Aventura a Playa y Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio

Paula, Laura, Laura, David, Juan Pablo (clockwise from top left)

Crossing the lagoon tidal flow to get to Manuel Antonio N. P.

MMMM....icies (raspados)

A rock along the trail.

One of the snakes from the sky, notice frog on right hand side of pic!

Overhanging leaves on the beach (w/insect damage of course)

Beach inside the park.

Laura

La otra Laura

Ceiba tree by our hotel. HUGE!

Plenty of tempting jewelry & artesenia.

Una Garoba...species of Iguana.

Sendero (trail)

Our intrepid guide, intepreter, and orator on all things Reggaeton: Juan Pablo

Manuel Antonio:
This weekend I had the true pleasure of traveling with an incredibly fun group of people to the beaches and forests of Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio, which is located on the Central Pacific coast of the country. The group was composed of the four Spanish women (Laura, Laura, Paula, and Pepa) along with our intrepid guide and fount of Costa Rican knowledge, Juan Pablo, and myself. This is basically the same group of folks that I have been vaguely attached to via the community projects I wrote about last time. They are all here for 6 weeks, and seem to be taking advantage of every opportunity to not only learn about, but also enjoy Costa Rica.

Early…I mean really early…Saturday morning (4:50 AM), after having gone to a local salsa, cumbia, and reggae group (yes, they broke out Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie” much to my surprise and delight) on Friday night in Ciudad Colon, I was picked up by Juan the taxi man. As is the case everywhere, being known (conocido) by a taxi driver is an advantage, especially for those who don’t have cars, and I am getting to know Juan pretty well…a good guy who likes to listen to cumbia kind of loud, but has been nothing but a help to me. Anyway, after a quick cafecito with Juan as the sun was just starting to illuminate the clouds, it was time to go pick up the Espanolas and head to San Jose.

In San Jose, our first stroke of luck occurred which was an omen for the rest of the trip. A crowd waited for the bus we had intended to take, and it first seemed like we wouldn’t get a seat…it would be another 3-hour journey standing on the bus (de pie). However, the driver informed us that another bus would be on its way, and it turns out the second bus was nearly empty. We each got seats to ourselves…and attempts were made at trying to catch up on sleep missed out on the night before. I should know better than to think I’ll actually get sleep on the bus, but I tried…until Juan Pablo and Paula kept me up by chatting away…(a good talk though, so I wasn’t mad). It was during this talk that the exchange of English, Spanish-Spanish and Tico-Spanish began…and it didn’t stop for the next 36 hours (salbeque, mochila, backpack…etc.).

After the pleasant bus ride through the mountains that make up the space between San Jose and the coast, we soon found ourselves skirting the coast, rising up and down hills and mountains, looking off at vistas of islands and camaroneros (side-beam shrimp trawlers) in the Pacific. We arrived in Manuel Antonio at a decent 9:30 AM. Plenty of time left in the day.

Having taken care of task numero uno, getting a place to stay that wasn’t going to kill our limited budget, we changed into our bathing suits and headed for the park. Manuel Antonio is a VERY small park, but it is quite beautiful. The trees of the tropical forest reach all the way to the whitish sand beaches providing nice shade for casual enjoyment of the warm, almost tepid, waters of the Pacific. The park is one of the most visited in Costa Rica, but even though there were a lot of people there it didn’t really seem that crowded, especially when we headed off onto the trails (senderos) that take you to more secluded beaches.
So, we began traipsing down one of these trails en route to the beach with the hopes of seeing some the wildlife that this place is really known for…and we were not to be denied, and we have the video to prove it. The walk started without any interesting fauna, but plenty of interested flora. Then, about half way through, we heard a strange noise of something falling from the trees above us. Blam! A snake had fallen out of the branches and onto the trail in front of us. While we watched this one with some mixture of trepidation and fascination we began to hear a crazy sound…something like a catbird…but not quite. While we were all pondering this noise and watching in fascination as our friend the snake slithered its way up the branches, we hear... “crash, crack, boof” and to our astonishment, another snake had fallen from the sky. However, this time it was only some 5 feet away and it had a rather large frog in its mouth!!(which had been making the noise). So…it was almost Old Testament style really, serpents falling from the sky. We still aren’t entirely sure if they were venomous, but you can check out a picture of the second one eating a frog…As Juan Pablo said, “This is like National Geographic!”

Well, that was by far the most exciting and interesting few moments of the trip…many expletives were loosed in Spanish as accoutrement to our surprise visitors. We soon moved down the sendero to see other animals including a pesote, agouti, iguanas, garobas, white faced capuchins, and a SLOTH!!! The sloth…well…it was a sloth, and didn’t give us much to write home about, but I can check that one off the list now. Oh yes, we also got some very nice beach and water time in the protected cove of the park’s beaches…although some “big rocks” were to be found underfoot here and there…so we had to be careful.

After heading back through the rain of the afternoon to our hotel, thankfully a light one… not the typical downpour we get here, and a quick dip in the pool, we headed for happy hour and then dinner, both of which were thoroughly enjoyed by all. Oh yes, we also saw Squirrel Monkeys and the gaggle of tourists that they attracted right in the very center of town (albeit a small town, this was still a surprise). Later on, it was off to the see the real “wildlife” of Manuel Antonio…the disco…which I must say was a bit surrealistic at most points. The poor Espanolas were forced to fight off the advances of the most inebriated locals, and the entire group was subjected to the machinations of Reggaeton (a mix of reggae, rap, salsa, calypso, etc.). Thanks to Juan Pablo we all have a better understanding of the formulaic and ethical nature of Reggaeton. Or should I say unethical? For a full explanation you’ll have to speak with him. After a pair of hours withstanding this, it was called a night, and we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we returned to the location of the previous night’s debauchery for breakfast. It was truly remarkable how the place had changed in just a few hours. Anyway, after some breakfast (and some adventures trying to get bus tickets back to San Jose) we headed to Playa Espadilla, which is the beach in front of town and outside of the park. We enjoyed several hours of swimming and then headed to catch our ride out of town. We perfectly timed our arrival to the bus stop to head to Quepos, and then caught another relatively empty bus from Quepos to San Jose.

We arrived back in San Jose at 7 or so, and I was back home by 9:30 at night. Sunburned, exhausted, but happy.

So, now I await the arrival of my beloved Amy to see what sort of mischief we can get up to! She will be here on Saturday, and I can’t wait to see her and her reaction to this place were are going to call home for a while J Please check back here as one of us will surely be adding things as soon as new adventures occur.

Abrazos y besos a todos.
David