We left Fonda Vela today – for once we weren’t going at a crazy time in the morning. Our destination was to Manuel Antonio.This for all intents and purposes was the last leg of the trip. In many ways saving the best until last.
After two hours we stopped at a Costa Rican equivalent to a services. It was called Crocodilos. I just thought it was a quirky name. We decided to cool down with smoothies, which has reignited Pete’s love of them. But before we had our smoothies I had to continue the family tradition of a photo opportunity.
We headed back to the minibus and the minibus driver in Spanglish told us to go to towards the bridge. As we did so a smarmy roadside seller was hawking crocodile teeth necklaces. He tried everything, including that they were lucky in Costa Rica, in the end I just said they were horrible. The heat can do something to your manners.
When we got there a group further up were lobbing coconuts at the water. Looking more intently we saw they were aiming at a crocodile. We both decided if they did it again we would tackle them. I wouldn’t have minded throwing them over the bridge.
When returned in the opposite direction two days later the crocodiles were in the same position. Adult crocodiles only have about 50 meals a year. They need energy to break down the food so will lay still for the times in between.
We arrived at Si Como No which means Yes of course. A tad annoyed as we were three hours before check in but we didn’t argue about it. The receptionist said that we could go to the nature reserve that they owned opposite the hotel. It was quite exciting as it was closed for refurbishment, so we were let in by a security guard. It was really good, if you could cut out the deafening noise of chainsaws cutting through huge trunks of wood. As we passed them Pete had a moment of chainsaw envy.
We still had plenty of time so we ventured to Manuel Antonio by the local bus, the receptionist seemed surprised that we would do that, as was the receptionist at the Fonda Vela. It would have been ridiculous not to, the fares were 380 colonas and that’s the equivalent to 47p.
Manuel Antonio is on the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica. We hadn’t bought our costumes with us – they were buried deep inside of one of our rucksacks. I wasn’t really tempted to swim there as the sand was volcanic and it give it bit of a mucky impression. It looked brilliant for the many surfers. We walked to the end of the beach passing horses trying to keep in the shade.
When we reached the end of the beach it turned to mangrove. Despite the sign Pete still wanted to go further down the path, reasoning that crocodiles are slower on land!
I wasn’t in the mood for going further into the forest but luckily that path stopped.
We still had even more time to kill…..so time for another smoothie – but in a cafe with a good view of the beach so we could people watch.
To be honest we just wanted to bum the internet!
We figured how to get the bus back to the hotel and passed lots of people with cameras pointed at the trees above them. So instead of going straight to the hotel we walked a little way back to see what it was all about. It was amazing, a large group of Capuchin monkeys, jumping from one tree to the next.
It was so special to see them so close. We stayed a while and only left when they did.
Got to the hotel to be told we had been upgraded due to the checking in issues.
It was again very posh and again not the sort of place we have normally stayed in, but we have decided we could easily get used to it.
The view from the balcony was breathtaking even when there was torrential rain some twenty minutes later!
We saw these ducks while it was literally bucketing down.
When it eased we went to the pool. They had a separate adult pool, which I guiltily loved the idea of, hence probably the awful coy pose!
Random Acts of Travelling 