Mustache Cat Chronicles : Day 2: Manuel Antonio National Park

Jeremy at the bus station

Me and my two backpacks ready to load

We woke up early today and took a taxi over to the bus station. Thomas told us it would probably be a bad idea to walk over there. Which in hind site, I'm very glad we did, not so much because of the walk...because it wasnt too far, but the area wasnt the greatest. I had no problem paying the guy the 1,005 colones ($2) to get there!

Once we were at the station it wasn't too hard to figure out, nor how to ask which bus to take, as I spoke a tiny bit of Spanish. It was only around $10/$15ish per person for the ride to Quepos, which was nice...a train ride in the States that far would have cost us $40, so I thought it was a steal. The bus ride wasn't too bad, we stopped about half way in at one of the roadside sodas for some snacks and bathroom. Jeremy was excited to find they had Costa Rican gummy bears here...he was worried. The 6am bus wasn't busy at all, I probably could've moved in another two seats and slept far more comfortably. This was our first taste of how people drive around here...crazy. I guess the bus drivers weren't too bad (later on in the trip we realized how bad the other drivers were). It was interesting though, because just about everyone uses their horn, not so much because they are mad at the other drivers, but more or less to let them know they are passing...weird I usually use my horn when Im pissed.

Quepos Harbor

We arrived in Quepos at 8:30amish, and luckily it was close to our hostel, Wide Mouth Frog. We were able to check in early and they were nice enough to store our bags until 10am until we could get to our room. We killed a couple hours walking around town and to the harbor to get our barrings. I didnt think Quepos was a terribly dirty town, but I wonder what it compares to in Costa Rican standards. Jeremy was pretty excited to learn that there was a soccer field right next to hostel too, me...I was excited to just not be in San Jose anymore!

Jeremy found his NFL bar
to watch his 49ers play

We came back to the hostel and finally got a chance to relax in our room...which really consisted of a bunk bed, fan, and small dresser and shelves. Honestly, I didnt really care, but I could tell Jeremy was thinking there would be a little bit better accommodations. In reality we paid about $40 a night so I wasnt complaining. BUT I must say, I wish we wouldve gotten a room with A/C, I completely underestimated the humidity. Ugh

Entrance into Manuel Antonio

We got situated in our room and headed out to Manuel Antonio National Park. It definitely wasnt walkable, so bus it is. It really wasn't that bad, I think less then a buck for about a 20 minute (uphill) ride. Once we got dropped off we bought our tickets ($10 each) and tried to make it into the park without getting accosted by the tour guides. Just like when we arrived in San Jose, they are super pushy. We opted not to get one and hiked around on our own...some say you see more with one, but it was nice it was just us two. AND we sort of piggy backed on a couple other tours! It was a little hard not too, I mean when there are 6 people staring at a tree pointing, we figured something was good there and just waited for them to leave so we could get a peak.

We first stumbled upon a three toed sloth who we wouldve missed, but he had a massive itch, so it was a little hard to miss him shaking the branch. We then decided to hike around on some of the trails that were kind of off the main trail. I dont know if we were supposed to be there, at a certain point there was caution tape that looked like it got torn down. It seemed like there was no one there, it was a Tuesday, and on this first trail we didnt see anyone for quite some time. We got a little nervous cause we werent sure if we were allowed to be on the trail, so we turned back (I was having flashbacks of watching Locked Up Abroad and really didnt want to be stuck in a Costa Rican jail). On the way back we heard a bunch of really loud howler monkeys right were we turned around so we went back...only to not really see anything, we heard them, but the trees were dense so we couldn't see anything.

We started to head down to the beaches cause at that point it was getting really hot (yeah it was only like 11am). The beaches were really nice, and again werent that busy cause we were there during the week. I wanted to check out the geocaches in the area (I'm a nerd), so we started hiking around some more. The area was really nice and after a semi hard hike we were at the top. We found our first international geocache and I think Jeremy was secretly excited (as was I). I was even more excited to find a trackable inside...I unfortunately forgot my CHP trackable so I took the one inside and signed the log book. I later found out that the trackable came from Iceland and starting in (I think) 2006! How cool. K, Im a nerd! Still cool none the less!

On the way back down to the beach we had a stare down with a huge iguana that stood in the path for a good couple minutes before moving. We finally saw our monkeys on the way down too! One of the guides was nice enough to point out some sleeping howler monkeys in a tree nearby (we wouldve never have spotted them if he didnt point them out). We then saw a bunch (is there a word for a group of monkeys...eh, Ill say bunch) of white faced capuchins. They are by far my favorite kind of monkey we saw, plus they reminded me of my Ron, the mustachiod cat.

We made our way back up another trail to find the other geocache inside the park. This hike was a little worse then the other trail as far as maintenance went, so it was a hard hike to get up. But the vista at the top was pretty bad ass. I was a little disappointed because the geocache wasn't as cool as the other one, plus it didn't have any trackables in it. It was funny though because when we made it to the top there was another couple from the States right behind us...they were playing frogger with us the whole way up the trail. The funny part was the guy commented about how we made the trip in our sandals. Well Jeremy had sandals on, I had my Chacos. But the way he said it was super condescending and was an inside joke the whole trip.

We hung out around the park for a little while longer before hiking out and getting some grub. Jeremy stopped by a small little stand that was selling cool shark tooth necklaces, and got one for around $4. We had dinner at a cool sports bar, and ordered a couple cheap margaritas. I had the chicken casado, Jeremy had the beef...I guess casado literally translates to "married man's lunch." At that point I didnt really care what it was called, the food was brown, warm, and a lot of it. I read on a forum about someone complaining about the food in Costa Rica, so I was a little nervous that I would get bored with the food after a while. This.was.great.food! It consisted of rice, beans, salad, meat, sauce, potatoes and plantains. We left full.

We went back to the hostel and hung out by the pool to cool off and went to bed early. Like really early, I think it was about 8pm. At that point though, I really didnt care, we were so tired of walking around, being in a bus, and sweating bullets. The bed wasnt that unfortunate, it wasnt the Hilton, but it got the job done. But needless to say, we slept with the fan on!