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September 8, 2005
We caught an early morning bus to Manuel Antonio, the last destination in our wonderful escapade. Again, traveling in Costa Rica provided us quite an adventure in and of itself: passing on winding roads which barely fit a single car on them; steep dirt roads into cloudy (read: blind) turns; sprawling coffee fields; dilapidated bridges which were actually missing planks that we actually drove over!!; crocodiles in the rivers below us (which we were in mortal fear of falling into!); and Playa Hermosa, a famous beach on the Caribbean sea for surfing. Perhaps the most memorable part of this trip was the “highway.” At some points, due to the overabundance of potholes, cars were literally driving off the highway and onto the grass!! We felt like we were in a video game as the driver maneuvered his way on (and off) the road, often going into incoming traffic then veering back just in time to narrowly escape a head-on collision.
Hahah! Once we arrived at Manuel Antonio we checked into the youth hostel there. It looked absolutely gorgeous from the outside and was described by our travel book as “an inviting backpacker crash-pad. Basic rooms are
bright and clean, with fans.” True, but the walls were 1cm thick and there was a good 10cm (4 inches) gap between the walls and ceiling. A note on the inside of our room stated “Check your room for frogs, snakes, scorpions, crabs, bugs, insects, and other creatures.”
Other creatures?!?! Even the method of securing the room made us nervous - a padlock holding a frail piece of metal attached to the wall with a flimsy "nail."
Of course this is safe Laure!!! After checking in, we explored the tiny town and observed capuchin monkeys running around town. The hostel is about 300 feet from the beach. We relaxed on the beach for several hours letting the warm, jade-green waves lap at our feet (and the roots of the tropical rainforest which touch the ocean). Souvenir shops and people selling homemade goods (necklaces, statutes, hammocks, pipes, fruits, shells, shirts, etc) line the streets while birds fill the trees with color. The town has a very good vibe about it-- very different than any of the other places in Costa Rica. As nightfall came, we took another stroll along the sandy beach under a partially full moon watching the moonlit
black waves crash and tumble in front of us.
...the warm and balmy night, the comforting glow of the moon, sand stuck in our toes, .... PARADISE!! Friday, September 9, 2005
6:45am, we walk from our hostel, located conveniently minutes from the beach, towards the entrance to the national park. The tide is in and thus the entrance to the park is just beyond our grasp, so we paid the local boatsman to row us across.
We’ll be the first visitors to the park today! As we enter, an agouti, a large rat-like creature with rabbit-like legs, is wandering near the edge of the water of a postcard perfect beach. So beautiful! The beaches begged for attention but we pushed on, determined to visit and see all that this park has to offer before guests arrived. Each beach we passed surpassed the beauty of the last and the trail took us deeper and deeper into this exotic wonderland. We passed signs that said “Do not feed the monkeys” and observed white face monkeys playing in the trees not more than 2 feet away. We eventually stopped at the most remote beach to just admire the serene majesty of this
place seemingly frozen in time.
We love it here. While sprawled out under the blazing Costa Rican sun, soaking in the sun and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere, a coati snuck up behind us and was trying to run off with David's backpack!
Oh the audacity! Humph! David ran to the backpack and grabbed a strap, and then we engaged in an actual tug-o-war... David ultimately being victorious. And with that, we decided that we should probably explore more of this park as there was yet one more trail to walk - Sendero perezoso, the sloth trail (note: perezoso also means lazy in Spanish). But the trail appears to be named the sloth trail not for the sightings of sloth, but rather, because it is very steep and people have to take frequent breaks when climbing it.
Hahah. Coming back down to lounge on a beach we noticed more butterflies, hanging vines, and the most incredible sight one can hope to see in Costa Rica - a sloth descending down a tree!! This is special because sloths live their entire life high in the trees with the sole exception of coming down to the ground to defecate once a week.
Inappropriate Laure!!
Come back here! Don't leave me like this!! BWHWHAHAHAhAhahahahhaha! Saturday, September 10, 2005
Although we had originally planned on hitting another city today we decided to stay here longer. I simply could not get enough and I wanted our vacation to feel more like a vacation rather than deal with transportation, finding a new hostel, etc. So we both cheerfully dropped our plans and kicked it on the beach another day. Again, we had the beaches almost completely to ourselves until noon when a small number of people start to show up. We spent most of this day just relaxing on the beach, playing and swimming in the water.
Monkeys in the rainforest behind us, sand beneath us, and an ocean front view... we wish this moment would last forever.
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