Costa Rica #1 - Manuel Antonio (close to)
Rather, Quepos, or… not even Quepos
It was about 2,5 hours to our destination near Quepos, that’s near Manuel Antonio.
And getting there was awesome. The road there was surprisingly good, just really slow, because of max 80km/h limit switching to 40km/h or 60km/h constantly. But the weather, man, the weather. After 1,5hours, when we first saw the ocean and decided to take a look at the beach, when we stepped out of the car, we thought we had arrived to a sauna. If must have been +10 degrees compared to San Jose. We had arrived to a paradise, just a bit longer and there we’d be.
Now, when I say that our accommodation was near Quepos, I mean 12 minutes by car to Quepos and another 25 minutes or so to Manuel Antonio. Meaning: once again our accommodation was in the middle of nowhere.
There was a store close to us, a big one, only 15 minutes by foot, so, we at least had that. Never dared walk that road, though, because of loose dogs and… we had a car, so, why.
But, you know, what? This time, I was happy that we were so far away from a centre. Or should I say: away from the massive crowds of tourists (it wasn’t actually massive, we even found parking in Quepos and Manuel Antonio, so, it could fit more). Not only that, though.
The location we were at was near mangroves
It was a nice hotel like apartment complex with a shared big pool and a shared tiny pool for babies.
The complex also had a decent park, where:
Some would say you could do some birdwatching. Even I took out my camera on several occasions.
You’d see two different types of squirrels.
You’d see iguanas (the first time ever for us)
You’d see frogs, spiders… all the fun animals ;), but not feel threatened
We’d go and take a walk every morning with Emmi at ~6a.m to go and see all those creatures.
Also, on the first day, just before going grocery shopping, we saw white-faced monkeys behind our hotel and on the last day, just before leaving, they came again to send us away. An unforgettable experience.
The loose dogs, when at the hotel territory, were friendly
In addition to that:
Next to the hotel were mangrove boat tour boats, from where we’d get a tour for 30 dollars (for the four of us, total), a lot cheaper than what we would have gotten from the city. Of course, we didn’t have a guide, just a driver who spoke just enough English to point us to different animals and birds. And when the monkeys came, he helped us feed bananas to them – they were the same monkeys (white-faced) that we had seen at our hotel earlier, still a different experience to feed them, not just see them.
.
And in addition to the store just 15 minutes by foot away, we also had a waterpark nearby, that was basically for locals only https://goo.gl/maps/YMRkh12KgTdxAYtn9 – for locals, because cheap and… no right-minded tourist would drive there from Quepos for that (Still in better condition than the family park in Alba). A part of it was closed, though, the one suitable for Emmi. And you could see that it had seen better days, but once we got over the “oh my god, I don’t even want to touch the water here” feeling, we had the greatest time.
We also had Quepos, where we’d go to a pharmacy and the ladies bought some clothes and of course a fresh food market on Friday evening. A pretty pointless place if you’d ask me. Of course, if you’d be interested in sports fishing for outrageous amount of money and mangrove or other boat tours, then that’s probably the place for you.
Also, younger people, who are not going to sleep at 9pm, this or Manuel Antonio would definitely have been better than our location.
An hour away a nice “little” beach we went to, twice - Dominical beach https://goo.gl/maps/jpmr5yWtKtTrvtxt5.
We saw red Macaws on top of the trees.
Went to a restaurant where we probably got a light food poisoning
And saw one of the most beautiful sunsets we had seen in Costa Rica until that time (it was the first beach sunset :D we went to, right after we went and saw the waterfall)
Then, 1,5 or so hours away we had a Nauyaka waterfall https://goo.gl/maps/8aDAuznWdacdPAci8.
After driving there and paying too much at the entrance, we then needed to walk for 1,5 hours to reach it. Was it worth it? Well:
We found out that it’s really difficult to walk uphill in that climate. Like a lot more difficult than whatever we did in Europe.
We saw the blue butterfly (Blue Morpho) for the first time in our lives
We, indeed, saw a small waterfall
We could swim in front of the waterfall, but next to a million tourists, so not the most pleasant and chill experience
And we felt our first proper rainfall in Costa Rica, which made the way back just… awesome (wet clothes, footwear and dirt for the win)
And then we had Manuel Antonio, which didn’t offer more than beaches and a natural park for us (for others, it could have offered a nice nightlife and touristy shops probably as well).
The big beach that was the second beach we went to
it was just before the national park
had to pay like… 5 euros for parking. I was outraged, why so much for accessing a beach, but paid anyway
The beach was huge, not many people (because not high season yet, probably), but ugly white chairs that you could rent with umbrellas on one side (for like 10 euros for a day) of the beach (like 1/100 was covered with them) and we just hated it. Why ruin a properly good beach with ugly white chairs and umbrellas to not burn yourself when spending a day at the beach? We have since learnt that the amount of chairs compared to the area in that beach was nothing compared to whichever beach in Mexico and we should have appreciated it a lot more. Also, compared to Mexico, the price for the chairs and the umbrella, is very cheap.
Then there was a “hidden gem” beach. Fun facts:
The parking did cost there as well to park on a road that’s free to park on (at least it was less).
It was better in every way from the other beach. Between hills and nice calm water.
You could rent a canoe there as well without being bankrupt later (we of course didn’t, don’t even ask, why) in addition to some refreshments.
it’s not actually hidden, quite known and popular, actually.
The way to it from the parking lot goes down a dirt road, so not the most comfortable walk, but definitely not something you should avoid, we could do it with Emmi on our back, so You can do it with beer in your arms.
And then came the Manuel Antonio natural park. What a treat that was.
The first hour and a half when we walked from the entrance to the farthest point we could go to, was a total disappointment.
As we forgot to pay for a guide (we ended up never paying for a guide), so we saw almost no wildlife.
The entrance fee was outrageously big (now, I’d be complaining about the prices in Costa Rica a lot… but just know that it’s nothing compared to Mexico, so… they’re actually dirt cheap)
And during the hike you’d only see jungle. Huge trees with basically no views but… just… trees.
But then, after reaching the top, we saw small brown monkeys jumping around on the trees. And most importantly, we saw our first ever hummingbird there. Hummingbirds are Reet’s favourite birds, so it was a big deal. It was so small and so quick that I wasn’t able to catch it on camera, but we saw it and it was beautiful (spoiler: we saw like a million hummingbirds during our trip to Costa Rica, wasn’t that rare of a being at all)
Then, after going back down from the farthest point, white faced monkeys were in the eating area trying to get some food from tourists. They ran around with paper cups and were jumping on the tables. One even punched my camera, because I went too close.
We also saw a snake that doesn’t have the deadliest venom, but causes most deaths in Costa Rica because it’s the most aggressive.
And we were able to take some time off at the beach, which was Meh, because we weren’t totally alone there (it had like 3-4 couples in addition to us at all times while we were there… thinking back… paradise compared to Mexico’s beaches this far).
But then. One of the highlights of the Costa Rican trip. We were just casually walking back to the entrance of the park on the white sands, seeing a turtle, some spiders, a sloth from far away, other type of monkeys from far away etc… when a wave came and Reet fell… and away swam her phone (or someone had stolen it before) which was loosely put in the backpack’s pocket.
We were able to quickly buy a new phone for her to use with a local card (iPhone 13, because we’re rich), but what went with her phone was her ID card’s Pin 1 and Pin 2 numbers. And what does it mean to lose all your Authentication options (smart id, id card)? That you can’t get a new SIM card without authenticating yourself:
She could have gotten an Estonian eSIM, if she had an option to authenticate herself, but she didn’t have it, so no Estonian number any more.
When trying to log in to her Apple account from the new phone, it sent a code to her phone (her only apple device) to confirm it’s her (two factor authentication for the win), but she didn’t have it. So, she needed to wait ~5 days to log into the account. And it’s not just apple, it was PayPal as well, to which she couldn’t log in to even after 5 days.
And no transactions could be done in the bank. Luckily, they allowed transferring money from the savings account to the debit account via phone and we could pay for accommodations with the debit card, but no transferring money from one account to another (from her account to mine and she has the money bag, as you know). We even panicked for a few hours that night until we realized we were actually okay (we could always lend money from her Mother until we reach back home).
Fun fact. One day Emmi was playing with Reet’s phone and had opened up Notes app and there her synced notes were from her old phone, that she wasn’t able to retrieve before when she herself had tried. She can now authenticate herself again (but this happened much later during the trip, we were already in Mexico by that time)
And 1,5 hours away, the most beautiful place/beach we had ever seen.
Okay, when Reet’s phone going missing was one of the highlights, this was the second one. Marino Ballena https://goo.gl/maps/HaMUmUQPxCBTJkEN8. It’s a national park, or rather a national beach? An unspoiled beach.
We went there during high tide and the tides matter on that side of Costa Rica (fun fact, they don’t matter like at all on the caribbean side). The difference in height is… I don’t know, meters. And in beach terms, it’s like… you have a small strip of beach vs you have a huge area of sandy beach.
During high tide, it was fun walking on sand that would sink your feet a few cm’s on every step and you’d need to cross a creek that has water up to your knees and more.
All the while on one side you’d have the ocean and on the other side you’d have my favourite trees – Palms.
Then, after like 40 minutes of walking, you’d reach the start of the whale’s tale, on which you can walk, when the tide is low.
We sat there, watched red Macaws again, swam, felt good and waited for the low tide.
And in the end, during low tide, we could then walk… basically on water… while enjoying the sunset coming in. It… was… just… breathtaking… the reflections.
It’s in the shape of a whale’s tail and when on that tail and it’s the correct season, you could see whales from there without needing a whale watching boat tour. But it wasn’t the correct season while we were there.
If you ask us what’s the place with the most to do. This is/was it for us. Maybe other places had even more activities and stuff to do, but we sure as hell didn’t do half as much in other places.
Did we appreciate Manuel Antonio? Looking back, definitely not enough. The problem was:
The two villages (Quepos and Manuel Antonio) were just so…
When you’d park your car, someone would come to you and say that they’d be looking after your car while you’re away when you give a few bucks to them. Or if not that then you’d have to pay someone already before parking at the side of a public street, because you don’t know any better.
The stores were small and overpriced and all the buildings were just… ugly
And, naturally, streets were not meant for strollers
Nothing “authentic”, even though I don’t want the authentic Costa Rica, because it would not be very luxurious.
While national parks are free in Europe, they’re not in Costa Rica and it just frustrated me.
Also, what frustrated us the most, was the price of fruits. At first we thought that it’s a problem with the touristy places we had chosen to visit (and it probably somewhat is as sell, but not only that), but turns out that Costa Rica has some kind of tax for every food item that’s imported and they’re not growing much fruit :D in costa rica. At least not the fruits we’re used to eating in Europe. So, most fruits were sooo fucking expensive that you’d feel like you just came out of an expensive restaurant when you exited the grocery store.
The appreciation of where we were:
In a warm climate
So-so close to wildlife (I appreciated the monkeys, but not the sloths and the birds, yet
Near the most beautiful (uncrowded, comparably) beaches one could imagine visiting
That came so-so much later, when we were hit with the reality > Mexico.
Still, Costa Rica had had a great start. Lots of activities behind us. On to the new adventure, that would be in the middle of the jungle. That’s our thing… Isn’t it? Isn’t it? It is NOT, but why?
