A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

What an adventure! This was the weekend I had been waiting for! I am sorry that I didn’t post yesterday...but I was having such a wonderful time in Manuel Antonio that I decided to stay another day! My longest trip yet, and by far the best!

I left San Jose, Saturday, around 8:00am. I took what is called an “Interbus” to get to Manuel Antonio. They are pretty much large vans. They cost more than the regular bus but they are worth it. It is always a small group, usually less than 6 people. The ride to Manuel Antonio was a bit ruff. It started well…then the van broke down! Ha! I have no idea how…it just sort of died on the side of the road. However, within less than 10 minutes, there was another bus there to pick us up but that is when we hit the bad roads…if you could even call them roads! There is one main road from Quepos (a little town outside of Manuel Antonio) to the beach…it is the only road that is paved. (If you could consider this paved!) It was bad with quite a few dilapidated old bridges as well. All of the other roads were not paved or had been paved at one time many many moons ago. Now they really were a bunch of potholes strung together with little patches of pavement. Hey…it’s all a part of the adventure right?

My hotel was Villa Bosque (Forest Villa) and it was quite nice and cozy! It was extremely near the national park as well as the beach. Right in the middle of everything I needed and it had air conditioning…AND a somewhat normal shower! I had a very nice balcony overlooking a stream. It was in the middle of the forest so the monkeys and birds talked to me all through the night. Here is a less than impressive picture of the view. Sorry, my pictures really do not do this trip justice! Oh and also a picture of the key because it came with the cutest little wooden elephant keychain! I really wanted to steal it…but of course…that would be wrong!



When I arrived, I immediately scheduled a Canopy Tour. This is where you go “ziplining” through the jungle. We also hiked to twin waterfalls for a quick swim! That filled up my Sunday morning through early afternoon. It was such fun! I was REALLY scared at first and thought that the guide was going to have to push me…but I recovered! Here is a picture of me having fun swinging through the jungle and a picture of one of the waterfalls:





I only had one mishap the whole time! On one of the really long lines the wind started blowing and blew me in circles! I could not keep my brake hand on the line and instead went flying to the end with no breaks! Thanks to the kind guide who used his body to keep me from hitting the tree…I survived! I only came away with a ugly bruise on my leg and a sore arm. One of the other guides was kind enough to take a ton of pictures for me and even took a video for me! He even slows himself down to really enjoy the view! Oh and at the end of the video you see me on the platform, the guide beside me in the orange shirt is the one that saved me! (So a big, thankful shout out to Winston at La Selvita in Quepos, Costa Rica! ) Here is the video:



That night when I returned, I headed to the beach, to take in the people, the sand, the waves and the happy hour specials! ;-)
The next day I headed out on a sailboat! Like a real deal, Captain Ron/Summer Rental sailboat! We were looking for dolphins but did not see any. I did however see a GIANT sea turtle! Unfortunately, he was a lot faster than he looked and I did not get a picture! We sailed around for a while then eventually headed for a little cove to go snorkeling! This was a lot of fun…but I actually became a little freaked out because the fish were REALLY close to me! Like, I kept my hands tucked in because I was afraid! (Yes, I know…I am strange…and the fish could not hurt me!) Unfortunately, my camera cannot go underwater…so you will have to just imagine all the pretty fish! Here are some pictures that I took of the shore and ocean from aboard the boat:






The next day I went into the national park and saw many animals and some of the most beautiful beaches! Here are some of my favorite pictures:






These are my 2 favorites! The first is of a sign that was nailed to a tree. And the last one is like a postcard!!!




To finish…I cannot believe I only have 3 days left! This month has passed by way too fast! I feel I could easily stay for another month and still not want to leave! I am really going to miss the family with which I stay. However, I have made some wonderful memories and still have 3 days to make even more!

Oh, before I forget…my new sunglasses are gone! I think I lost them on the beach! I ran into one of the guides from my canopy tour, sat and talked to him for while, it became dark…I’m pretty sure they are sitting in the sand! I told you that I only lose expensive sunglasses! I guess I’ll just suffer through the next few days and head to Target for another nice, cheap pair when I return!