Ana and I got up early for a Saturday. Like 6:30, but that´s 4:30 Pacific time. We sleepily ate some breakfast and headed to a little airstrip where we caught a 2 engine plane to Quepos on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. It was my first time on such a lil plane. At first the propeller on my side was not really spinning. Ana´s was. Eventually my side caught up and we were off. It was a short 30 minute flight or so. The landscape was beautiful. Lush green mountains. I was transfixed on it all that I didn´t realize that on Ana´s side was the coast, also extremely breath taking. We landed in an airstrip in between lush tropical trees. It was amazing. Stepping out of the plane a humid and hot air hit us and I think I finally melted all my home stress away and I knew I was really on vacation. There a minibus transfer was waiting for us to drive us the 30 min to Manuel Antonio where we are to spend 4 days. Our hotel was right near the beach up a little road. Hotel Espadilla. 16 rooms, pool, bar, restaurant, tennis courts, and it´s own hiking trails. It was dope! Such an upgrade from the surfer hostel I stayed at last year in Mal Pais where there were shared COLD showers, no A/C, and bugs as bunkmates. This was truely paradise.
We were still hungry so we hit up brunch. I was disappointed to see only American style food on the menu for breakfast, but it was the same when I was Mal Pais it took a minute to find a restaurant that had Costa Rican food (comida tipica). Oh well. We walked around a bit figuring out what tours were available since we had not set up our activity itinerary ahead of time. Very interesting how the different tour offices were right next to each other. We went from one to the next comparing prices. Ana´s pretty expert. I suck. I hear a price and if it fits my budget SOLD! I´m not a big bargainer. Anyways we got some ideas and headed back to the hotel. Our rooms were still not ready so we hit up the pool. I´m not huge on laying out when I know it´s my first sun and I tend to burn easily, plus I was HOT so I just jumped in that pool. Felt soooo goood! It was cold for little Ana but little by little she got in. The pool had a swim up to bar. Sweet! We had some pina coladas. Kinda fufu for what I usually drink, but hey that´s what you do pool side right? Plus, I wanted to try and get a bit of work out in. My foot´s been hurt for the last few weeks so I have not been that active. They weighed us to get on the little plane and I was not happy. Just gotta be super active. But that´s how I do it so I´m not to worried about what the scales will say on the way back. :) Luckily my foot is doing better. As you will see in subsequent blogs we are being quite active.
Finally we got our rooms and they were really nice. I was really happy. Great art on the walls like we had seen in the lobby. Bright colors. 2 beds. A full and a twin. I just grabbed the twin and layed my head down to say a little prayer of thanks for being safe and in paradise and to also rest a second. We got dressed and headed back to the main strip to find out more on the tours. After some hussling and bussling we got a few nailed down. Like I said Ana´s a hustler. Me not so much. Ana had to hit up church so we went on a bus ride to Quepos, the nearest big town. There we grabbed linner or dunch. Well you know that inbetween meal. We got it at a small hole in the wall what is commonly known as a soda here in CR. The food was yummy and just like $5. I had a bit of an incident with some salsa Lizano. See I love this stuff. You only get it in Costa Rica. You eat it with eggs with meat, with everything. So when I got my casado, tipical Costa Rican rice, bean, and meat dish I was all excited to get a bottle of Lizano. I start to shake it up and pop goes the lid and the sauce goes every where! On the floor, on both sides of the table, on the table, on my top, on my skirt, on my purse.... Everywhere except my plate! Ana found it pretty funny. I did after I got some of it out of my white top. Needless to say I didn´t touch the Lizano bottle again.
After we went to mass. My parents would be extremely proud of me since I rarely even go in the states, but hey this is Ana´s vacation too so I went to be with her. It had a full on band. I mean I´m talking drums, guitars, 4 singers with mic´s. Insane. Like a concert! Afterwards, they were selling food and desserts. I got my fav arroz con leche! YUMMY! it was hot, which I´m not used to but still good. We caught a cab back to our hotel. About 6 km. We were tired, but still had some energy so we went for a night swim. The pool looked so pretty and peaceful it was a nice way to end the day. Of course we swam up to the bar again and met a really nice bartender named Randall who advised us of our adventures ahead.
That was pretty much it. Went back to the room, showered, and went to bed. We had an early morning to go visit the Manuel Antonio park....
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