Blogs from Manuel Antonio, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 17

This was our travel day. We didn’t finish packing our bags till nearly 1 AM, so getting up at 3 AM to leave the house by 4 basically made it feel like we’d pulled an all nighter. And the shuttle that was supposed to pick us up by 4 was about 20 minutes late, and had a headlight out. We were starting to think these were omens! But really after that there wasn’t anything interesting till we got to San Jose. The last leg of our journey was from San Jose to Quepos / Manuel Antonio by plane. This was the leg that had us worried when packing our bags because their website said the max weight for luggage was 25 lbs + 2 carry on. My bag weighed 35 lbs and Nikki’s weighed 41 lbs. ... read more

Na twee weken buffelen op de duikschool, mag Suus eindelijk op vakantie. Yes! Ian en Suus samen de hort op. Wat een heerlijkheid. We hebben zo´n zin om lekker te gaan rondcrossen in een 4wheel drive, joehoe! Huurauto geregeld via Brenda van Rich Coast Diving. Amper vertrokken of we hebben ons eerste snelheidsbekeuring al binnen. Afgekocht met veel te veel dollars (we zijn beginners hierin....). Koelbox gekocht in Liberia, volgegooid met kouwe drankjes. Toeristische route genomen, lekker gezwommen onderweg in een heerlijk riviertje waar Ian nog een schoonheidsbehandeling van wat volborstige jonge giechelende Tica´s krijgt. Kilometers palmbomen en vergezichten over de Pacific. Uiteindelijk ´s avonds aangekomen in Manuel Antonio. Kamer met zeezicht... moet je altijd maar afwachten als je een kamer huurt als het al donker is. Maar we worden nie... read more

"Pura vida." It's about the good things in life that come from what's natural, and Ticos (Costa Ricans) love saying it. And I've loved living it for the past few days. (Mav, because I know you're reading this, I just wanted you to know that they also say "man" exactly like in Scarface. It's awesome. And I say it every chance I get.) As my last foreign stopover before making it back home, I landed at the international airport in San José, Costa Rica, on Friday afternoon and was prompted greeted by rain, which begins like clockwork every afternoon--2:00 in San José, 4:00 in Quepos. (Speaking of rain, it just began to downpour outside of my little internet café.) Leaving the big city, I grabbed a bus directly south to Quepos and the Parque Nacional Manuel ... read more

Manuel Antonio was really an amazing park. I would definitely recommend heading there in the rainy season, considering it felt like we had the park all to ourselves with the exception of only a few other hikers. We have heard that the place gets a bit overrun in the dry season with tour buses lining up on the street outside. Our seven dollar entry fee was well spent as we saw an abundance of wildlife, interesting flora and beautiful beaches. The hiking was cool due to the trails being shaded by the tree canopy. However, I would also recommend hiking in the early morning - the afternoons can get quite hot here. Bring water as well, which can be purchased from folks on the street outside the entrance. No maps are sold nor are they needed ... read more

We shared quality time at home after returning from La Fortuna and Volcan Arenal. Craig and Callista made brownies together. The kids and I made luminaries out of cans. I thought it was a nice idea but it will go into the “don’t try this at home” category. What kid wouldn’t like to bang a nail into a chunk of ice? The Mot-mot even decided Craig was worth getting to know and made quite a few appearances. What a treat! It was nice to have time to just hang out at home before we headed out again. Craig even walked up the hill and made friends with some of the tico kids his age. He went to a bonfire with them Sunday evening. I was both surprised and proud of how he jumped right in with ... read more