Manuel Antonio

Last weekend was amazing! The whole ACM group (all sixteen of us) took a trip to Manuel Antonio. The area is located on the Pacific coast and we were told by our professors that it would be a great first weekend trip for all us. The bus ride took about 3 and a half hours, but luckily there was a pit stop along the way. We stopped at a little market on the side of the highway, which was stocked with all sorts of goodies. Most of us decided to buy some of the local snacks that we had never tried before. Evidently, there were some winners and losers (I picked a looser, some pig skin chips which I thought were just an unmarked bag of authentic looking chips). On the bus ride we quickly came to realize that there was much more to Costa Rica than the craziness city life in San Jose. The only similarity I found was the driving, which was equally as terrifying. We saw massive changes in biodiversity and landscape, in the small distance covered we got to see crocodiles and monkeys all during a simple highway drive! Entranced by the wild life sightings and the diversity of the lands scape,  we decided to get up early the next morning and head straight to Manuel Antonio National Park and quench our thirst for further exploration.

Manuel Antonio is amazing! Included in the Manuel package is an small town, beautiful sandy beaches and waves, friendly people, and Manuel Antonio National Park; all of which introduced us to Costa Rican coast in just the right way. We woke up bright and early at our hostel and and grubbed on some surprisingly tasty pancakes supplied by our 12 dollar a night hostel (the name is Backpackers and I highly recommend it). We took a bus down to the park and immediately encountered a guide at the drop off. Marvin, our guide, turned out to be the best thing we could have asked for . He was originally going to charge 15 dollars a person but he decided gave us a deal for 8 dollars a person for an hour and half tour of the park (telescope included). He told us if we didn't see wildlife we didn't have to pay him at the end, so we figured it was safe bet to take the tour. We saw soooo much wild life! Marvin, an expert at his craft, was able to find animals that would have been invisible to our very untrained eyes. As the tour continued we we Marvin became more and more fond of us. I think appreciated being able to speak in Spanish during a tour. I am not sure if Marvin lost track of time or if he really did like us a bunch, but the tour lasted 3 hours instead of the promised hour and a half! We saw monkeys, sloths, assorted birds, iguanas, and much more.

Marvin left us at a beach within the park and we stayed there for the rest of the afternoon. Tranquil. Truly tranquil. That is of course until I strapped my Go Pro to my head and attempted to body surf. Sadly the Go Pro was not in proper position, and I did take it off at times. It was such a bummer because when I wasn't wearing it some crazy stuff happened. For example, a small group of us were attempting to hike to a more secluded  beach that Marvin had talked about when all of sudden a family of at least seven Capuchin Monkey sprang out from the trees!  The mother was very unhappy with me to say the least. I was told that my face was mere two feet from one of the monkeys, her face was of absolute disgust, and she kind of took a run at me; not nearly as friendly as the Capuchin in Ace Ventura.

PICTURES!!

 Our playa privada :)

The Monkey that nearly jumped on my head. Thank goodness Lauren told me to look out!

After our day at the beach we came back to the hostel where some showered; not me though, I was digging the salty/sandy feeling. I told everyone I was embracing the playa. From there we went to a restaurant called Avión, which was actually located in a old recovered war plane. We watched a beautiful sunset from the porch of the... airplane, and ate some delicious rice dishes. Following dinner we decided to conquer our discotec fever. After a day and night of fun and shenanigans we all slept quite well.

The next morning we headed to the public beach of Manuel Antonio where we sipped on some fresh coconuts, practiced some yoga, and drew some masterpieces in the sand. The bus came around 12 to  bring us back to San Jose. A great first weekend with the new ACM family!

I will be posting on how home life and classes are going very soon!