Quepos, Manuel Antonio National Park and El Cocal - A wonderful few days

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Quepos turned out to be just the backpacker haven that we expected. That's not a bad thing. There were plenty of hotels and hostels, but we stayed in an apartment (Los Sueños - The Dreams) just out of the town centre. That should have meant peace and quiet but local dogs, birds and early morning traffic put paid to that idea! Still, it was nice to have our own facilities again and breakfast on the terrace was lovely every day. It was nice to have such a choice of restaurants and bars too. The most popular by some distance was Soda Sánchez, and having eaten there, it's easy to see why!

We enjoyed the town of Quepos itself and wandered along the seafront to the marina. The whole promenade is often bustling with tourists and locals alike with a large Quepos selfie sign at one end. There are many places to sit and watch the sunset too, and as sunsets go, it wasn't a bad one. The marina is nice and there are plenty of iguanas to distract you from the posh and no doubt expensive bars and restaurants presumably well used by those on the very expensive looking boats!

The main reason most people visit Quepos is to go to the Manuel Antonio National Park. That was our reason too. Don't try on a Tuesday though - it's closed! Getting there was easy as a local bus costing less than a dollar leaves the bus station every 15-30 minutes depositing you a short walk from the entry point in about half an hour. The bus did get crowded as it passed the many hotels along the way so getting on at the bus station proved to be a very good idea.

Entering the park cost $16 despite everything online saying it was $18.08. We had booked our tickets online beforehand and just showed them on our phones. You have to buy online although we did see people doing it there and then on their phones. Bags are carefully checked to make sure you are taking no food or plastic items into the park. Cigarettes and lighters are strictly prohibited too. There are places to fill your water bottle in the park though, and a café which looked unsurprisingly overpriced. If you need the loo, go before you enter the park as the ones at the entrance are BEFORE you go in. The security team were good at letting us nip back out without having our bags re-inspected. You will be hassled by guides (some official, some not) but after the first few hundred metres or so that stopped.

Once inside the park we didn't do the waterfalls trail as it looked quite busy and we heard there wasn't much wildlife along it. Instead we followed the so-called sloth trail. There were no sloths on that either! We did see an aguti (like a giant rodent) which we would have missed but for a photographer sticking his lens into the thick covering of trees. At the first junction we headed to Espadilla Beach which meant we got there before those on their guided tours. It was glorious and we watched a pelican diving before spotting a guide-led group staring up into a tree where we saw a sloth! More iguanas littered the sands and before the groups began to arrive it was like a tropical paradise. Just yards away across the peninsula was Manuel Antonio Beach. That one was packed which really surprised us as we hadn't expected more than 300 people to be allowed in the park at any time. There was a high observation tower which we climbed but thanks to very noisy visitors no monkeys or birds came anywhere near it. Some people just don't know how to behave in a natural environment like this which is such a shame. Also disappointing was the closure of the footpaths around the end of the peninsular and up to its lookouts. We decided on a lie on the beach and a bit of a swim before the day got too hot, then headed out of the park. Around the café we saw loads of monkeys and most tourists behaved well. We also saw another sloth which was a bonus. Walking out of the park we were also fortunate to see a guide pointing out a strange white frog to his group. Getting back to Quepos was just as easy as getting there with a bus stop right opposite where we had been dropped off.

The other thing we loved about Quepos was our morning out in El Cocal. Across the water at the river mouth you can see a spit of land and we decided to walk out to it, crossing the river using a small and very cheap ferry. There we walked for miles along the beach. It was gorgeous and we watched squadrons of pelicans swoop over the increasingly large waves. Seeing vultures on the beach is a curious sight too. We were more or less alone all of the time. Perhaps other tourists are put off by the "real world" feel of the place and the lack of touristy infrastructure. We walked all the way back along the interior road and thoroughly enjoyed our peek into real Costa Rican life. If you visit Quepos, make sure you allow some time for El Cocal as well.

From there we headed to the capital San Jose as our trip was drawing to a close. Quepos bus station sees many departures each day and buying tickets was easy. There are some very nice snacks available in the shops nearby too!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Sloth
Costa Rica wildlife. I'm sorry you didn't see more animals.

[rrruss]

More animals?
I think we did ok really. Lots of nice memories and plenty of photos!