Quepos and Manuel Antonio!

This weekend, we took a short 2 day trip out to Quepos and Manuel Antonio in Puntarenas! Luckily, one of our supervisor's had a friend who could drive us there with their minivan for $17 a person. It's so nice to be somewhere with air conditioning because that is absolutely a luxury here in Costa Rica! The drive took about 2 1/2 hours, with a quick stop along the way to look at some crocodiles. The van pulled over to the side and the group was able to walk along a bridge to see the crocodiles beneath us. There had to be at least 10 crocodiles in that immediate area! If there was anything that we noticed with these crocodiles, it is that they are huge and lazy. Even though we were there for 10 minutes, I think I saw 2 crocodiles actually open there mouths and maybe 2 more just move their arms slightly.

Upon our arrival in Quepos, we stopped to buy our bus tickets for the next day, just to be sure we had a definite way of getting home. Our driver then took us to Vista Serena Hostel, a 10 minute drive outside of Quepos. The view from our hostel was incredible! We could see the beach just past the mountains. The clouds were absolutely perfect above it all. There was a broad opening within the clouds with just enough light to give the appearance that that was the entrance into heaven. It was simply beautiful!

Since it was only 9:30 in the morning, we weren't able to check into the hostel but we took advantage of the fact that there was a shuttle leaving at 10 to take us back to Quepos to go snorkeling. After a quick change of clothes, we were on our way back to town to buy our tickets for snorkeling. There was another couple who we met at the ticket office that was part of our group for the adventure. The driver took us to a pier where we met up with our tour guide from Snorkel Adventure. He took us out on the boat for about 20 minutes until we were able to snorkel. Before we jumped in, he gave us a piece of pineapple to feed the fish. You had to hold the edge of it because he said the fish tend to be greedy and he didn't want us to accidentally get bitten. After 5 minutes trying to tread water while snorkeling, a few of us swam back to the boat to grab a float. Needless to say, this made the whole snorkeling thing a lot easier. As soon as I went underwater, there was a group of fish that immediately came to me to eat the pineapple. It was overwhelming to all of a sudden see so many fish coming towards me for the pineapple! I could feel them biting away.

We only stayed in the water for 30 minutes until we were told to get back on the boat for the rest of the tour. The next part of the tour was at el bajo del diablo. We stayed here for a couple minutes, only long enough for the tour guide to tell us that this was a popular place to come fishing but that the waves here were insane and so fishing is really difficult. We needed to get to calmer water because many of us were feeling sea sick after a few moments there. We were able to see a manta ray jump out of the water while we were here though!

The last part of the tour was to see elephant's point. This part of the island got its name from the fact that there are 10 caves along the base of the island where it meets the water. When water fills the cave, it comes shooting out, giving a similar appearance as an elephant blowing water out of its trunk! The sound that the cave makes is also similar to that of an elephant. After 2 hours on the boat, we were all ready to head back to shore. The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the porch at the hostel with other people staying at the hostel. We ordered lots of pizza and just sat around talking and laughing. If anything, it was a perfect and relaxing way to end such a busy day.

We all woke up at 6:30 in the morning the next day in order to get a head start on our adventure to Manuel Antonio National Park. After a light breakfast at the hostel, we caught a bus straight to the park. Entrance to the park was only $10, which turned out to be a great deal for such a fun day. During our walk to the beach, we saw monkeys and sloths, just hanging out in their natural environment. We saw the same animals at La Paz a few weekends before but it was awesome to actually see them in their natural habitat.

After a 30 minute walk, we arrived to 1 of the 3 beaches at Manuel Antonio. Simply put, this beach was beautiful. Since we got to the park so early, there were only a couple people at the park with us, which definitely added to the beauty of the park. It was incredible to see how the forest was able to come up so close to the shore, suddenly stop and give way to soft sand. The water was pretty clear and the perfect temperature. We spent about 3 hours there, enjoying the water and exploring some of the sights right around the beach. There were places with lots of rocks to climb and a staircase up so you could get a better view of the park. By 10:30, right when we were packing up, there were so many people, almost all gringos (American tourists/white people), who had just arrived to the beach. We were really glad to have had the beach to ourselves most of the morning and were sorry to see the peacefulness of the beach be taken away so quickly. We needed to head back though so we had enough time to get to the hostel, grab lunch and catch our bus back to Atenas at 2. After a 4 hour bus ride, we were happy to get back to the peaceful environment here in Atenas. We were quick to shower and eat dinner before getting to bed by 8:30.

Needless to say, I would have loved to stay in Quepos and Manuel Antonio for a few more days but I'm so glad that we at least got to visit for a bit! I can't wait for next weekend's adventure to Monteverde :)