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Costa
Rica Adventure
March 5-20, 2005
Breakfast the next morning was
at a small bakery in town, since nobody wanted to return to the soda near the
hotel. After breakfast, we piled 13
people and all our bags into a small van for the trip down from Monteverde to
Quepos, on the Pacific coast. The
bags had to travel on the roof since the van was barely big enough for all of
us, and none of us actually thought they’d make it, given the state of the
roads, but amazingly they all did. The van ride was fairly
uneventful. There was one stop at a bridge on the highway that runs over a
swamp, to see the crocodiles. Tourists stop there all the time to take
pictures of them and throw them food. Crocodiles are really ugly creatures,
but they don’t have too bad a life; lying around in the sun all day, being
lazy… At any rate, there were souvenir stops set up right there where you
could buy all the gimmicky crocodile memorabilia you’ve ever wanted. Which in my case was none.
Caymans at the Crocodile Bridge on the highway (Photo credit: SHS) As we descended in altitude,
the temperature had been steadily climbing.
By the crocodile bridge, we were parched and sweating in the van. By the time we got to Quepos, the heat hit
us like a ton of bricks. It was by
far the hottest temperature we had encountered anywhere on the trip. Our hotel was just outside the
town of Quepos, along the road to Manuel Antonio National Park, and was
called the Mono Azul (the Blue Monkey).
It had a swimming pool, a souvenir shop with all sorts of
monkey-related items, a restaurant and more.
It also had the most unhelpful staff I’d ever encountered. Yes, we were in the thick of
tourist-central, and it showed. We
all settled in and then ate lunch at the restaurant in the hotel.
Lounging by the pool at the Blue Monkey (Photo credit: SHS) The main thing to do on the
Pacific coast is to go to the beach, of course. A short bus ride took us to the public beach at Manuel Antonio,
where we rented lounge chairs and an umbrella and proceeded to take a dip in
the ocean and lounge around for the remainder of the afternoon. The weather was extraordinarily hot, but
the cool water felt nice. The beach,
however, was dotted with bars, restaurants, vendors, and very crowded with
the sort of vacationers who were seeking wild parties on the beach and little
else. A far cry from the peaceful,
secluded beaches of the Caribbean coast. Our late lunch meant that
nobody was really hungry for dinner. Instead, we met up during the evening
for some dessert. Unfortunately, the Blue Monkey’s restaurant had run out of
all dessert except Vanilla ice cream. A tip to hotel staff: don’t tell a
group of women craving chocolate that you’ve run out. Not smart. We made our way down the road
to a nearby restaurant for some dessert. It was expensive but absolutely
delicious. The town of Quepos has
abundant nightlife any night of the week, but none of us really felt like
taking taxis into town. Instead, we spent a quiet evening back at the hotel,
and even played a round of bean game.
Bean game in Quepos (Photo credit: SHS) We went to sleep to the sound of the waterfall by the
swimming pool (both of which I questioned given that there was a severe water
shortage in Manuel Antonio). Next: Quepos, and sunset dolphin cruise. |
