After some surfing, sun, and fun in Santa Teresa, the next stop on my tour of Costa Rica took me to Manuel Antonio. On Sunday, after meeting Kathi, Sophie, and Hannah in Cobano, we drove to Paquera and took the ferry to Puntarenas. From there, it was another 2.5 hours to Manuel Antonio, and it just wouldn’t stop raining the rest of the trip. Once we made it to our hostel, we checked in and called it an early night since we had already booked tickets for Manuel Antonio National Park earlier for the following day.
Thus, Monday morning, we got up early and, after breakfast, took the car to the national park. Since we only booked a general entrance ticket without a guided tour, we tried to spot some animals ourselves, however, without success. But luckily, we met a semi-official guide only a few minutes later, who took us around the national park for more than an hour and showed us quite some animals – from crabs and grasshoppers to monkeys jumping from one tree to the other or just hanging out there. Yet, the highlight was a sloth sunbathing in the tree, who also didn’t seem being bothered by anything.
After the tour, we continued walking around the national park on our own and hung out at one of the beaches inside the park for the rest of the afternoon. On the way back to the hostel, we stopped at a traditional Costa Rican restaurant – a so-called „soda“ – for some late lunch and grabbed some groceries for dinner afterwards. And while we were heading back to the car, we spotted another sloth hanging in the trees next to the street. The evening that day was already the last one I spent with Kathi, Sophie, and Hannah. Thus, after making dinner, we played cards and had drinks for the rest of the evening.
Tuesday morning, which was also Saint Nicholas Day (as portrayed in one of the pictures below), we had breakfast together one last time, packed our bags, and checked out. That also meant it was time to say goodbye to the best travel companions I could have wished for. Because while I decided to spend one more night at Selina Manuel Antonio, the girls headed on to Uvita to explore some more places along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
Since I could check in only at 3 pm, I spent the time until then tanning and reading at the pool, and occasionally cooling off in the water. And meanwhile, I was also visited by two iguanas, which I was less happy about. (Editor’s note: at this point, imagine me slightly freaking out). Anyways, after check-in, I went to check out another pool of the complex, while shortly before it got dark, I spontaneously hopped into the restaurant across the street to watch the sunset from there.
After breakfast the following morning, I took the bus to Quepos, where I now also met Rieke again. Although I had initially planned Manuel Antonio to be the last stop on my trip, I still had enough time to visit the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Hence, together with Rieke, I left on a long bus ride to the other side of the country, to Puerto Viejo. And how exactly that journey went, you can read in the last post about my trip to Costa Rica.
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