Manuel Antonio

I've noticed some repitition in these blogs; each one starts with a long, almost horrible bus ride. Well this post shall not differ from the last; making our way from Tamarindo on the Pacific Coast of the Nicoya Peninsula down to Quepos/Manuel Antonio down south was another adventure in public travel. We started at 5:30 am and were told just to flag down a bus on the main street going our way...I hate uncertainty! Well no buses came by for Liberia, so we boarded one for San Jose and figured we could get off at a junction somewhere. It all worked out fine and we got on our connecting bus to Puntarenas, a nondescript port town, that reminded us a lot of Puerto Limon. We were able to stop at a Soda (basically CR's version of fast food) for a casado (the meal of the day) and then head to our bus for Quepos. It was really hot this day, so we had the windows wide open.

Riding throughout the entire country by bus allows you to see a lot of the places without even stopping. Costa Rica is a stunning country; a scenic drive is a miserable understatement. The ranching land that has been cut of trees, although it chops up a beautiful mountain side, still is quite beautiful. Cows, bulls, goats, and horses graze on land that will be priceless in less than 50 years. It is definitely true that Costa Rica is still developing and has hit an unbelievable growth spurt over the last 20 years that it is still catching up to. The miles and miles of banana farms show how the country used to make its living, before resorts and canopy tours led the force of tourism. The coffee fincas roam for miles and create literally the world´s best.

Poor is also a relative term here. There are plenty of people who live in true shacks made of different rust-stained colored tin pieces and yet keep their front porch swept clean everyday. There is always an attractive and superbly kept flower garden surrounding the houses; maybe its because the most precious flowers in America grow here like weeds. The colors here are unlike any I've ever seen. On another topic, violent crime is little to unheard of in the towns that smatter the countryside; in fact as we ride past we often see front doors left wide open inviting in neighbors and cool breezes alike. One of my favorite things to observe about the Tico culture is the maturity of the young boys and girls. Since it is safe to run to the store at the age of seven or walk yourself to school for quite a distance, they seem to develop into stronger, respectable citizens a lot earlier than the catered to children in the States.

Back to our busride...we were entering our 10th hour on the bumpy roads as we passed through Jaco, a surfer town north of Quepos. Our bus driver turned up the radio, and the wind through our hair, as we stared out at the coastline, allowed us to forget how bad our butts were hurting at this point. We finally checked into our hotel for our last week in Costa Rica and we weren't going to waste a minute of it.

The next morning we moved into a cheaper hotel and then went into Quepos to begin to learn the city. We met up with Diego and his friends (one of Tyler's soccer buddies from when the family lived here) at Quepoa, a great local restaurant. We watched Italy score 2 goals in the remaining minutes of double overtime to move on to the World Cup finals. After another delicious pizza (I say this because Costa Rica has better pizza than Austin we've found out!), we headed to Playa Manuel Antonio. Diego, Brian, and the other boys played beach soccer while I sat and photographed the action. It was great to watch corner kicks and waves all at the same time! The beach proved how touristy this area has become though with its smatterings of lounge chairs, ex-pat owned bars, and people everywhere selling silly souvenirs. But it was great, we sat in the sun as it set over the cliffside and enjoyed the sounds of the Pacific.

The following day we woke up early to head into the National Park that brings so much attention to the area. It is the second smallest park in the CR system and the most frequented. It was created in 1980, not a moment too soon, as developers were picking prime jungle spots with ocean views to sell to the rich and famous. You have to hike across the river mouth to get into the entrance of the park (or a nice man will pull you across in his canoe). We lucked out on the sunshine this day; its gorgeous to see coming through the trees. Manuel Antonio is a great park that was full of wildlife even to our surprise. Within minutes we saw two raccoons scourging the grounds with their black, bandit bandanas over their eyes (since raccoons aren't a problem in Texas, we probably think they are cuter than other people). Then along the trail was a decently large, male coati; in the raccoon family with a long tail and cute white snout. We hiked further and saw a group of white faced monkeys putting on a show for camera-clicking tourists. They are hilarious, and here, are very used to humans. The beaches along the trails are exquisite and full of large iguanas fighting for territory. Then on our way to the mirador, we passed a little agoute, we looked up and saw a sloth laying, lazily of course, in the tree. We watched for a bit and he put on a show; the pictures turned out great. The lookout was beautiful over the ocean and we even met another med student. Costa Rica is infested with them! Take pride that our doctors are well cultured...I haven´t met a law student yet!

It gets hot here fast, so we were quickly ready for some water. We headed to the beach and Brian even tried his hand at surfing again. He did great but boy is it tiring, so we called it a day. I should note that although I keep mentioning beach time, we put on so much sunblock (being here at the equator) that neither of us have much tan! For being in a tropical country for 6 weeks, we really shouldn´t be this pale! Anyway, that night we enjoyed a great sunset and another whole fish dinner! Its so cheap and you get the whole fish (so both filets!); I even sucked it up and order one ¨sin cabeza¨...I just can´t handle the eyes looking at me.

The rest of the days in Manuel Antonio/Quepos were spent wandering around town, hanging out, and being lazy. The last part of our trip was a little uneventful, but definitely restful. Our last dinner at El Gato Negro turned out to be one of our favorites. The last day we had planned on going to the beach one last time, but the usual rain thwarted our sun. It turned out great though, we watched movies and layed around all day. Not too bad for vacation. We´ve had a blast and we´ve realized this trip has only spoiled us. It´s been great to share these adventures together, but slowly, I think reality has begun to set it. The impending move is never far from our minds, and while it has made the trip so bittersweet, we´re not ready to leave Austin.

Tamarindo

Getting around Costa Rica without a car leaves one at the whims of the public bus system. We were delayed in leaving Monteverde because of a small disaster...we lost the camera. I immediately freaked and of course started crying; you know how much my pictures mean to me. We had only been on the canopy tour that day, so we knew the our only shot was there. Lady luck was watching over us and a nice lady had turned in my camera! It meant we couldn't take the early morning bus out, instead we took the 2:30 out of Santa Elena.

So this bus was headed for San Jose and we needed Liberia; the bus driver said to get off when we get to the highway. And on that note...I've mentioned before how absolutely horrible the roads are here. It took us 2 hours to go 30 miles; that's right, 15 mph over horrendously bumpy roads. So we finally get to the only real highway in Costa Rica and we get off the bus...in the middle of nowhere. We see a sign that says Liberia 75km the other direction, thats a start, now we wait. The climate here is much different than the cloud forests; we're in cattle country and man is it hot! Standing at what we think is a bus stop, we've got a few Ticos around us and while we felt perfectly safe, we definitely stood out. I wish we had an invisibility cloak to cover our packs; sometimes I feel like an idiot with this huge thing on my back. I digress... So we see a few buses pass but none to Liberia. Finally one comes by and a Tico runs up to it, we follow, they allow him on the bus, and then it speeds away...we're thinking 'what the..?!' So we wait longer, in the sun, and yes another bus did finally come, and more importantly, they let us on.

Liberia is a big town with no reason for a tourist to really go there, but we needed to get to Tamarindo early the next morning to catch the Quarterfinals games. So we got a halfway decent hotel that looked safe and ate at the Burger King across the street. On the fast food topic, its hilarious how the American food chains have adapted to Tico food. For example, McDonalds has the McPinto breakfast that has eggs with gallo pinto (the common breakfast dish) and Taco Bell serves french fries with their tacos because Ticos eat french fries with everything! Its too funny. Anyway, we get up at 4:30 the next morning and catch another slow, bumpy bus to Tamarindo.

Tamarindo turned out to be great! We had 3 days of no rain!!! A first for our trip. The sun was great, the water was beautiful, and we ran into fun people. Lonely Planet recommended a great hotel that we never would have found otherwise. It was right in the middle of a bunch of construction (nothing surprising for here, its booming), but that allowed us a discount on the rooms because of the noise. Our hotel recommended a good place to watch the games and at 9am we headed out. This restaurant was owned by Frenchmen and was obviously the local place to watch futbol. We had a great time and met a nice English girl that was staying at our hotel until her spanish school started. We all headed back and swam in our pool, it was heaven! Nothing fancy, but man the water felt great.

After the second game we walked along the beach and found the famous Witch's Rock Surf Camp (its a restaurant named after the famous place for killer waves). They have 2-for-1 happy hour and nachos 'as big as your ass'- sounds good to us! We had a great time with good conversation with our English friend Vicky, a recent law graduate from Oxford. We are learning alot about the differences in European and American graduate schools, not only in price, but also in time required to get a MD or JD. Americans get ripped in both ways.

So the next day was another futbol filled day and it was great! Our poor English friend was bummed about Inglaterra's loss and no one foresaw Francia upsetting Brasil! Our Frenchmen friends were going nuts!! It was hilarious. Again, we headed for some beach time and pool time...life is pretty chill here. Vicky joined us for dinner and we decided we weren't ready to go home yet. Pretty much the whole time here we have been in bed before 10pm (sad I know) but we usually have an early hike or bus to catch, plus the sun sets at 6:30 and rises before 6am. But not this night, we headed to the local place to be on a Saturday night. It was great; we never set foot on the dance floor, but we were entertained the whole night with watching idiot tourists make fools of themselves!

Today Brian and I signed up for the quintessential surfing lesson! It was time for me to conquer the waves and let me tell you...we did great!! The beach here is a perfect beginner beach; the waves aren't too huge, so they are great to learn on. When we first started I was catching great waves and had stood up on only my 3rd try! Brian seemed jealous :) Then we realized the instructor had given me a beginner board, and him the professional one...we traded and suddenly perfecto! Brian did great too! I tried and tried but I couldn't get up on the pro board, it was really hard. We traded back and Brian even did it on the harder board. It was a blast! We could definitely say we had a day of surfing (not just crashing). We were very tired and a little battered when we finished, so we cooled off with a dip in the pool.

So truly we are sad to leave here. Maybe its the lack of rain and beautiful sun that keeps us wanting more, or maybe just the relaxed atmosphere of having nothing to do but sit on the beach all day. Either way, we must move on. We're headed to Quepos in time to watch the Semis and see some old family friends. We're sad to miss the 4th of July weekend festivities, everyone watch some fireworks for us!