Julia's last correspondence put us in the town of Quepos, near Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio. The most real Costa Rican town we have been in, we enjoyed the multiple cheap food options and seeing people doing jobs not related to tourism. On Thursday morning, after dropping off our laundry, we caught the bus out to Manuel Antonio and paid $16/person to enter one of the most popular parks in the country. Luckily we are here in the slow season so the tiny protected coastal forest wasn't completely packed with people and we were often on trails by ourselves. The views from the lookouts were decent, but the main reason people flock here is to see the wildlife and the beaches. About 5 minutes in, we see a guided group looking up into the trees and spot a tucan. Five minutes further down the trail, another guide is setting up his telescope and saying the magical word "sloth". We slide on over and spot the unusual animal lounging in a tree, not doing much. We had really been hoping to see one of these 2 or 3 toed sloths and just a little later spotted another one even closer and even more lazy. Apparently they only come down from the trees once a week to use the bathroom and can lay around all day because their body digests food very slowly.
Tough to see sloth
Looking for more animals
Other creatures around the park are white-faced capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, some rodent thing, and raccoons that steal food from absent minded beach loungers. It was amusing to watch the pack of animals work their way down the beach, checking out each unattended bag, and people running in from the water to throw sand at them. The frustrating part is that everyone is warned about this when they enter the park and how bad the human food is for the animals, but still they casually leave sandwiches and chips out in the open for raccoons to grab.
The beaches are on both sides of the rocky jungle filled penninsula called Punta Catedral. We hiked around it for good views and had to find a way over a large tree that had fallen straight down the path and onto a bridge during a storm the night before. After working up an appetite, Julia made ham and avocado wraps while I scared off raccoons with a stick. We relaxed and played on the most idyllic beach, Playa Manuel Antonio, with soft sand and lined with palm trees.
When we got back to our hotel, we felt tired from all the walking and realized that we had woken up to the alarm for 6 days in a row. That frightened us a little and had us questioning our lifestyle choices. We needed a rest day and thus decided to kill another 24hrs in Quepos. Friday; we walked around town and ate lunch in the market, ducked into the casino and joined some locals in throwing some money into the slot machines, talked with a gringo who owns a bookstore and felt bad for not buying anything from him, studied our guidebook to determine our next destination, and had dinner at our favorite kitchen that does interesting side salads (pasta salad the 1st visit, beet salad the 2nd).
Saturday was a short travel day. Busing south along the coast for just under 2hrs took us to the small town of Uvita. A few groups of businesses along the highway surrounded by farm houses is the town center. We were dropped off there but couldn't find any lodgings that we liked. So we made the 2km walk down dirt roads toward the ocean, in hopes of finding a better selection. We came upon another small village which I think is technically called Bahía, and a big sign pointed to multiple cabanas and lodges down another dirt road. So we walked another kilometer in the midday sun before finding some places to checkout. Cabinas Bambu looked like the cheapest and was just 150 meters from the beach. We booked 2 nights at 14,000 colones/night ($26), dropped our bags, and set out to find food.
The main reason we came here is because the coastline is protected as Parque Nacional Marino Ballena, and is a prime spot to see migrating humpback whales. Our timing was perfect since the first 3 weekends of September they have whale festivals and locals descend upon his tiny area in hordes. We strolled the beautiful beach before walking the one road through town and seeing all restaurants packed with people. We spotted a couple waiting at the bus stop whom we had met previously in Monteverde. They had done a whale watching tour that morning and told of a giant humpback rising out of the water in front of their boat that splashed down, soaking everyone onboard. They loved it and we were sold on doing it the next day.
After saying goodbye to our travel friends, we continued to strikeout on food options so decided to buy 2 days worth of groceries. We expanded our food variety this time and for dinner ate well made omelettes and chicken patty sandwiches. We also enjoyed the local feel of our cabinas, with the constant noise of drinking and laughing old men who seemed to be part of a tour group.
Sunday was an early wake up but for a good reason, we wanted to get on one of the first tours. We packed a lunch and snorkel gear (not for the whales) and after paying 20,000 colones/person ($37.50) for the tour and $6/person to enter the marine park, we were on a boat by 8am. The beach was already packed with people as all the tour operators were working together and offering discounted (probably shorter) whale watching tours for the festival weekends.
Our tour started out fairly slow. We saw boats gathered and could spot the whales from a distance, but they have rules that only 3 boats can be around a whale at a time and they must keep a distance of at least 50 meters from the large mammals. Smooth black backs could be seen rising out of the water and the occasional spout of water rose into the air. I rapidly snapped pictures, not knowing if the view would get any better.
The back of a humpback whale
We got very close to a mother & baby and could see how gigantic they were. They arched their backs and dove down for a few seconds. Then we saw the baby rise up out of the water, almost fully exposed. I had my camera on the sequential function and held down the trigger. The baby splashed down and immediately to the right, the much larger momma rose up twisting into the air. It was an amazing sight. You hear everyone on the boat gasp and hold their breath, for a brief moment all is silent. Then the thunderous pounding splash as the whale returns to the water. We all breath again and cheer. I kept my finger pressed down and panned over just in time to catch a few good shots.
The pair of whales continued this pattern for 2 more jumps as they ventured off away from us. We were all a little giddy at this point and shortly after, the guide said we wouldn't see anything better and told us we were going to head back. Normally we would be upset if they cut a $37 tour short because they had other groups waiting, but we had seen what we wanted and I guess it is always good to leave on a high note.
Back on shore, we were free to explore the beaches of the marine park and try to get our $6 worth. They were some of the prettiest we have seen, when you got away from all of the people. Palm trees leaned at gravity defying angles over the water and the sand was a nice golden brown. At low tide, we were able to walk out onto Punta Uvita which is shaped like a whales tail. A sand bridge connects the rocky reef to the shore and we did a little snorkeling. As the tide comes back in, waves converge from both sides and the crowd of people walk back to the shore in knee high water. We found a shady spot under the trees and ate tuna salad out of a zip-lock bag, watching a gringo couple do numerous awkward yoga poses under a palm tree while their camera on a tri-pod snapped away. As I was walking back into the water, I spotted a small sting-ray and determined that it was time to explore the other parts of the park.
The view from the whale tail looking back toward the beach.
We enjoyed a lazy rest of the day. For dinner we ate a mixture of carrots, onions, breaded chicken patties, an instant ramen noodle bowl, and some sauce out of the fridge that looked good. With a side of toast, it actually turned out to be a tasty meal.
Monday was another travel day. Our goal was the town of Agujitas on Bahía Drake (or Drake Bay). The town sits on the border of Parque Nacional Corcovado, labeled the most biologically intense place on the planet, the plan is to get a taste of the intensity without having to pay for a guided tour or camping gear. We had been researching the cheapest way to get there for a couple days and figured the buses weren't running in the rainy season, thus settled on the more standard route.
We waited an hour in Uvita for a bus that would take us to Palmar, about an hour south. There, we ate lunch and waited another 1.5 hrs for the bus to take us down the road to Sierpe. I was nervous at this point but the delays didn't hurt us and we made it to the boat dock about 15 minutes before departure. We saw the small boat pull up and looked around at the 28 people who seemed to be waiting to get on, wondering how this would work. We positioned ourselves near the front and got seats and somehow everyone made it onboard (with 1 guy sitting on the front holding a rope). The success was short lived though, as the captain shut the motor off about 10 minutes down river and called a friend to help lighten the load. Twenty minutes later, another boat comes flying down river and 8 of us were selected to get in the new boat, oddly 6 of us were backpackers and the other 2 seemed like a Tico/Gringa couple with a baby. We worried a little about leaving our packs stashed on the other boat, but just had to relax and enjoy the ride. It was a fun ride, winding down the brown slow moving river before coming out into the turquoise Drake Bay as the sun was going down. About an hour later we hoped off in Agujitas as darkness settled in.
Transferring some of the weight
We walked up the dirt road and quickly found Cabinas Murillo. Our goal was to find a spot with a view of the bay where would could relax for a week or more. Well, we knew as soon as we saw it that this was the spot. For $30 a night, we have a private room with 2 chairs on a back deck and sweeping water views. That night we found reasonably priced meals and watched a small parade in preparation for Costa Rican Independence Day on September 15 (today).
Waking up today (Tuesday), we felt that great feeling of nothing to do. We sat out on our deck and watched as a flock of scarlet macaws flew over and landed in some trees not far away. They sqauked for an hour before flying around some more. I will go on the record as saying they are the coolest birds I have seen in the wild. The bright colorful red, yellow, and blue feathers contrast so well with everything else around that they seem cartoon like. You should look them up on the internet because our pictures don't show it. We also had a prime viewing spot for the kid's parade that rolled up and down the main dirt road right below us, complete with marching band and batton twirlers. Everyone wearing their national red, white, and blue colors, it was very much like something you would see in the states.
Enjoying the view from our back deck
Independence Day parade
Now that we have spent $45 on groceries, the plan is to cook most of our meals and do the occasional hike along the coast. The beaches are supposed to be nice with animal filled jungle right up to the water. This should help bring some of the costs down before we leave Costa Rica via it's southern exit and enter Panama. Until then we have some celebrating to do tomorrow for Julia's Cumpleaños, some books to read, and a big body of water to stare at.
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