Our hotel is about half way between Quepos and Manuel Antonio. We ate in an overpriced tourist restaurant but around here there are only the sandy beaches, hotels and restaurants geared up to the tourist trade (international and Costa Rican). Unfortunately we missed the bus and arrived late so our table (for 16) had been released and so we were very late eating.
The next day we arrived at the gates of the National Park at 10am and the quota of visitors had already been filled and it was much too hot to wait in a queue for a couple of hours so we decided to go on the beach and get to the Park early tomorrow. Iain loved the beach but the breakers meant I had problems swimming. We had hired a couple of sun loungers and an umbrella for $10 but even in the shade it was very hot and humid and I got a bit burnt. An interesting and very large green locust/cicada flew onto my hand while I was at the side of the hotel pool enjoying a yogurt and fruit smoothie. Chad had booked a table for 7.45pm (which was rather late as we were all starving) in a restaurant built around a WW2 plane. When we got there they had misunderstood and let the table go to another group. Half an hour later we were sat down but the service was appallingly slow and we were still eating at 10pm. I was ready to drop and so were several others so it wasn’t a great evening and the food was pricey. While we were eating Adam was dive bombed by an even bigger cicada (?) which led to much screaming and diversion.
The next day we got up at 6am and caught the 7am bus to the park and got in without trouble ($5each). Manuel Antonio is a beautiful place and we had a couple of close encounters with three toed sloths, saw a large black and yellow spider and several large morpho butterflies with iridescent blue wings. We wandered up a trail to a nearly dry waterfall and then to a viewpoint with lovely views over the coastline. We then went to a lovely little cove called Gamelas where we had a welcome swim which I enjoyed because there were no large breakers.
We then walked alongside a beautiful shoreline where we saw many white faced capuchin monkeys and then to a bakery in Manuel Antonio, where we bought some pasties for lunch and had a beer before returning to the hotel on the 1.30pm bus. After a swim in the pool we left at 3.30pm on our bus. About 40 minutes out the fan belt went and we limped to the garage which after an hour decided they didn’t have the right size so our driver called for another
bus. As all this meant a delay of three hours Chad arranged for us to have our final dinner en route at the crocodile restaurant previously mentioned. The food was good and a lot cheaper than in Quepos and was followed by a slide show on Chad’s computer of photos various group members had taken. Iain was voted the most adventurous – not bad for an old one!
Our final day in Costa Rica was spent having a lie in and going to the Jade and Gold Museums - very interesting. Tomorrow we fly to Santiago and then the next day on to Easter Island, so farewell until we get internet access again...lots of love Ann and Iain