If there was one place I wish we’d have spent more time in, it was Monteverde. I certainly enjoyed the climate and its lack of snakes. I would have preferred more time to tour a coffee farm. We left our cabin in the morning, and descended from the cloud forest back to the more traditional tropical climate. On our descent down steep, unpaved roads carved out of mountainsides, we were treated to some gorgeous views. Supposedly, if you find the right peak and the right weather conditions, you can see both the Pacific Ocean.
We took our first trip onto the InterAmerican Highway. It was the first time we’d been on a four-lane road since San Jose. Some of the bridges actually had two lanes as well. When we turned off the InterAmerican to go more directly south toward Quepos and follow the Pacific coastline, the road became more like the traditional Costa Rican road we’d become familiar with. However, it was paved and even had lines delineating lanes (for the tourists, of which there were many). We passed palm farms where palm oil is produced and we stopped at a couple of really beautiful overlooks for pictures.
As we approached the more touristy areas like Jaco, we also started to see billboards for luxury condos and huge hotels and timeshares being built. Most of these signs were in English. This was an indicator that we were about to be in the most touristy area we’d been in yet. It didn’t seem like the infrastructure had quite kept up with the demand. The road was nice enough, but we had to pass over two one-way bridges that seemed as rusty as an abandoned train bridge in Mississippi. We were lucky enough to not have to wait in a long line to pass over them. Zaida had said the last GAP group had sat waiting on the bridge for two and a half hours.
We arrived at our hotel, Mono Azul, around 2pm. It was on a road that led from the city of Quepos to the village of Manuel Antonio, which itself was the gateway to the national park. Mere and I decided to just chill out by the pool for the rest of the day. Tracy, Dave, Jimmy, Nathaniel, Gina, and Shiralee joined us. We ended up playing cards for most of the afternoon and into the evening.
Our hotel itself was as comfortable as in La Fortuna. The rooms seemed haphazardly placed around the grounds (the hotel was actually split in half by the road). Ours was directly above the gift shop and closest to the road, but it was definitely private. We had the luxury of a window unit, a TV, and a ceiling fan. We were surprised to turn on the TV and see that there were two local Denver channels. We imagined that this was because Denver was the largest U. S. market in the time zone we were in (though who knows if this holds true when it’s not daylight savings time), and that a large portion of the folks watching TV would be Americanos.
The climate of this part of Costa Rica was such that the rain would start around four or five pm and not fully stop until early the next morning. This was a steadfast rule for the three days we were in Manuel Antonio.
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