Livin' It Up Some - Rob

Super tired and its super late, for us anyway, so I'll make this one sorta short and sweet and filled with pics. We made it to Costa Rica, which I tell you was a bit of a hot and sweaty hassle at the border, it was the busiest one yet. Our first agenda in C.A. was to hit up the Rincon de la Vieja Park, near the border at Liberia. A dirt road takes you to the entrance, and a rather pricey hotel. We did not know that all parks in C.A. are closed on Monday, and this being a Sunday at 4:00pm, this is not a good start. Supposedly the hike up the mountain takes 8 hours and a guide is necessary. Nowhere did I read that any guides are necessary in these parks, regardless, it was 100.00 for the guide, 100.00 for the hotel, 20.00 for the mudbaths, we were having none of it.

Off we went back down the 20km dirt path to continue our way through Costa Rica. We knew there was no way in hell we'd get to any beach towns by nightfall, so we ate a quick meal (way more expensive to eat here, but of course its more touristy), and continued down the CA-1. Seems at any time this road is exceptionally busy, we were stuck behind 20 some-odd vehicles going 30-40kph. We figured this was no way to travel in the dark, so we packed it in at a so-so hotel off the side of the road. A cheapy, with a small pool, a decent sized room, but only a fan. We could of stopped at the Doubletree at Puntarenas, only in the morning did we find out its an all-inclusive resort, yahhhh right.

In the morning we headed further down the Pan-Am, had a quick breakfast at a decent looking place. Nik ordered Mexican Style eggs, and if you remember from San Cristobal, that was how it was done right. This was brown soup with runny sunny side up eggs. Man I could have served him that meal from our hotel room ( I need not say more, that was uncalled for, and yes I am still stomach-sick). After a few hours we made it to Quepos, to the National Park, Manuel Antonio. Of course, it's Monday, its closed (this is when we finally figured it out), so we began looking for hotels to stay the night because we can't miss out on at least hitting up one park in Central America (this being one of the most popular). Quite a place around here, ripe with hotels, hostels, resorts, beaches, beautiful. After scouring some 100.00+ hotels (for no apparent reason were they this price other than the fact its a tourist whitey-white town), we stumbled across this little gem. Oh, what a gem.....for 130.00 a night couples can stay and enjoy a kitchenette, a pool, oceanfront property, restaurant....well, we lucked out on 45.00. Yep, lucky. We don't have the kitchenette, in fact, we have a puny little room tucked away from everyone else on bunk beds, but who cares, its the amenities that are important. We might stay here awhile. Its called the Villas Verde Mar de la Pacifico, if anyone else is interested in trying to sneak this 45.00 a night room on the beach.Highly recommended. We've been here, relaxing and swimming, taking in the sites, everything is about doubled here, but slightly within our means. Tomorrow we check out the park, and I'll be back with some pictures, and hopefully some videos too. The internet here is mega-fast. lets hope I can get some youtube videos up.

this is our view from out firs tCosta Rican hotel, right by the ocean!!

Niks face, ready for some Mexican Ranchero!! FAIL

Joca, C.A., quite the lookout

Now we're at Quepos, a destination spot in C.A. I've never heard about, but seems quite popular

Our first little monkey sighting!!

This would be the awesome hotel, take note

Ask Nik how awesome, oh wait, hes enjoying too much

The massive-est palm trees I've ever seen

I'm starting to sport a nice Ranchero stache.

Just some beauty

I told you our room was tiny, hell, it beats 130.00 a night though doesnt it.

"Why can't Canada always be this nice"

We competed for biggest wave

I got a bit too close :P

This is the Manual Antonio park

We found us some fire ants, demolishing a tree piece by piece

We decided to aid them in their mission

They're friendly, really, you should drop by a next sometime and say hello

Enjoying our dinner, alone again!

Can't decide if this is the nicer sunset or San Juan

I need another pic to decide......