Costa Rica: Day 6

You know it’s a good, busy vacation day when you get done and think to yourself “what did we do first today?”

Breakfast kicked off at 6:30AM this morning; we had tickets to Manuel Antonio National Park at 7:30 to snag Jeff’s favorite guide, Benito, and to ensure we got in before the day got too hot. Everything you read about the park advises that you hire a nature guide…and after today, I’ll officially be adding my vote to that suggestion. Benito was not only charming, but extremely knowledgeable after 14 years of being in the park and literally able to spot wildlife from a mile away. We spent about 3 hours wandering around, stopping every few meters to his enthusiastic exclamations or requests for silent approaches and you name it, we saw it; white-face capuchin monkeys, two and three toed slots, iguanas, hummingbirds, bats, poisonous frogs, etc; each one with a fun fact, history lesson or a interesting story about why they are not to be messed with.

On the other end of the national park lies the famous Manual Antonio beach; white sands, blue water…and we were lucky enough to have a few hours there after we wrapped up. I decided to split from the group for a few hours and explore the side streets of town on my own. Stopped into a local clothing shop to grab a dress for the evening’s dinner, a locally made sarong for our morning adventure tomorrow and rounded it out with a Guiparina and plate of chicken nachos on the beach. After a few hours, we all reconvened at the hotel to get dressed for our ‘nice dinner out’ and my new friend Eric and I headed to the local marina to be swanky for a pre-dinner drink, watching the boats come in from the day of deep sea fishing. I don’t care where in the world I am, there’s nothing more peaceful than being surrounded by the yacht life; big and small boats alike, the people, the energy…it speaks to the culture and tonight was no exception.

Jeff arranged dinner at Raphael’s, a beautiful restaurant on the coast, so we could watch the sunset on our last night at the beach. I snagged a quick FaceTime with my folks, only to be joined by the local guitar player and singer that proceeded to serenade my parents with a little ‘Besame’ and it was yet, another moment, that resonated deeply with me as to why I’ve fallen in love with this country. A fantastic seafood meal, followed by a nightcap at the rooftop hotel pool, we’re heading into our last day tomorrow.

I’ll save tomorrow’s morning’s adventures as a surprise, but it’s going to a solid way to go out with a bang.

Until then… Pura Vida!