This weekend my friends and I went to Manuel Antonio. Papatico and Mamatica told me starting about 2 weeks before I left that it was "la playa mas linda de todas" (the most beautiful beach of all). Yup, they were right.
On Friday, after my last class of Conversacion Avanzada, Brittany and I went to buy our tickets at the bus station. After having to change taxis and being dropped off at the wrong station, we finally made it to Tracope, the correct bus station. We bought our tickets and had some lunch while we waited for the rest of the group that had already bought their tickets earlier in the week. While we waited, I was joking with Brittany about how excited I was to go to the beach. I turned to her and said, in regards to the food that I had brought to save money this weekend, "Want to know what I brought to really make this weekend exciting? Hot sauce and refried beans." That turned into the motto of the weekend.
We hopped onto the bus and I sat next to a street vendor with sunglasses. I bartered (possibly the best I ever have) them down to the bargain price of 2 mil colones, or roughly $4. We rode for four hours and arrived at Quepos, where we rode a bus to our hostel Pura Vida. The bus stopped a little ways away from the hostel and so we walked up a huge hill. As we walked, Michelle's jelly fell out and cut her foot open. There was blood and jelly every where. Good thing we were close to the hostel. To add to the fun, we quickly realized that it would be the hottest temperature we have ever felt. After seeing the room, we decided to upgrade from $10 a night to $15 a night (how expensive!!) to get air conditioning. Those of us who brought our food ate in the room and after we left to try and find a place for the others to eat. I love beans and hot sauce. After, we walked down the hill and it began to rain. We decided to stop in a pulperia (small store) to find food for them. It started raining harder and so we ran back up the hill to our hostel. As we were completely soaked, we decided just to change and hang out in the room. We played BS and some other card games. It was so much fun. I slept the best I have ever slept in a hostel there. It might have been because my friends Michelle and Brittany and I pushed our beds together and were right by the air conditioner.
The next morning, we got up and had a surprisingly good breakfast that was included in our $15 price. We changed and hopped a quick bus to the beach. It was so hot. By the end of the ride, we all were dripping sweat. Thank God we only had to walk a little bit to make it over to the National Park beach. After paying $10 to enter, we walked up a hill to make it to the beaches. We heard that the second beach was way better than the first so we walked past the first and were so happy when we found the second. Gorgeous. Completely and totally amazing. We took turns watching the stuff we brought on the beach and swimming. That was perfect because I was able to come out, dry off, and dump on more sunscreen. I didn't burn because of this system. We spent the whole day on the beach. I was able to eat my refried beans, hot sauce, and tortillas on the beach for lunch. Heavenly. It was so hot but it was cloudy so it wasn't too bad. We stayed until the park closed and then walked to find dinner. We sat at a place on the second level that over looked the public beach. We were able to eat hamburgers, drink pina coladas, and watch the hooligans below. What a life I have here. After taking a bus back to our hostel, we showered in the dorm shower and moved our things to the other room because someone had already reserved the wonderfully air conditioned room. We were now in the hottest room I have ever stayed in. We played cards in the community lounge. I learned how to play uker and how other people play 31. After, we struggled to sleep. Needless to say, clothing was way too much, as was the sheet so we all slept in some variation of bathing suit or what not. We had the doors closed but the windows fogged up due to the heat. We decided to for go locking the door and finally opened it up and put the fan in front as a form of security. 3 hours of sleep at the most for this little traveler.
The next day, two of our friends caught an earlier bus because of some serious sunburns. The four of us that were left went to the public beach after a quick bus ride. It was still so pretty. We stayed there until about noon. The water was clean and beautiful. The beach was perfect. I really enjoyed swimming there. My friend and I went to the local market and bought some tank tops. We then came back to the hostel and packed up and took showers. We rode in taxi to the next town over to catch the bus back to San Jose. After being unsuccessful at changing our tickets to an earlier time, we waited and played uker at the station for a few hours. We then hopped the bus and rode back to San Jose, which for some reason was uncharacteristically cold for this time of year. It was about 60 degrees. It felt like 40. It also felt amazing.
I was really excited to come home to San Jose. As much as I always enjoy the beach, it is wonderful to come home to a clean, dry, sand-free environment. My has never felt so comfortable before. Regardless, I had a great weekend, hot sauce and all.
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