The Last Days

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Puntarenas » Manuel Antonio
April 19th 2006

Published: April 19th 2006

I am now home and sitting at my desk in fact. If it was not for the great memories and overall experience it would feel like I never even left. It is funny to come home and realize how easy it is to fall right back into the routine I had left. Not saying the routine is bad, I always enjoy hanging out with my roommates and other friends. Plus, living in Newport Beach is awesome. When you look for it, one can easily find the sense of community that exists on the penisula; additionally, we have the ocean as our backyard. Life is good here.

As for the recap for the last couple days we were in Costa Rica. Everything ended on a good note more or less. Thursday we hopped on a bus from Quepos to Manuel Antonio. As I had mentioned in previous blogs it was Semana Santa, with Thursday and Friday being holidays for nearly everyone Costa Rican. Many of the locals warned us that the crowds would be really bad and there were many more people moving around. However, living in Newport, any person can tell you how bad the crowds can get. The crowds in Manuel Antonio didn't even compare to how bad they can be here at home.

As I was saying, we hopped on a bus then went ahead and paid the $7 entrance fee for the both of us into Manuel Antonio Park. By far, we saw the most wildlife here including monkeys, a sloth, and land crabs everywhere! We went up and checked out one of the lookout points as well. The view was breathtaking. We overheard two locals conversing, saying when you are at that spot alone, it is a spiritual place. The panoramic view and piercing tranquility support this Tico's claims. Gorgeous.

We headed down another trail and found a nice beach where we relaxed until the park closed at 4 pm. Once we left we set-up on the public beach and enjoyed yet another beautiful sunset. It was a mellow day; unfortunately, when we went out to dinner that night we learned that the city was not serving any alcohol for the next three days for Semana Santa. It was not a big deal, but still a little annoying when you want to have a beer.

Friday we resolved to get up earlier and make it over to Manuel Antonio at a earlier time. No buses were running that day and we had to take a cab over. The ride cost 2500 colones, and there was no talking any of the drivers down. With the buses not running they all had the upper hand. We just stayed on the public beach that day and bought all our souvenirs. Deanna and I were going crazy! Once we struck a great bargain for some necklaces with the first vendor, IT WAS ON! It was so much fun haggling with them the jewelry and crafts they had to offer were so unique the two of us could not stop. We bought a lot of cool stuff!

We also had not done any snorkeling so far on the vacation and after talking to a lady working in a dive shop in Quepos, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful snorkeling (as she put it) Manuel Antonio had to offer. We never found the person she recommended renting the snorkeling gear and kayak. We figured they were all the same anyways. Little did we know...

The guy we rented from, Carlos, said he only had masks and snorkels, but no fins. I said, "Forget it, we will just get the kayak then." He assured us that we would not need fins because the water was shallow and calm where we would go. He told us we would be able to tie up the kayak to a bouy right by the snorkeling spot (which we did). However, we were not aware that this guy was a LIAR! We paddled the 1/4 to 1/2 mile out to the rocks by which we would snorkel and were assisted with tying up the kayak. We ended up getting two masks and ONE snorkel, so I went ahead and went around holding my breath. As for being shallow, the water was still 15 to 20 feet deep with huge swells coming through. The only way I was able to see any fish was to pull myselft down the rope that was anchored to the rocks below and holding our kayak.

When I got deep enough to see fish they were having the same trouble as the two of us. The current was throwing them around also! Moving 10 feet to my left then 2 seconds later being 5 feet to my right. When I lifted my head out of the water to find a portion of my life vest floating away from me, we made the call to get the hell out of there. By the time I got back into the kayak, the other half of my vest was also falling off. The whole time there was another guy snorkeling with all the proper gear. To pour salt on an open wound he was swimming circles around us.

Nauseated we paddled back to the beach and had to wait for the six foot sets to calm down in order to not be crushed by the surf on the way into shore. When we got on the beach, Deanna did not hold herself back and went off to the guy in Spanish about how bad the experience was for us. He actually reimbursed us half the money, which was a huge surprise to the both of us. Go Deanna! It was a really bad situation for us at the time, but now is a hilarious story.

We tried to get a taxi back to Quepos after sunset, which was difficult because the power had gone out in the city. When we did get a hold of a cab, he tried to charge us 10 bucks to get back. We were fortunate enought to have a Tico offer us a ride back into Quepos, and we took him up on his offer. When we went to leave he threw his whole family (wife, 2 kids, mother, and another woman) in the back of his small pick up truck, so we could sit in the front. He would not let us protest, His name was Pedro and a extremely nice guy.

We spent Saturday traveling to the airport and back home. Not much to say there other than it was a long day. We got stuck in the back row on the plane again and were not able to recline the seats. Kinda sucked. It was nice getting home and dropping my bag that was about 20 lbs heavier than Deanna's bag (note to self, Pack a lot less on my next trip).

And, like I said, I am sitting at my desk in front of my computer almost like I never left. It is a little depressing, but I guess that is just the way life goes. Well, if you let it...

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