manuel antonio

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After spending another Monday night with the Jaco locals at Tabacon in which a good hour of the night was spent looking for a lost mojo I woke up later than I'd hoped. The plan was to go to Manuel Antonio National Park today. I caught the chicken bus at 9.30 with quite a number of gringos and then enjoyed some added 'rest' time.
The park is good hour and a half from Jaco, but a beautiful day trip. It is quite small however there are three different beaches throughout the park and heaps of wildlife in which to cast your eyes. I was lucky enough to see two sloths, hundreds of monkeys and just about as many iguana's. The beach was my home for a couple of hours..I'm sure you know whats coming next...I swam, slept and people watched. No reading today just plenty of thinking.
I hung out by myself until about 3 o'clock when I wandered back through the jungle to catch the bus into Quepos. You know I guess it's a good thing that I enjoy my own company and then again I guess I wouldn't be travelling alone if I didn't!
Arriving in Quepos at 3.33 I had just missed the bus back to Jaco. Just my luck?! But never mind, there was another one leaving at 5.30. This just meant that I was stuck in Quepos in the boiling humid heat waiting for 2 hours, by myself. Hmmmmm. Luckily I'd made life long friends with some American guys whilst waiting for the morning bus and so they offered me a discounted rate to share a cab with them. I said I wasn't interested in wasting money and that I'd much rather waste time waiting for a $2 bus, so they offered me a ride for $6 meanwhile they were paying $25 each, score!
After talking about numerous topics, including how much one of the men wanted to go to Nimbin we made it back to Jaco. I'd had another lovely day exploring the wonders of Costa Rica and without spending a fortune. Manuel Antonio is definitely worth the look. A beautiful piece of paradise on the sea. You are pretty much guaranteed to see wildlife and if you seek out the quieter beaches you aren't overwhelmed by the hoards of tourists. Another tick for Costa Rica.
This particular day was actually Australia Day back home although due to being soooooo busy with my life I failed to realise and therefore I failed to celebrate. Very unpatriotic of me and rather depressing when I realised that I'd missed one of my favourite days of the year.
Happy Australia Day to everyone back home and around the world. I do hope you celebrated in style.

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