Following the Dream

Christian May 28th, 2008

The bus ride from Monteverde to Manuel Antonio was interesting. We had to get off at Puntaarenas and find the bus that went to Quepos. We thought it was going to be a little easier than it was. Our bus dropped us off at one point in town and the bus that left for Quepos was in another spot. It didn’t help that our driver gave us completly wrong directions to the bus. A nice shop owner pointed us in the right direction and a guy selling watches out of a suitcase let us know that we had to buy our tickets somewhere else before the bus came. It was a little tricky, but we figured it out. After another four hours on a bus we made it to Quepos, the gateway city to Manuel Antonio. There we had to switch buses one last time to get to the town. On arrival we were greeted by a tout who offered a couple of places for accomodation. Normally, we just tell them no, but we were tired and did not feel like walking all over trying to find a place. He promised us the place was very close to the park and was nice. He was not lying, it was only a couple of hundred meters from the national park and was pretty nice. We gave him a tip for finding a place and settled in. The rest of the day was spent not doing a whole lot. We booked a place for Tamarindo, ate some food and watched some TV. We were sure to wake up early tomorrow to get to the national park at opening.  It was such a relief that we woke up to blue skies, since we only had one day to visit the park. The park is one of the most beatiful that we have been to. It is a jungle set on a peninsula that jolts out into the pacific ocean. The ocean here is beatiful. Even though it is not the Carribean, you can still see your feet. The sand is soft and light in color. We started our hike by going to see some cliff lookouts. They gave great sweeping views out over the ocean, and allowed you to see the waves crashing on the rocks below. On the way to these we saw much wildlife. We saw monkeys playing in the treetops, lizards that ran across the trail on their back legs, little animals that looked like big shorthaired guinea pigs, and tons of birds.

The beaches that were right of the trail were beatiful. You would take a small trail and arrive to a beatiful deserted beach with the jungle as a backdrop.

After that trail we decided on doing another lookout that was a bit longer and higher up. The trail was in good shape so the hike was easy. Along this hike we saw a sloth in a tree, tons of brightly colored crabs and lizards scurrying about, and even a few hummingbirds. There was a part of the trail in which you could lookout over the island and see all the beaches in the distance, it was pretty cool. The lookout itself was pretty nice. We took a break there and ate some food and rested while we sat there in peace in quiet looking over the ocean and parts of the park.

We made our way back to take a different trail to a hidden beach. The beach was amazing. It was a very natural and serene setting. There were waves crashing on a few sets of rocks, spewing salt water in the air. A few logs lined the beach, which made great chairs. It was a great spot.

As we sat there for a while we started to see some storm clouds rolling in, so we decided to finish up and do the last trail of the day, the waterfall trail. This is the trail that I had seen a snake on the last time in Costa Rica. It is not maintained like the other trails, so it is a bit more difficult. The bugs we horrible on the trail, eating us alive. Along the way we crossed streams, and climbed up and down muddy embankments. We ended up not doing the whole trail. We were getting eaten too badly, and Casey did not have her boots on. We were both okay with it. We headed out of the park and made our way to the hostel where we made sure we were good on the transfer the next day to Tamarindo.
 We arrived at our hostel around 1 or so in the afternoon. The hostel definitly was not all the pictures made it out to be. We were told we were going to have airconditioning (Tamarindo is ungodly hot), while we were shown a little room in the attic of an old house with a mattress on the floor with a little fan that had to be at least 105 degrees. We immediately told the lady that we were told that we would have AC. She appologized and let us know that the only room that was available the dorm (great). We decided to take it, since it was hotter than hell in the attic room. Another thing about the hostel is that they advertise being 100 meters from the beach. We quickly noticed it is more like a 1000 meters, a full 15 minute walk. A little bummed on our hostel, we head out to explore. The beach is pretty nice, but the waves were tiny. We check out a couple of stores and I rent a surf board. I only kept it for an hour, but had a good time on the 2-3 foot waves. Tamarindo is definitly a good place to learn to surf. While we were there it seems to have a very consistent 2-3 foot wave that is mellow. There are tons of people on the waves getting surf lessons, so I felt like a pro for once. After giving my board back we headed back to the dorm. We found out that we had a roommate, for the night. Of course the first thing he does is take a huge poop in the toilet and break the flush handle on the toilet, leaving all kinds of floaters waiting for me and Casey when we lift the seat. It was a day before anyone at the hostel could fix it, leaving us to open the top, stick our hand in the water, and pull the stopper anytime we had to flush. The next day we went out to the beach early to get some surfing in, only to find the tide the whole way out with no way to surf until 12 when it comes back in. So we relaxed on the beach for a while, using our roommates towel (he left early in the morning) as our beach towel. Once the waves started rolling in, I rented a soft top surf board to teach Casey the art of surfing. During the couple of hours we had the board, she managed to stand up a few times and ride a couple of waves. It was pretty fun. The rest of the day was spent enjoying the finer things in life like a Subway and TCBY (Thanks to all of the gringo tourism in the area now). That night we had the room to ourselves, and it was heaven. The third and fourth days were spent relaxing and preparing for our journey to Bay Islands in Honduras. We went to the grocery store, booked a hostel near the airport, booked a transfer, got laundry done, mailed some post cards, etc… We did get some roommates in the dorm, a couple of Canadian girls. The first night they were in the dorm we were attacked by flying ants. We thought they must have brought them with them, but apparently it was because of the rain. There were hundreds of flying ants in the room. They would crawl over everything. Casey killed 50 (counting) and gave up. It was horrible. There were at least 75 or so all dead on the bathroom floor that you had to step around. After waking up, I noticed there were a few dead and smeared on my bed. I must have rolled over on them in the night. I mean, who doesn’t want to sleep with hundreds of flying ants crawling all over you when you sleep? Needless to say, Casey didn’t enjoy that too much. The next morning I noticed that the toilet was clogged. It must have been from our new friends, seeing how there was a huge wad of TP in the toilet. There is one thing that Casey and I have become fairly used to. Down here, the sewer systems and drains can’t handle any kind of paper in the toilet, so you have to throw any papers or sanitary products in the can next to the toilet. We have named this the shit can. We always feel bad for the people that have to empty these, especially in hostel with shared bathrooms since many times they reek and are overflowing with shitty paper. Anyhow back to the point, it seemed like they din’t understand the concept and needed some practice. I plunged the toilet and we were in business again. I don’t understand why all of our roomates that we had in Tamarindo could not use a toilet without screwing it up.
 We are pretty bummed because we really wanted to see Nicaragua and are now flying over it. We booked a plane ticket from San Jose to Roatan in the Bay Islands due to a transportation strike in Nicaragua that was supposed to go on for 30 days. It shut down all public transportation (buses, taxis, etc.). There were a couple of taxi drivers that were beaten to death for taking passengers during the strike. We did not want any part of that, so we decided to fly. However we found out in Tamarindo that the president had signed something ending the strike early. Oh well, Se la Vi. Off to the Bay Islands, Honduras tomorrow for some warm Carribean waters, Scuba Diving, and relaxing.

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