Manuel Antonio

Best sleep since San Jose...

I was worried that the sound of the cars and busses will keep us up (the hotel is meters from the main road), but once it got dark the cars became fewer and fewer and the noise of the occasional car was almost completely covered by the sounds of the jungle above us. We left the fan off; some silly childhood fear that it will take off, especially since it was very close to the bed (probably my only complaint with the room). 

The sun was up and filling our room with light. We spend some time enjoying the nice breeze coming in and the sound of the birds....how peaceful and relaxing.

After breakfast we decided to take the public bus to Manuel Antonio and explore the beach. 

The bus had the fare price noted in the front window and unlike our busses the driver was not only accepting the payments, but was prepared to provide change is you did not have the exact fare. The bus was very clean. 

We got off at the very last stop which is right by the Manuel Antonio public beach and minutes away from the National Park entrance.

The beach was as clean as any resort beach we have seen. The waives were perfect for surfers, but a bit rough for inexperience swimmers (the entire Pacific coast is like that). We found a nice spot and put our towels down, needless to say I was bored out of my mind after 10 minutes so we went exploring. I was never able to spend more then 5 minutes in the sun doing nothing.

Across the road from the beach were all kinds of shops and restaurants. We had a nice slice of authentic Italian pizza and a cold Imperial beer....for dessert, a cone of gelato.

My husband decided to go for a run on the beach and came across a place full of crabs of all sizes, he returned and showed me the spot.

 There were some that were so small you could barely see, and plenty of big ones climbing all over the rock. I decided to climb up to get some better shots, but that meant taking off my sandals for a better grip. 

As much fun as I had taking the photos I could not stop worrying about were I stepped. Between the the uneven hot stone and the risk of being pinched by a crab it was betting harder and harder to concentrate on the shots...so I decided to get off and be content with the shots I had so far.

We spent a few more hours enjoying the area before taking a bus back to the hotel. We had decided before leaving that we would return before the afternoon rain.

When we got back to the hotel it didn't look like rain we decided to take a dip in the pool, and since the pool was all ours and it was more then 1,5m deep it felt perfect for laps, as long as you kept in mind where the stairs were. Funny enough the rain decided to start just as I found my rhythm.

The nice thing about the hotel is that you can get from the rooms to the restaurant without having to step into the rain and on an evening like this that was a great commodity. The restaurant had more tables occupied and just as we placed our order the light went out. Well in a matter of seconds the candles from the table were lit and we enjoyed a nice romantic candlelight dinner.  

The rain was still coming down hard so we asked the waitress for two cups of teas to take up to our room and she came back with the cups and some candles that we could use for the night.

We had our tea on the porch in front of our room listening to the rain.

Good night....

and

Happy Travels

Hotel Plinio

We arrived at Hotel Plinio in the afternoon. Hungry, tired, and hot we could not wait to see our room...but what room should we get?

Choosing between the standard A/C rooms and upgrade was easier said then done. The photos of the upgraded rooms looked amazing, but the idea of being in a room with no windows (just screens) and no A/C when I was boiling in the office was not exactly appealing. The owner suggested we inspect the upgraded room.

There are 2 rooms in this category that are next to each other and share covered patio area with bar stools.


On the ground level of the room there were 2 couches and a coffee table in a living area and the bathroom with a huge shower that could fit a very large number of people.




The stairs, while very steep and only wide enough for one person were very sturdy.





Upstairs, a huge king(?) size bed took-up most of the room and across from it there were two wicker chairs and a coffee table.


The windows were covered by white sheers for privacy and the breeze coming in was very pleasant, not hot at all...that was it, we decided to stay in that room.

After checking in and taking a nice cold shower our bodies decided to remind us that a bag of chips and some chocolate was not an actual meal....so we headed out to the restaurant.

The award winning restaurant was offering an interesting mix of german, japanese and costa rican dishes. I have to admit that as much as I enjoyed the traditional Gallo Pinto (rice and beans) in the first few days after having it with every meal I just wanted something that did not have it as a side dish....so mashed potatoes with frankfurters and sauerkraut (pickled cabbage) was what I ordered. And accept the fact that for some reason the sauerkraut was heated up (I still think my mashed potatoes were microwaved) the food was not bad. We had ice cream for desert and finished with a nice cup of costa rican coffee.

Since the bar was not at all busy, and the owner was behind the bar we ended up chatting up a storm with him. We learned about the observation area that the hotel has, were we can view some wildlife (if patient) and that the public bus can take us to the Manuel Antonio public beach or the National Park for about $1 (2 people). He also warned us that it rains every day for about 30min-1 hour at about 5p.m. after which the rain stops and the roads dry up in about 5min.


We decided to find the observation area and try our luck with the wildlife...unfortunately we must have made a wrong turn because we ended up above the roof of the owners residence (uphill from the hotel) and the only wildlife we found was a poison dart frog...and a beautiful view of a dock far below the property.

There was not too much to do at the end of the day so we decided to call it a day and go to sleep early....Good Night!

Until next time
happy travels

*Note: The hotel is currently under new ownership and is called +Hostel Plinio ...when we return to Costa Rica we will probably check it out.