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Day 18 - Tues 30 Dec
Woke up at 6.30 today and it was chucking it down outside! No run for us so a bit of stretching sufficed. We had breakfast at 7 before one last swim (in the rain) and a jacuzzi except the jacuzzi was nowhere near warm that early! Plus we couldn't see anything of the volcano as the clouds had completely covered it up - literally you wouldn't know there was anything there. So looks like we were extremely lucky with the weather.
We left La Fortuna at 8.30 and realised the waterfall that we missed yesterday would not be feasible in this weather so headed straight down south to our next destination - Manuel Antonio which was more difficult than it sounds due to the Costa Rican roads! The road system itself is fairly simple with only a handful of major roads going throughout the country but there are literally no signs - the locals all use landmarks which doesn't help the hapless tourist desperately searching for the correct turnoff! Had to stop a couple of times and got directions for the right roads but it was pretty crazy and a couple of times you had to drive a couple of miles before being reassured that you were on the right road.
We got to Tarcoles around midday where there is a famous bridge for spying wild crocodiles and spy we did - there were dozens of them! They like to sunbathe in the sandbanks under the bridge so that was a sight indeed.
Got to Jaco before stopping for lunch - very touristy place although on a lovely stretch of beach. Stopped at a Lonely Planet-recommended place called Los Pibes where we got some pizza and empanadas for about $4, nice!
Got to Manuel Antonio eventually and got to our hotel, Costa Verde which is definitely the cream of the crop! They have quite a large complex with 3 pools and I think 5 blocks of studio apartments scattered around. Our studio was in the 'Costa Verde II' area so our studio has no windows or aircon, instead 2 of the 4 walls are literally mosquito screens and there are several fans on the ceiling. But the studio is lovely, its huge with very high wooden ceiling, kitchenette, powerful shower and a fantastic balcony which on one side faces the sea and on the other the forest and down along the coast - truly spectacular. Plus of the 3 pools the best one is right underneath our block. And last but not least, our little area, Costa Verde II, is adults only, 'no ninos!' said the manager enthusiastically as we arrived - my guess is that means we won't wake up to the sound of children dive-bombing each other in the pool!
Quickly unpacked (for 6 nights this time, bliss!) and then headed down to the pool for a swim before watching the glorious sunset which is fairly early at 5.30.
Wandered out for dinner to a place called El Avion (check it out www.elavion.net) which is an amazing place, they have a Fairchild C-123 aircraft with a bar inside! (Dad/Myles you'd love it) Apparently two of these planes were bought in the 80s by the US government to help the Nicaraguan Contras and the other one was shot down in Nicaragua whereas this one was just abandoned in San Jose airport before this restaurant shipped it up in 2000.
Had a lovely meal before heading back and sitting on our terrace with a glass of wine listening to the roar of the cicadas - magic!
Day 19 - Wed 31 December
Woke up at 6.30 today and decided we were going to go for a gentle run to the beach... well that went out the window because as soon as we started for the beach we realised we were running some distance downhill and what goes down must come up! We went all the way down anyway and checked out the beach which was lovely, huge white sandy beach, before running back - Tim made it all the way up the hill and I only managed half - still, blew the cobwebs away!
Made our own breakfast for the first time on this trip of fruit and coffee (again free coffee in the room, lovely) before heading on our first excursion to the National Park in Manuel Antonio. Armed with a load of water, suncream, insect repellent and a map we followed all the various trails around the forest and the beaches and saw quite an amazing quantity of wildlife - monkeys were concentrated in a couple of spots, saw racoons, loads of ghekkos, lizards and a few iguanas and some sort of mammal that looked like an oversized rat - no idea what that was called! Plus a huge amount of interesting looking bugs. Was very hard work in the heat hiking through some of the trails but worth it as it looked like the Park Guides took groups only on the easy trails so some were empty and we got a good look at some of the fascinating creatures.
Got back around 3pm and I crashed out for a couple of hours - think running up a hill and then a mornings' hiking was far too much exertion for one day! We watched the sunset again (something I'm sure you could never tire of from where we are) and then prepped ourselves with a glass of wine and had a wee 'cheers' at 6pm for the UK New Year - saw a couple of fireworks go off and heard a few cheers so there definitely some Brits around.
Went out for some dinner down on the seafront which was nice, lots of people were out and getting ready to celebrate so a very nice atmosphere. Went to El Avion to have a drink after dinner (just because its so cool to have a bar in a plane!) but unfortunately we flagged after that! Went back and attempted to stay awake by having tea on our balcony but by 10.30 we were fast asleep. Not for long however as the fireworks came on full blast at 12 so I was up straight away and got onto the balcony to have a good look, quite a sight!
Day 20 - Thurs 1 January
Slept in until 7.30 today...haha. Had a nice breakfast and chilled on the balcony for a while. Yesterday we had a note through the door that there was to be a wedding today so the pool in front of us would be out of action all day - slightly annoying as obviously we hadn't been forewarned and were planning to spend some time lazing around it. So, Tim with his negotiating head on went straight to the manager and asked for a reduction due to the facilities not being fully available - manager said no and after a little parrying he pulled out the best trick yet - asked him if he was familiar with TripAdvisor and threatened to write a review saying that the place was lovely but the service was shoddy and it worked! 20% discount on tonight which was worth it. Unfortunately Tim also saw the bride-to-be complaining that her room was too noisy and demanding to be moved so I think the manager had his work cut out!
Decided instead to go and chill out on the beach after checking out the surf school - booked ourselves in for a 3 hour lesson tomorrow morning so hoping that will be fun.
Beach was great for people watching - it was full of people, tourists, expats, locals - unlike Panama or so it seemed this place is a lot more integrated and there was lots going on including a couple of games of football which Tim was desperate to get into but the players were all about 20 years younger than him haha!
When we got back to our studio around 4pm we found a large plate of tropical fruit in the fridge - looks like the TripAdvisor threat was still worrying the manager! So we enjoyed that whilst watching the wedding from our balcony - it was a small Jewish wedding but obviously in a lovely setting - so nice to be seeing someone else have the stress!
Went out for another nice meal before retiring to our balcony for another nightcap
Day 21 - Friday 2nd January
Today we learnt to surf! Got picked up at 8 and taken down the surf school where we were in a group of 11 - a couple of kids but mostly adults and some complete beginners so I was happy I wouldn't be bottom of the class! We got given t-shirts to wear to a) stop you getting a rash on your stomach from the board and b) stop you burning so we all looked hot to trot. First part of the class was a warm up to get the legs moving then an explanation of the moves required to get from lying on the board to standing up. We then all practised on imaginary boards in the sand so lying down flat, hands under the ribs, then pushing your upper body up then jumping onto your two feet so that they are balanced on the board. All seemed pretty easy on the sand. Then we got in the water and there were 3 instructors who would take it in turns to hold your board whilst you are lying on it, completely oblivious to the waves behind you picking out the best wave to get you moving, then they push you forward whilst shouting '1, 2, 3, up!' so you get up at the right time and hopefully you surf... Tim got it pretty quickly but I'm proud to say that by about the 4th go I was standing up and riding' em in baby - we were both surfing! This carried on for another couple of hours and the instructors would make minor adjustments to what we were doing i.e. keep your centre of gravity low and keep your feet wide. After 3 hours we were all pretty tired but to the school's credit I think everyone out of the 11 got up and surfed a wave in by the end so it was definitely worth it.
We got a lift back to the hotel then went to our now favourite cafe, Cafe Milagro for some lunch whilst discussing how great surfing is and how we now saw how easily one could become addicted - maybe we should just hide out in Costa Rica for the next 6 months and be surf bums? Nice thought!
After lunch we were actually pretty knackered from the morning's exertion and took the afternoon off to sit by the pool for some more serious reading before heading out for some more lovely food (red snapper and tuna) before our little glass of wine on the balcony!
Day 22 - Saturday 3rd Jan
As soon as I opened my eyes this morning I knew it wasn't going to be good - I ached absolutely everywhere! Looks like the surfing took its toll on my female physique (i.e. not enough upper body strength to even do a pressup) as it was my arms, back, legs, the lot! (Tim of course claimed he couldn't feel a thing but I caught him out a couple of times saying his legs were stiff..)
Had breakfast before heading out on our day trip to Domincal - this is a town only 44km south of where we are but the road is dirt track the whole way - reason being that the road is owned by the government of Quepos which is where we are staying and they won't pave the road because then the tourists will want to split their time between Quepos/Manuel Antonio and Domincal and places further south! As a result Domincal is a lovely little town that is supposedly how Costa Rica was 10 years ago - not a sunbed or umbrella to be seen on the beach, just loads of people relaxing on the beach and lots of surfers plus lovely little cafes, restaurants and beachfront hotels. We quickly realised this place was for surfers who'd been at it a while as the waves were huge so we contended ourselves with the second option, jumping over the waves! You'd be standing in water ankle deep but when a wave came in it would be waist high so you just couldn't underestimate the fun in jumping over the waves! Tim also perfected bodysurfing (which a guy in the surf school showed him) where you catch the front of the wave, put your arms in front and kick kick kick and sure enough he showed up 25m up the shore! We alternated sunning ourselves with a few wave sessions before heading back after lunch.
At 4pm I then was treated to a massage by Tim (aw) at the hotel. The woman was short and petite but after I requested a massage 'sportivo' she unleashed her strength and gave me a good going over. For those of you that haven't experienced a sports massage - its not a nice relaxing experience; you get about 5 minutes of that before the masseur zooms over you finding all the bits that hurt or get affected by, in my case, running and pummells them! So it can be quite painful at times but leaves you feeling wonderful afterwards.
Watched the sunset again (I swear its different every day) and then headed out for some more lovely fish
Day 23 - Sunday 3rd Jan
Today was our last full day in Manuel Antonio so decided to make the most of it on the beach. Went down around 9am after a leisurely breakfast and headed straight for the surf rental! Sea looked a bit rougher than when we had our lesson but decided to try it anyway. After about 5 minutes I gave up as I literally couldn't get myself and the board out past the breakers without being thrown back to shore! So Tim kept his board and valiantly kept trying to get out and did eventually where I took on the instructor role and told him when a wave was coming so he could start paddling to get up and up he got! In the end he only managed about 45 minutes of it as it was so tiring - and I was shattered too from trying to avoid the waves! Again, you could be standing at knee height and a wave could go completely over your head! When Tim took the board back the guy did say that there was apparently a 'big swell' making it not very good conditions for beginners - they actually had another group lesson underway when we started out but it was cancelled after about half an hour for what looked the same reasons as I gave up - hardly anyone could actually get themselves out past the waves.
So after the surfing we obviously needed a wee lie down so treated ourselves to a couple of sunbeds and umbrella and a large bag of crisps! Had a nice lunch a couple of hours later followed by more wave-jumping, body surfing and generally soaking up the last day of sun.
Went back to El Avion for our last night's meal as it was nice and had again delicious red snapper and tuna. Yum!
Day 23 - Monday 5th Jan
Got up at 5am this morning in at attempt to start shifting timezones again! Went for our run down the hill, along the beach and back up the hill and I was very chuffed that I managed to get up the hill! Was so nice and peaceful at that time. And then just as we were having our morning coffee on the balcony we see a troupe of monkeys congregating in the trees below us, fantastic!
Got packed up and left the hotel around 7.30. Nice drive up the coast and then stopped off at the Cafe Britt plantation - http://www.cafebritt.com/ - where the most famous coffee in Costa Rica is grown and processed. We were too late for their daily tour but we got to wander around the plantation, see the plants and see some posters etc on how coffee is produced, fascinating stuff to us coffee lovers. Then we got the shop and it all went down hill as we ended up buying 20bags of the stuff! Some for presents but a lot for us :) So next time anyone comes to visit you'll be offered some top-quality Costa Rican Cafe Britt coffee!
Got to San Jose mid afternoon and found our hotel which was a little out of town but nice nonetheless. Got a taxi into town and wandered around, had a beer in a cafe and watched the bustle - very busy place!
Then at 5.30 we met up with our friend Stuart and his partner Marco - we'd arranged it previously as we knew we'd be in San Jose on the same night; us on the last night of our holiday and them on the first night of their holiday! So it was lovely to chat about all the things we'd been up to and travelling in general.
Got back to our hotel and ordered our wake up call for 4.30am and a taxi for 5am before crashing out.
Day 24 - Tuesday 6th Jan
Up ridiculously early in order to get our taxi to San Jose airport. 3 our flight to Miami but thankfully the immigration queues were a lot shorter than the first time we arrived so weren't queuing for too long! Had to collect our luggage and go back in through departures but were too early for our next flight's checkin (better that than being late!) so headed straight for Dunkin Donuts for a tea and a donut!
Checked in for the London flight and I was chuckling to myself in the queue as of course the queue had lots of Brits in it and I hadn't heard a British accent during the entire holiday so was very nice to feel at home!
Flight was pretty uneventful although neither of us slept very much on the overnight flight so we were pretty dazed when we landed at 6.30am on Wednesday morning to an absolutely freezing Heathrow! But my parents had very kindly offered to collect us so was nice to see some friendly faces in that state!
So that concluded our trip - definitely the holiday of a lifetime
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