First Excursion: Manuel Antonio

Imagine clear crystal water, filled with corals and brightly colored fish swimming around, taking cover beneath the giant coral boulders as your shadow passes by.  Imagine swimming in an aquarium that is the Pacific Ocean, floating through the community of a vivid sea life: 
             giant black & blue sea urchins
                striped and speckled blue, white, and yellow fish; 
                                           white and pink corals.
it was so beautiful.

For our first excursion in Costa Rica our study abroad program (CEA: http://www.gowithcea.com/ ) we took a bus from San Jose to the Pacific Coast and drove along to Manuel Antonio, stopping along the way at Tarcoles River, which is a popular tourist spot due to all the crocodiles easily spotted from the bridge.

Crocodiles in Tarcoles River, Photo courtesy of Grace Davis

When we arrived in Manuel Antonio I was very eager to get my feet in the sand.  While we were pulling up we noticed there were monkies in the trees and just chilling in the little soda beside the hotel.  We were excited to run out and get some pictures with the little capuchins.

This was my first weekend in Costa Rica, my first time at one of their beaches, and my first time dipping my feet into the Pacific Ocean, not to mention it was around the time of the sun setting.  Needless to say, this was a very big deal!  We took no time to dump our things into the hotel rooms and immediately hit the beach.  The sand was incredibly soft. The view was absolutely beautiful.  Words can honestly not describe this beauty so im just going to stick with pictures here.  I've been having trouble with my memory card, so a few of my pictures are borrowed, mostly from Grace Davis :)

Grace, who took this and the one above,
has an amazing camera and has not doctored this photo!

My first time in the Pacific Ocean !

That Saturday morning we got up and drove from Manuel Antonio to Bahia Ballena, another National Park along the Pacific (Costa Rica has about 25% of its land protected by national parks.)  We have a surprise from CEA when we get there, we are going snorkling ! As described earlier, it was breathtaking (my first snorkling experience) and I loved it.  When we got back on the boat they gave us some fresh fruit and we drove through the waters, seeing alot of little islands and a cave, and eventually some dolphins and a humpback whale with her baby.  It was an awe-inspiring experience, sitting on the boat, not running, just floating in the water next to something so majestic.  I am lucky to have experienced something like this in my life.

A humpback whale.
Photo courtesy of Grace Davis

We saw a good bit of dolphins on the tour.
Photo courtesy of Macey Hallstedt

After the tour we got stopped by a little restaurant before heading back to Manuel Antonio, where we just vegged out on the beach for the rest of the night.  For dinner we went to El Avion, which is literally an old war plane from the war between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.  We were outside waiting for the public bus to run it's last route back to our hotel in the rain when the power all went out. Everything was pretty silent, and we got a little creeped out.  Then the people at the bar/restaurant across the street started up singing an old Journey song or something as everyone was evacuated outside.  It was pretty neat that they had a good attitude and didn't let it ruin the night.  It just seemed so Pura Vida! The bus finally came, and on the ride back we noticed that every hotel and restaurant had someone outside with a flashlight helping direct traffic.  They were already prepared.  God, I love this country! It's relatively peaceful, and just so good for my soul.  

Our group at El Avion in Manuel Antonio

The last day we got up at the crack of dawn-ish and walked next door to Manuel Antonio National Park, where we hiked two trails and saw some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen, ending up on a precious beach and having some gorgeous pictures to show for it.  

Manuel Antonio National Park

That's it, I never ever ever want to leave this place.