Carlos and our awesome ride:
We stopped for lunch at a soda. The kind of place that doesn't have a menu. You just tell them what meat you want, and this is what you get:
It's called a "casada" and is the standard Costa Rican lunch or dinner dish. You get a meat, rice, beans, veggies and fried plantains. The term "casada" means "married". Carlos told us the name came about from back in the day when a new wife would be so excited her husband was home from work that she would make him everything to eat at once. (Then he joked that after the first year the wives leave the husbands to fend for themselves.)
The soda:
We had heard that a stop at the Tarcoles River was a must-do during this drive, but Carlos did one better. He recommended a jungle cruise - complete with crocodile sightings. First we did the customary stop at the bridge over the river. All the tourists brave the narrow sidewalks along the fast-paced traffic to look over the sides and see this:
Bunches of crocodiles! The Tarcoles River has the third highest concentration of crocodiles in the world, which basically means that if you fell in the river, you probably wouldn't be getting back out.
Then I wrestled a crocodile:
Just kidding! (Who would wear a camera bag when wrestling a crocodile anyways?) We headed on to the jungle cruise, where we scored a private tour as we were the only people ready to go at the time. Just out of the dock we spotted an iguana trying to catch some rays:
Our driver pulled the boat into some mango trees and our guide pulled a tiger-face crab out of the water. Such an awesome shell:
We also saw plenty of crocodiles, such as this big guy:
Then our guide jumped out of the boat and did the craziest thing we've ever seen. There are no words... just watch the video:
Our first question to him: "Has anyone ever gotten hurt doing this?" The answer: "Two of my friends did last week." Madness! Here was Round #2 in picture form:
After this feat of bravery, the shirt our guide was wearing just seemed all that much more appropriate:
After we started breathing again, we got back on the road to Manual Antonio. We arrived just in time to dip our feet in the Pacific Ocean (a first for me!) and watch the sun set.
We were in town debating on what to do about dinner and getting lunch for the next day when we saw the bus which goes between Manual Antonio and a bigger town about 20 minutes away. We decided to be adventurous and hopped on. Cheapest part of our trip! We bought groceries for lunch in the national park over the next two days, then were surprised with how A's dinner was served:
The hotel we stayed at in Manual Antonio was right on the edge of park, which was our entire reason for choosing it. They claimed you would see monkeys from your room. We had some try to join us for breakfast!
They were so cute! And so clever... they really wanted our pancakes and weren't afraid to try hard to get them.
While in Manual Antonio we planned to spend our time inside the national park. We knew the park opened at 7AM but we wanted a little more sleep the first morning, so we didn't head out until around 8:30. We walked out of our hotel right into this:
At first we thought we had woken up in the Costa Rican version of Disney World. Apparently the park had changed the entrance procedure for the season. Tickets went on sale at 6:30AM. The ticket line moved from the main entrance to the back entrance (right outside our room), and they sold a total of 800 tickets - first come, first serve. We didn't realize there would be Ticos on vacation as well as tourists, and they only let 800 people into the park at one time. A park guide advised us to go back in line just before lunch because people would leave the park and then they let others in. So we hung out on the Manual Antonio public beach for a little while. It's not too shabby.
We only had to stand in line for about 20 minutes before gaining entrance to the park, which is where we spent the rest of that day and the next morning before we headed back to San Jose. The Manual Antonio National Park is really awesome. You can go hiking and see animals, or sit on a gorgeous beach. Just make sure to steer clear of the poisonous manzanilla trees!
Red-legged crabs:
Really cool sloth:
View from the lookout point:
A monkey helped us find our way to one of the smaller beaches:
A's print and a monkey's:
Iguana:
More monkeys!
And sloths!
I thought this sign was great:
On the second night, we took in the beautiful Pacific sunset at El Avion, a restaurant built around a plane.
Yes, that's a bar in the belly of the aircraft:
The restaurant we tried to eat dinner at ran out of water, so we took the owner/chef's recommendation for a place down the street. The second choice served delicious seafood - including fresh ceviche!
The next day we had learned our lesson and got our tickets early. We went in the main entrance to the park, which involves wading through knee-deep water to get to the gate. In a fine example of opportunism, there are Ticos with flat-bottomed boats who will float you a whole 5-10 yards for about $1.00 to keep you from getting wet.
We got to the beach relatively early, but didn't expect it to be so empty. We pretty much had the entire beach to ourselves for a few hours. After making sure we didn't sit under a poisonous tree, we relaxed on the sand and played in the waves.
Costa Rica made for a fabulous honeymoon, and definitely a vacation we'll never forget! If you decide to go there, I'd be glad to help you plan it!
After this feat of bravery, the shirt our guide was wearing just seemed all that much more appropriate:
After we started breathing again, we got back on the road to Manual Antonio. We arrived just in time to dip our feet in the Pacific Ocean (a first for me!) and watch the sun set.
We were in town debating on what to do about dinner and getting lunch for the next day when we saw the bus which goes between Manual Antonio and a bigger town about 20 minutes away. We decided to be adventurous and hopped on. Cheapest part of our trip! We bought groceries for lunch in the national park over the next two days, then were surprised with how A's dinner was served:
The hotel we stayed at in Manual Antonio was right on the edge of park, which was our entire reason for choosing it. They claimed you would see monkeys from your room. We had some try to join us for breakfast!
They were so cute! And so clever... they really wanted our pancakes and weren't afraid to try hard to get them.
While in Manual Antonio we planned to spend our time inside the national park. We knew the park opened at 7AM but we wanted a little more sleep the first morning, so we didn't head out until around 8:30. We walked out of our hotel right into this:
At first we thought we had woken up in the Costa Rican version of Disney World. Apparently the park had changed the entrance procedure for the season. Tickets went on sale at 6:30AM. The ticket line moved from the main entrance to the back entrance (right outside our room), and they sold a total of 800 tickets - first come, first serve. We didn't realize there would be Ticos on vacation as well as tourists, and they only let 800 people into the park at one time. A park guide advised us to go back in line just before lunch because people would leave the park and then they let others in. So we hung out on the Manual Antonio public beach for a little while. It's not too shabby.
We only had to stand in line for about 20 minutes before gaining entrance to the park, which is where we spent the rest of that day and the next morning before we headed back to San Jose. The Manual Antonio National Park is really awesome. You can go hiking and see animals, or sit on a gorgeous beach. Just make sure to steer clear of the poisonous manzanilla trees!
Red-legged crabs:
Really cool sloth:
View from the lookout point:
A monkey helped us find our way to one of the smaller beaches:
A's print and a monkey's:
Iguana:
More monkeys!
And sloths!
I thought this sign was great:
On the second night, we took in the beautiful Pacific sunset at El Avion, a restaurant built around a plane.
Yes, that's a bar in the belly of the aircraft:
The restaurant we tried to eat dinner at ran out of water, so we took the owner/chef's recommendation for a place down the street. The second choice served delicious seafood - including fresh ceviche!
The next day we had learned our lesson and got our tickets early. We went in the main entrance to the park, which involves wading through knee-deep water to get to the gate. In a fine example of opportunism, there are Ticos with flat-bottomed boats who will float you a whole 5-10 yards for about $1.00 to keep you from getting wet.
We got to the beach relatively early, but didn't expect it to be so empty. We pretty much had the entire beach to ourselves for a few hours. After making sure we didn't sit under a poisonous tree, we relaxed on the sand and played in the waves.
Costa Rica made for a fabulous honeymoon, and definitely a vacation we'll never forget! If you decide to go there, I'd be glad to help you plan it!
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Great pictures, it looks so beautiful! After wrestling that crocodile, you didn't want to help feed the one your guide was playing with? Crazy. Glad you guys still have all your fingers and toes!
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