Manuel Antonio

Today I woke up much earlier than I wanted to and was definitely hungover. Being hungover makes me feel like an idiot every time. We drank some coffee, made our own oatmeal at the hostel and got ready for a day of hiking. Lars and Jonathan also wanted to visit the park, so the four of us got on the bus to Manuel Antonio. Luckily Jonathan had some extra strength Tylenol for my headache and I soon forgot my hangover as I was hit with the beauty of the park. There were so many animals to see! We hiked around for hours spotting sloths, monkeys, lizards, capybaras, birds and deer. We did the "mirador" hike and were rewarded with spectacular views of the beach below.

We spent the afternoon on the beach within the park, swimming in the clear, warm water with the view of the jungle covering the surrounding mountains. While we swam, raccoons would come out of the jungle and ravage through our stuff which made us jump out of the water to chase them; it was pretty hilarious! It was a beautiful and wondrous day at Manuel Antonio.

We headed out of the park around 3:30 so that we could shower, collect our belongings and catch the 5:30 bus to Playa Dominical, which was our next stop. Jonathan took a bus to San Jose because he was headed back to Canada but Lars was also headed to Playa Dominical so he came with us. It was an hour and a half bus ride even though it is only 25 miles away because it is a local bus which makes very frequent stops. When we arrived it was dark and pouring. We quickly grabbed our bags and began asking directions to some of the hostels we had researched earlier. I was once again glad to have a man with us as we wandered the back streets of town in the dark. Luckily, lonely planet had steered us in the direction of a pretty nice hostel right on the beach and we were the only people staying there (it's low season until November).

It wasn't until we were settled in at our hostel that I realized I had left my tennis shoes on the bus. I was heartbroken because it is very hard for me to find tennis shoes that work for my feet and those had my $500 orthotic inserts in them (I know, I'm 100 years old, but I have really high arches!). I got over it quickly though becuase really, what can be done? We ventured out again into the rain in search of some food. We decided to eat at San Clemente because it reminded Alyssa of California. I had the fish tacos which were sadly very fishy but I didn't care much because I was starving. We waited out the rain at the restaurant and then headed back to get some much needed, night after drinking sleep.

Posted with Blogsy