Beach Day
Today, we finally have nowhere to get to by any particular time, and it feels glorious. It’s sunny and warm (but humid, as we are right next to the jungle) as we start our adventure with breakfast by the pool.
When we booked this trip, we took comfort in that, according to Lonely Planet, the rainy season runs from May to October, with November being the shoulder period before the dry season. In theory, that makes for cheaper hotels, less crowded sights, and slightly more comfortable temperatures, which all sound pretty good to us. With the tickets booked and our agenda starting to take shape, however, we increasingly come across nuggets like these:
“In our experience November has been the worst month for roads.”
“November is a good choice for low season prices, but if the possibility of record rainfall seems like too much of a gamble you might consider pushing your vacation back to the first two weeks of December.”
That said, we’re really not sure what to expect for the next three weeks. Fingers crossed the days all look like today.
We wander a few hundred meters down the road to the public beach, which is mostly deserted, running about a quarter mile in either direction. There are vendors renting beach chairs and umbrellas, but we opt instead to just stroll along the water, listening to the waves. It is definitely a spot where one could easily let a day slip by with a good book, but we’re still getting our bearings and have more places to check out.
Along the ocean there are a handful of restaurants, with most offering Costa Rican food. We find one where Happy Hour has already started and sit down to try a casado – a typical meal comprised of rice, beans, plantains, salad, and meat (a pork chop in this case). My fellow traveler pairs this up with a two-for-one margarita order, so things could get interesting.
The food is good, but unexciting. The drinks, well, after quickly draining two glasses, I expect to see my better half either dancing on the table to music she doesn’t understand, or face down the sidewalk, with other tourists stepping over her to get to where they are headed. Neither happens, which is no fun for me at all. Instead, we pay our bill (for lunch and two-for-one margarita mix it seems) and head back towards the hotel.
In the opposite direction, also a couple of hundred meters away, is the entrance to Manuel Antonio Park. This is one of the smallest national parks in Costa Rica but, according to all that we have read, one of the most popular. It is a full day affair, so today we just wanted to check out the area nearby and get an idea where we’ll need to get our tickets and find a guide. There are vendors all along the route selling souvenirs and snacks, including something called a Coco Loco, which appears to be a shot of rum poured into fresh coconut.
We also see a bird that everyone around us is quite excitedly pointing at. They say it is a toucan, but everyone knows that toucans are blue and have stripped beaks.
As we’re near the equator, the sun sets pretty early (about 5:45pm every day through the year) and before long there isn’t much left to look for other than dinner. Tomorrow we plan on hitting the park early as, even though it is still low season, it will be the weekend and likely a little crowded.