24 November 1998
Our hotel was wonderfully inexpensive. About $24 per night, with 2 bunk beds, a queen sized bed, a kitchenette, bathroom, and no hot water. The ambient temperature didn't require hot water so this was fine. We woke up, walked down to an open air dining area adjacent to a different hotel. During breakfast, a dog walked up and flopped down under my chair.
We set out to explore Manuel Antonio National Park. Paid our few hundred colones, and I bumped into a guy named Jake shortly after we entered the park. Jake and I hit it off immediately. Kathryn went her own way, and she met up with Peter and Agathe! They had driven themselves here as well!
Jake and I walked and talked and joked and laughed and had a great time.
Here's an okay closeup of a hermit crab. The original pic is actually one of my favorites; the crab is framed with some leaves and a stick; I think it would make a good jigsaw puzzle!
Here are some snails.
There were lots of iguanas around the trail as Jake and I walked. We even saw a HUGE snake! Oh wait, nevermind.
This iguana I saw while Jake and I were walking along the rocky shore. Notice the splash in the background.
After the iguana lumbered away (he didn't really run, but just ambled off muttering something like, "uggh. people..."), I saw an interesting challenge for myself. The combination of waves and sharp rocks made this somewhat dangerous, but I wondered if I could make it out to a rock offshore. I made it, but not without a scratch. I was very thankful to have brought my waterproof Tevas on this trip!
As we trekked, Jake and I pursued a philosophical discussion of time. What is time? What is now? How can a moment exist? During our discussion, we climbed onto a scenic overlook thing.
Further and further we walked, now back down to a rocky shore.
Nearby, there was a large rocky outcropping with trees on top, and a pelican in one of the trees! I suddenly felt the urge to get a close-up picture of the pelican, which would require me to climb out onto the rocky outcropping. I don't have a picture of the outcropping, but let me see what I can ascii:
trees on top
( x <--- pelican
)_{ (
jagged _/ \_) ><XX0>
rocks & _/ \ ~
________________ / rocky \_ ~~
\-~-/\_~/\~-/ outcropping \--~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~````~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
land splashy surrounded water ----> <XX><
waves by water ><XX0>
Okay. Nice. So we were on land, and I decided to cross the jagged rocks & splashy waves to the rocky outcropping and walk entirely around the rocky outcropping. I invited Jake and he was all, "I'll watch from here."
I made it across the jagged rocks & splashy waves area without difficulty. Onto the rocky outcropping surrounded by water was a bit more dangerous cause there was little or no level space on which to stand. I saw lots of crabs scuttling away from me on the rocks, but was unable to get a picture because I felt more concerned with staying on the rock and out of the water.
I successfully navigated about 1/2 way around the rock before I was thwarted by an temptingly small chasm. I was tempted to try to cross it, but my sense of safety overruled. So I just watched as the water gushed in and out of the chasm. Water in, water out.
At times the water careened into the chasm in just the right manner to kabloosh against the back wall and come blasting back out in a froth of mist and splashy bubbles! WOW! I was hugely impressed. I couldn't predict when it would happen though, so I have no picture.
But I did get a picture of the pelican.
Speaking of pelicans, as we hiked further, we saw a man and woman looking WAY across the bay at an island. We were like, "what do you see?"
"There's a pelican way over there," said the man, pointing toward the island.
Jake craned his neck a bit, "you mean the one with the green eyes?"
I bit my tongue. We walked away. We laughed our asses off!!!!
Near the end of our hike, we came across some people blocking the trail. They all ignored us, looking into the trees.
"A monkey!" exclaimed Jake.
This monkey was a ham for attention.
While gawking at the monkey, I noticed this sharp node thing on a tree. The tree had smooth bark otherwise, then about every 2 feet or so, one of these sets of spines!
We talked and played all day. Jake had been in the country for 6 months or so, and was spending his last couple days in Manuel Antonio. He was actually leaving the next day!
On the way back toward the civilized area, I took a picture of this wave. They just rolled in consistenly and perfectly.
We went to a beachfront restaurant to eat dinner. Jake noticed how beautiful was the sunset and took two pictures of it.
From our table, we were overlooking the beach. Literally sitting in my chair, I took this picture.
As we talked and joked, we watched as a man systematically dragged his beach-lounges-for-rent back toward the restaurant. He would rent them out to people during the day for like 500 colones per hour. Jake suggested, "wouldn't it be hilarious to go out there, grab a chair and just run away with it?"
YES!! That would be funny. So Jake did it.
While on the beach I got a smoochy sunset pic.
Back in our seats, I did see-food with my calamari.
