873. Manuel Antonio National Park

Where: Quepos, Costa Rica

When: June 26 - 28, 2009

With: Dave

After spending all our time so far in the middle of the country, it was time to head west towards the beaches that are oh-so-famous in Costa Rica. While we had not had any lack of beauty on our trip so far, we were very excited for some hot sand under our toes.

The journey to the town of Quepos was not without its own adventure. First, our van got stuck in traffic due to a funeral procession, in which an entire village walked behind the casket toward the cemetery. Then, at a rest stop, I discovered my new favorite road trip snack: dried plantain chips covered in hot sauce. Finally, we witnessed some crocodiles just hanging out under a bridge, ironically next to a herd of unperturbed cattle. All-in-all, the long drive was not without excitement. 

 But finally, the wait was over and we reached ocean. And what a sight it was. 

A short ride up into the higher, coastal terrain of the city of Quepos, and we arrived at our paradise hotel, the Blue Monkey, or Mono Azul (en español). It was small and quaint, but beautiful, tropical, and ideally located.

Enjoying a fresh Costa Rican lunch after our long drive. 

 By the time we finished lunch, it didn't make sense to head to the Manuel Antonio Park as it would be closing in a couple of hours. However, the local bus went right past hotel and took us to the beach, so we hopped on. Ironically, on the bus, we met two girls we'd made friends with the night before in Monteverde. Small place, this Costa Rica. 

Before we left, our tour guide had given us warning that the public beaches were slightly disappointing and not nearly as pretty as the beaches inside Manuel Antonio. With our expectations set about as low as they could go, imagine our excitement when we saw this as we stepped off the bus towards the beach:

Yeahh, this was easily one of the prettiest beaches I had ever been on. If this was the public beach, I couldn't WAIT to see what Manuel Antonio had in store. 

Despite being late in the day, the weather was still warm and a soak in the ocean was the perfect way to end a long day of travel. 

We had a nice wander up and down the beach, enjoying the sunshine and colorful vendors that lined the sands. There were tons of places to rent surfboards or buy gifts.  

Easily my favorite were the many men along the beach selling coconuts with machetes in hand. I swear, everyone in Costa Rica has a machete. Fresh coconut milk is amazing though.

The beach wasn't terribly long, as Manuel Antonio (and its entrance fees) starts just beyond these cliffs. It was also clear we were getting close as the warning signs for the park's wild animals began appearing. 

So we were content to continue strolling back along the water watching the sun go down. 

As the sky started taking on this crazy orange glow, we found this abandoned hut on the beach where we hunkered down to watch the show. 

It was crazy as the clouds started glowing pink and orange, they were reflected in the water below. So hard to capture in photos. 

And so, with heavy hearts, it was time to leave this beautiful scene for dinner. 

Spirits were immediately restored when we saw where we'd be having dinner...in an actual abandoned airplane. Yes, that's right. Appropriately called El Avion, this restaurant is a history lesson in and of itself. During the 1980s, the Reagan Administration did some controversial stuff that involved a complicated web involving the sale of arms to Iran, hostage negotiations in Lebanon, and the raising of funds for guerilla fighters in Nicaragua against their Cuban-allied government. Long story short,  an airstrip in Costa Rica was used to move gun parts, but after one of the planes in the operation was shot down, the whole mission was abandoned, along with this plane. It was shipped over to Quepos and now serves as the framework to a restaurant and bar. 

They even let you take your drinks up to the cockpit. 

Dave looks terrified of his pilot.

This was definitely a fun way to spend the evening.

The next morning, we had our final adventure-activity of our time in Costa Rica, though one where Dave's feet could be firmly planted on the ground: surfing lessons!

Back on the public beach of Quepos, we were happy to be spending a cloudy day with some activities. To start, a surfers warm-up. 

Next up was to learn proper stance and how to get up on the board. So much easier on dry land. 

Finally, time to head into the water and put our skills to use. 

While I'd love to say I totally nailed surfing, there was a lot of help from instructors, a very long board, and very easy waves. It was also much easier in the beginning before I got tired. 

Although this looked pretty awesome. 

As the day wore on, it looked more like this:

Dave tried his darnedest, and hit the exact form on his surf board every time, no matter how long he stayed up. 

So serious

Dave kept trying, but I didn't even bother standing in the end. Yet I ended up looking cooler than him. 

The whole group of us had fun though pretending we could hang ten for the day. 

Like a Beach Boys album cover.

For sunset, we headed over to one of the nicest hotels in Quepos, La Mariposa. Located high on a tiny peninsula, it gives the best views of the sunset from their infinity pool and bar. 

We didn't think the view could have been better than the night before...but we stood corrected.

Similar to the night before, the clouds lit up in an array of colors that seemed to make the air around us glow pink and orange. 

The final bit of the show remains one of the best sunsets I've ever seen. La Mariposa, you earned your title as the best place to watch the sun go down. 

Back at the Blue Monkey, we gathered around the pool for one last night as a group. Beers and guitars were brought out, and we enjoyed each other's company until the wee hours. 

The next morning, we finally were going to see what this whole Manuel Antonio National Park thing was all about. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we were very excited to journey into the lush green rainforest that lay just beyond the entrance point. 

Manuel Antonio is the smallest of Costa Rica's three main national parks, but it's also the most visited. The combination of jungle-like rainforest, white sand beaches, and turquoise waters make it ideal for just about anyone. When you throw some sloths, birds, and quite a few monkeys in there, it's quite the treat to visit. 

Before settling down on the beach, we took off to explore the many trails that wind throughout the park. They aren't kidding about this being a heavily visited park, so we tried our best to find the most remote path possible to escape the tourists and search for wildlife. We found one trail that ended in a waterfall and seemed completely empty, and thought we'd found our gem. 

As we left the loud crowds behind us, we found we were not alone. Way up in the tree tops were tons of monkeys hopping about. We didn't even have to try to find them, they were just there, all around us. 

At certain points, they even grew so bold as to walk alongside us on the path. However, we knew not to get too close. Despite their size, these little guys pack some serious teeth.

As we ventured further along the trail, we definitely felt like we found our remote destination. At points, the path just stopped at dropoffs, crept across streams, and required us to climb in our flipflops through the forest. It was exhausting in the 90 degree heat.

When we finally neared the end of the trail, we heard something that surprised us: voices. Loud ones. As we turned the corner to find our majestic waterfall, we saw that other people had found it first. Many other people. All loud and wearing speedos and crowding the ideal little pool at the bottom so that no one else could fit in. So much for our trek. We had not much else to do except turn around and head back towards the beach. 

This was not a terrible alternative. The beaches were gorgeous. We laid out for a couple hours, napping and dipping and just relaxing on this last day of our action packed vacation.

The beach also provided excellent entertainment. This was one of my favorite moments of the trip. The large iguana in this photo hesitantly crept for about 20 minutes towards this unknowing sleeping tourist. We laid on our blankets incredibly anxious for what was coming. As he got nearer and nearer, we were in fits of giggles at what would happen when the iguana reached him. The reward was when the iguana tentatively licked the guy's hand, he jerked awake, startled and confused, and the iguana dashed off. Amazing. 

At least he wasn't awoken by this "lizard" hanging out nearby. 

As the afternoon came, a storm rolled in, so we started making our way back to town along the beach. 

We casually strolled among the giant rock formations that had planted themselves in the sand. 

When we made it back to the public beach, we took a few minutes to relax in the sand and watch the real surfers have at it. While there, we were joined by the surfers dogs, who used our head pats as substitutes while they watched and waited for their owners to come in. 

An extremely peaceful way to end an amazing trip through an incredible country.