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Published: December 27th 2009
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Crocs!
We were impressed by the big ones we saw on one side... Today was a ROUGH day.
We caught a shuttle from our hostel that would take us directly from one door to the other. Although this one was $35 pp compared to local buses at around $8 pp, this was going to save us being overcrowded, having to transfer buses, having to wait for buses, and saving us about 4 hours travel time. Perfect. Off we went.
Our driver was great - stopped at a cool place where we saw about 20 crocodiles bathing in the sun at the side of a river. cool.
4.5 hours later we arrived in Quepos. It's the town about 15 minutes from where we were heading to Manuel Antonio. We did drop a couple off at Wide Mouthed Frog Packpackers (which I had read was great but wished to stay right in Manuel Antonio, close to the beach) then were off for our destination.
We arrived at Costa Linda Packpackers, unloaded all our things and wished farewell to the shuttle driver. We went to check in at the desk. I had e-mailed for reservation for 3 nights and they had confirmed. perfect.
We get up to the desk and say my
CROCS!
... then we crossed over to the other side of the bridge and saw WAY more! name. They search the list and see nothing. "Momentito" says the guy and he goes whispering to another worker. We wait 5 minutes for them to tell us they are full. Didn't matter apparently that I had made reservations. They were full. Nothing else was said. I was ANGRY! I started trying to get angry in Spanish, which was not effective, and Walter finally got him to call some lady who walked down the street to take us to see her place. It wasn't $20 like Costa Linda but it was $25 and had a private bath. Not happy, but fine.
We got to see her place and it's not clean, SUPER warm, and no security. Crud.
So we're off in the middle of the sunny, and extremely hot afternoon, carrying our heavy backpacks. In the process of about 2 hours we managed to find the following things:
- VERY busy hotels with NO accommodations, as we're in the middle of high-season
- VERY expensive hotels that were anywhere from $70-150 per night.
- A small room with 2 single beds that was infested with about 100 mosquitos for $35
- A dark and dingy room about the size of a closet WAY in the back of the hotel, for $35
- Cabins that looked decent enough but had NO one manning reception.
- A hotel (Coco Beach) that advertised rooms for $30 but once acquired were actually $65 and couldn't understand why people were getting angry. Actually, at this one, we had mostly given up on anything else and decided to just get that room. We walked the millions of stairs to the BACK of the hotel and settled our things, thinking it was fine to spend the $65 for one night, as there was a pool and A/C in the room. When I went to pay, there were other travelers arguing about the MANY false advertised signs outside the hotel, and I agreed it was horrible business. I think this made the guy mad, because suddenly I was told he had reserved my room to someone else in a matter of 5 minutes and they no longer had the space... so, down the million stairs with backpacks.
By this time (2 hours later), I was having a panic-attack. I was in hysterics, TOTALLY de-hydrated, HOT, tired, frustrated, and getting increasingly more worried about a lack of a place to sleep. We decided to take a taxi back to Quepos to check out the Wide Mouthed Frog where we had previously dropped off the other travelers.
What a blessing in disguise! This place is amazing. It has a private room (shared bath), shared kitchen (so we can continue to make cheap meals!), shared living room with comfy couches and TV, free internet, a POOL, AND it's only $30. I cried again once I had unloaded my gear and was sitting in the cool room with the fan blowing on me. I was just SO relieved to have found a place and not be walking around town.
We paid right away for all 3 nights upfront, because I KNOW we won't find better... couldn't.
We just ate lunch (shared a plate of nachos at 4pm - this being the first reall thing we'd eaten all day) then went to the grocery store to stock up on things to make for dinner. We'll most likely have dinner around 9pm, then head to bed. Anxious to get onto hostel-review sites to bad-mouth the Costa Linda Backpackers, as well as send an angry e-mail to the manager, but then intend on cooling off in the pool and curling up on a lounge chair with my book. It's been a long and tiring day.
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