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| Sunset Costa Rica Style! |
Yesterday (Wednesday) we moved from the mountainous village of Monteverde to the coastal village of Manuel Antonio. It was around a five hour trip. The first three hours were over mountain passes on winding unpaved roads. The last couple of hours were along the Pacific coastline on nicely paved, modern roads. If you come to Costa Rica, and I highly recommend it, consider dividing your time between the lush green mountains and of course some time on the beach. There are plenty of options of places to choose from, we chose La Fortuna, Monteverde and Manuel Antonio. We've met a number of people who are doing the same route as us. We've certainly been pleased with our choices.
Also, if you come, you have options of renting a car or arranging transportation. This is our second visit to Costa Rica and both times we have arranged transportation. There doesn't really seem to be much of a cost difference and it certainly takes the hassle out of driving, especially since some of the roads down here are not the best. If you do rent a car, one word of caution, some agencies require you to purchase their supplemental liability insurance. This cost is typically "hidden" when you get the quote for the rental. From what I have learned this isn't true of all companies so do your homework ahead of time, otherwise the rate for the car rental may actually be close to twice as much as you planned.
The arranged transportation has worked perfectly for us on both this trip as well as our previous visit. We have one more coming up Monday so hopefully it will work like the others. If not, of course I'll let you know. Another advantage of the arranged transportation is that you get to meet some other really nice travelers and share some information with each other. There were seven of us, along with our driver who spoke very, very little English yesterday. Beth and I could have easily been the parents of the other five passengers. They were all very nice, especially the young man from Canada who was the most bilingual amongst us and the couple, also from Canada, who thought what we are doing (being gypsies) sounded pretty cool to them.
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| Just a couple of the huge crocodiles in a river we crossed on our way from Monteverde to Manuel Antonio |
Manuel Antonio is a very small coastal village on the central Pacific coast. There is a small city (Quepos) nearby that is a hub for offshore sportfishing charters. There is also a national park nearby which is appropriately named Manuel Antonio National Park. The park is listed as one of the smallest of Costa Rica's national parks (7.5 square miles), but also one of the countries most popular. We're planning on checking the park out tomorrow morning. But since we arrived in Manuel Antonio we've dedicated ourselves to perfecting the fine art of doing nothing. I think we've got it down to a science! It's about 15 steps from our room to the hotels outdoor restaurant. It's about another twenty steps to a lounge chair under some huge shade trees that overlooks the ocean. Sure, we've done a couple of walks along the sandy mile long beach, a little reading, a little music and a bit of conversation. But mainly it's been sitting silently and taking in the sounds of the waves.
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| A few steps to food and a few more to the beach |
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| Here's a few pictures of some of the neighbors we've been sharing the beach with...…..colorful birds |
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| White Faced Monkeys |
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| and this handsome fella |
Nothingness is a very nice thing!
Here are a few pictures of the beach and the incredible sunsets we've had both nights...…..
