Kesa, Melissa, and I left by bus for Manuel Antonio at 6:00 this morning. The ride was supposed to be 3 to 3-1/2 hours long. The bus stopped in Quepos (although we didn´t know it at the time) around 9:30 so we knew we were close. However, there were no announcements or signs, so as usual, we looked around for some kind of hint as to whether we were supposed to get off or not. Very few people got off, so we assumed we were not at Manuel Antonio yet. I still can´t believe we didn´t ask; we just ASSUMED and stayed on the bus. About 10-12 minutes later, the bus made a final stop right beside a beautiful white sand beach:
We all got off the bus and the 3 of us stood there looking at each other like, ¨Now, what?¨ At 10:00 in the morning the weather was already stifling hot and humid. A few people were on the beach and there were some markets and restaurants on the other side of the road with a few street vendors roaming around.
We asked a man who was setting up his fruit cart for directions to the hotel Flor Blanca where we had reservations. He asked a woman to help us and she told us the ¨taxi¨ would take us back up the hill to the hotel. She took us to an old blue car, said a few words to the driver, which I couldn't hear, and gave him a knowing look and smile. I didn´t have a good feeling getting into an unmarked car. We had been warned that official taxis are red with a yellow triangles on the side doors. This car was not red, nor did it have taxi markings. We had no sooner sat down in the cab, than I immediately grabbed my bag and said, "Ï´m getting off. Please open the trunk so I can get my suitcase.¨ Melissa and Kesa looked at me like I was nuts and asked me what was wrong as they reluctantly got out. I explained my concerns while the so-called taxi driver was waiving paperwork at us indicating he was licensed. Sorry...no red car with yellow triangles, no ride for me...
Soon a real taxi came along and we hopped in. I asked the driver to turn on the meter, but he said it was a flat rate of $6.00 for the three of us. Another red flag: we were also told not to allow flat rates. However, this time I didn´t want to be the one to speak up and really look like a wierdo, so I kept my mouth shut and we split the cost of the $6.00 ride three ways.
After checking into the hotel and enjoying 10 minutes of air conditioning, we decided to head to the Manuel Antonio National Park and save the beach for the next day. We caught another bus back down the hill to the same beach we just came from, got off, crossed the road and walked through what can best be described as an alley lined with one souvenier tent after another. I couldn't believe this muddy alley was the way to get to the park entrance, but it was! We walked quite a ways, listened to vendors calling for our business, and tried to figure out just where the park was located. After several twists and turns down the muddy path and eventually past a residential area, we came to a little street crawling with people trying to get us to pay them for a 2-hour guided tour through the national park with guarantees of seeing monkeys and sloths. We decided not to pay for a guided tour and had to go to the bank to buy tickets into the park.
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| Entrance to the park |
As we entered the park, we saw a white tail deer grazing at the entrance:
There were trails throughout the park leading to the Manuel Antonio beach as well as several other beaches in the area. As we walked, we could hear that the forest was alive with insects. We could hear their noises so loudly it was as if someone had set up microphones throughout! Along the way, we saw crabs in the forest along the side of the road. I was surprised to see crabs so far from the beach. They live in holes in the mud.
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| Crab along the side of the road. |
The flowers along the trail were lovely. They are called heliconias and were everywhere:
Lots of insects, too:
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| Stick bug.It was about 10 inches long. |
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| Spider web. |
We could hear birds all around us, but this is the only one we saw:
We kept looking for monkeys and sloths and asked people returning along the trail if they had seen any. One person after another assured us there were monkeys, sloths, and iguanas at the beach which kept us motivated as we walked in the insufferable heat.
Eventually, we came to the beach, still not having seen any monkeys or sloths.
One person after another told us about the monkeys they had seen. They would come in droves and then disappear. Unfortunately, they were gone when we were there. We looked and looked but never found them, but we did see a cute video that a man from New Jersey shared with us. It showed the monkeys fighting over some garbage they found. One took a juice bottle up in the trees and was trying to take a big drink out of the bottle.
We did see a mapache (like a raccoon):
And several black iguanas:
The Manuel Antonio National Park is interesting and the beaches beautiful. I recommend an early start to avoid the heat and humidity of the afternoon and a better chance at seeing the monkeys. It sounds like they were out and about earlier in the day.
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