Manuel Antonio!

8-4-11

Today Randdie and I woke up a 4:50 to catch the 6:00 bus to Manuel Antonio to spend the day at the beach! We slept most of the way there, although I was a bit paranoid that we would miss the stop because of Randdie’s last experience with the buses…  However this trip turned out great, the bus was a direct route and stopped at a Soda/Market halfway through to take a break.  In the last hour I made friends with an Italian backpacking couple who were going to the park as well. We actually arrived at Manuel Antonio early and the bus driver took us right up to the park entrance. From there we only had to walk down the path to the entrance. We passed by an army of souvenir vendors before passing into the world of nature. For only $10 you get a full day at some of the best beaches in Costa Rica. The park has about protected 5 beaches and a large jungle area as well. This is one of the best areas to see wildlife in CR, and the park only allows in a certain number of people each day which prevents crowding on the beach.  I was a bit disappointed at the lack of Nat Geo like pictures while I was at Monteverde, but Manuel Antonio more than made up for it. Right after Randdie and I entered the park we saw our first sloth! It was a baby sleeping up in the tree. Many people were taking tours of the park, but Randdie and I headed right for the principal beach, Playa Manuel Antonio.
                It was gorgeous. The sea is aqua and clear with white sands and the jungle comes right up to the sands. The shore is a sheltered area which makes it perfect for swimming and that’s where Randdie and I went first! Afterward we ate our picnic lunch on the sand.  There are also these coral/rock tide pools at low tide that were created hundreds of years ago by the local indigenous peoples to catch migrating turtles as the tides changed. These tide pools are, in my opinion, one of the best parts of the beach. Here the water is warm and you can walk through the rocks to swim with the fishes in the shallows. My favorite way to pass the time was by floating, it was the most relaxing thing in the world.  We spent the whole morning at the first beach, but decided to walk around the Cathedral Point to go to one of the other beaches. We went to the trail and just as we were about to walk onto it the group behind us spotted a family of spider monkeys! They were so close and I got some amazing (Nat Geo-like) pictures. I would have stayed and watched them ham it up for the cameras all day but we finally left for our hike to the second beach. It was about a 20 min hike, over the mountainous former island to get to the other side. On the way we saw more animals. I saw a sloth, and baby wild pig!! Animals aren’t really Randdie’s thing, so we didn’t stop for too long. Once we broke through the trees to the next beach we dropped our bags off and ran straight into the water to cool off.

The second beach was way less crowded than the first one, it was great for swimming, but it lacked the cool tide pools. We swam in the ocean and met some other international tourists. We met some older French women who were taking their month holiday in CR. I have officially decided that people in the US should have this sort of national holiday system as well. Think of how relaxed everyone would be! We laid on the sand to dry before hiking back to leave the park (which closes at 4). On the way back we looked at the really confusing map at the start of the trial to see if there was a short cut back. We decided to take a chance and walk what looked like the skinny piece of land of the point which separated the two beaches. It turned out that that path was maybe 25 feet long. So we had taken the20 min hike (uphill no less!) aka the long way, to travel between the two beaches the first time instead of the 2 min path that connected them. We still weren’t too upset since it had been such an amazing day. The tied had come in on the first beach and the tide pool was covered and the ocean was starting to cut off the beaches. We joined the majority of people leaving, but before we could make it far, we (well at least me) were distracted by the many monkeys which had come out to perform for the tourists. I got some even cuter pictures!! I just loved to watch them play around in the trees. Their behavior was so interesting! The only reason that I even left was because we still had to go to Quepos to but our return ticket on the 5:00 bus to San Jose. We caught the regular bus from the park into the town to buy our tickets and on the way a local, who knew the bus driver hopped on for a bit. He didn’t know that Randdie and I spoke Spanish (the bus driver did though…) and proceeded to talk about us and how he liked the look of the “negrita” (meaning Randdie). So Randdie turned around and said “oh la verdad” basically “oh is that right?” at which point he turned red and said “oh you speak Spanish” I answered yes and he hopped right off the bus before the next stop! The bus driver thought it was a great joke. We got our tickets easily at the bus station and got some snacks to eat while we waited. The bus from San Jose was about 20 min late, which wasn’t bad considering the traffic. So for a total of $30 we had an unforgettable day at the beach!

My first encounter with a monkey up close!

Randdie and I 

Little Cutie..

Oso Perezoso!

Manuel Antonio Beach!

Another look..

Part of the Tide Pools