something back home. But its cheap, and went great with BBQ food.
The next morning (Sunday, today), I woke up around 7:30 so I could get some time in at the local beach before having to leave to come back to San Jose. It was amazingly beautiful today, sunny, good waves, everything was perfect. The best part of the day, after being at the beach and coming up to pack up and leave, an enormous family of spider monkeys had moved in on some banana trees next to the hotel. They were hilarious, and slightly less intimidating. I'm pretty sure they were squirrel monkeys, but dont quote me on that. They were this enormous group, and they ran all over the railings of the breakfast area, the tables, the canopy, and the trees. Absolutely adorable and hilarious.
So yes, another amazing weekend down, two more to go before I go home. Next weekend I will be going to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side, which should be amazing as well, especially since I will be getting to go snorkeling. But, until later, I hope you enjoyed the blog, check out the new photos that I put up, lots of cool ones.
Chao!!
- comments