Oh The Joys Of Irresponsible People

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We woke up a little before 5 am to catch a 5:30 am bus to Quepos. We were told that someone at our hostel, Chill Out Backpackers is always in the office by 5 am. This was not the case and since they had our $20 key deposit we were frantically trying to figure out what room the employee was in. Dan was banging on doors and I was livid that they weren't there despite the fact that we specifically told them we were leaving on the 5:30 am bus. A door opened and a couple of girls came out which happened to be people that we had met in Honduras! They were leaving for an early morning white water rafting trip and told us they had got their key deposit back the night before. What!? Why the heck didn't they just give us ours back? We were not willing to leave without the $20; on our budget that is a night somewhere which is a lot of money.



Finally the employee gets up and hands Dan the money thru the window. It is 5:30 am now, we run to the bus stop with our enormous packs on but we have missed the bus. The next bus to our destination isn't until the afternoon and I am so livid I really can't even function. You have to keep in mind we had been traveling so quickly that I was extremely tired and if we weren't going to catch this bus I could have at least slept in, now we are stuck walking around with our packs and no where to lay down and hardly anywhere is even open. I just sat down on the bench shaking with anger. I know these things happen and they have happened to us and usually I deal with it better but not this time.



We found a place to eat breakfast then went back to the hostel because there was a hammock outside at least for us to lay in and we could use the wifi from that area. After some research we found that we could take a different bus which was leaving 4 hours after our original scheduled departure. We would have to wing it a bit. The bus would take us to a city near the Pan American highway and then we would need to walk or take a cab to the highway and catch a bus there. We decided to go for it because waiting until the afternoon would really set us back.



Getting to the Pan American highway turned out to be really easy. When we got off our first bus we found a restroom (that we had to pay to use of course) and asked how to walk to the highway. It was really pretty straightforward. Along the way we stopped and got some bread and a big chunk of watermelon and ate as we walked. We passed by a school that was named after George Washington which seemed very surprising in Costa Rica, after a chuckle we took a photo.



We arrived at the bus stop and didn't have to wait terribly long. This bus took us to the coast where we had to get another bus to Quepos. While Dan was ordering some food a large man asked where I was from. As soon as he uttered his first word I knew he was from New York. He apparently had been living in Costa Rica for quite some time and proceeded to complain about the cost of living there as it is today. He was kind of amusing actually. He warned us about the town we were in at night but it didn't matter since we were catching a bus out of there.



The bus to Quepos seemed to take forever and when we finally arrived it was after 5 pm. What a long day. We asked some people who spoke English if they knew where a particular hostel was that some other travelers had told us about. They were on their way out of town so they gave us their map and showed us where it was. We took a little city bus to get to the hostel but we couldn't find it. We walked around for quite a while, at one point the road narrowed and there was nowhere to walk except on the road so we decided to cross the street. As we were in the middle of the road a taxi came roaring around the corner, I screamed as I watched Dan nearly get hit by the car. He kicked his legs out behind him and slammed his hands down on the hood of the car to lift himself up to avoid the car hitting him at the knees. It was amazingly quick thinking on his part, especially considering he had his big backpack on. The stupid driver was yelling something at Dan. What a jerk, there were slow signs all over for drivers which he obviously wasn't adhering to. I was shaking so hard, I couldn't believe how close he came to getting hit and nothing really seemed that important other than the fact that he was OK. I gave him a kiss and held him tight for a while, so grateful that he was OK.



We finally found the place they showed us on the map but it was a bar/restaurant with the same name and sadly the hostel we were looking for was a few blocks away from where the bus had originally dropped us off at. We got back on the crowded city bus and along the way witnessed a car almost hit a pedestrian. What a dangerous road!



We walked around for a long time until we finally found the place. It was a hole in the wall joint but very cheap and the couple who told us about it said it was clean so we checked in. After dinner we crashed, it had been an extremely terrible long day. It felt like nothing went right and I was still totally shooken up about the close call with the car.



The next day we headed to the beach near the Manuel Antonio park entrance. As soon as we started walking on the sand I spotted Paul. Yay we found our friends! We put our stuff next to theirs and told Paul about our terrible day. Then we headed out to the water where Kirsty was. The water was so incredibly warm and definitely the warmest water to date that we have swam in. It was quite a nice beach, there weren't big waves which I loved because it was easier to just chill out in the water instead of dodging waves and fighting an undertow.



Later Dan and I took a jog down the beach. It felt good to run in the sand. Afterwards we rewarded ourselves with snow cones. The man put condensed milk in it which seemed strange but they were really delicious! We had lunch across the street and drank two pitchers of water, I think the waiter thought it was strange when we first asked for a pitcher but it was so intensely hot out. By the end of the day I had a nice bronze look going and I felt thoroughly satisfied with the days activities. As we waited for the bus we watched an amazingly brilliant sunset which I felt fortunate to see.



That night we discovered Mango daquiries and wow were they delicious! We had planned to leave Quepos the next day but the park Manuel Antonio was closed so as we talked over the daquiries we decided we would stay an extra day. Dan just wanted to do laundry and have some time on the internet so I went to the park by myself.



Almost immediately I saw monkeys in Manuel Antonio. They always make me smile and I am truly excited to see them. I saw them in various places along my walk. When I headed down another trail I heard howler monkeys, wow were they loud! I had heard them before in Guatemala but they were much further away then. I was able to see them pretty well. A momma deer and her babies were grazing in the jungle as well. They were adorable with their white little spots. After I finally decided I had stood there long enough I continued on the trail. There were tons of lizards everywhere and I apparently freaked them out which in turn would make them jet out away from me but the ruckus they made with dry leaves and other stuff on the ground was very loud and it freaked ME out. My heart would start racing each of the many times this happened. Just a vicious cycle of us taking each other by surprise.



I came up to a viewpoint and saw 3 people standing there looking at something, as I got closer I saw an ENORMOUS iguana! He looked like he could wrestle me to the ground with ease 😉 Shortly after my arrival the 3 departed and I stepped up to see the view and it was like walking into a postcard. Truly a breathtaking tropical view of the coastline which was rich with trees. I stood there and admired the view for a bit as I stood next to the mammoth Iguana who didn't seem to care a bit that I was there.



As I made my way back the way I came I ran into the 3 people I had seen earlier and started talking to them. They were all from California and seemed very interested in my travels. I ended up hanging out with them for the rest of my time in the park. We went down some other trails and saw a nice beach. There were picnic tables with monkeys running on them stealing food from visitors. It was then I realized that monkeys were simply a common pest for the locals here. Speaking of pests there were also lots of raccoons and coatimundis in the park. We also came upon a field that had a bunch of old coconuts on the ground with trees growing out of them, it was pretty neat to see.



When I was finished at the park I took a short swim at the same place we had been the day before then I caught a bus back to our hotel. I found Dan at a restaurant across the street using wifi and waiting for me. I told them about the cool people I met so after dinner we headed to their hostel and hung out for a couple hours.



I was highly amused when I asked how the couple of the group met. Hitchhiking she replied, ha ha! Apparently he was hitchhiking and holding a sign with a city name and a smiley face on it. She passed him and decided to turn around and pick him up, she said the smiley face is what really made up her mind. What a cool story I thought! They really were 3 interesting people and very positive and nice to be around. We always love meeting new people!

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Comments

[Tammy Santana]

Amazing pics & good stories
Thanks for sharing the amazing pictures and the good stories. i really enjoyed reading them.

[eyaaaaaaaahhhhhh]

:-)
I am glad you enjoy it Mom :-)