August 15, 2013 / Monteverde → Manuel Antonio
We woke up and wrapped up the packing and got ready for a long 5 hour ride to Manuel Antonio from Monteverde. Los Pinos did not have a restaurant, so I decided to get some coffee and cake from the bakery across the road, went there and ordered the items. When I pulled my wallet to pay for it, I found it empty! The credit cards were there, but all monies, both USD and CRC were gone. It was most bizarre. A crime worthy of Sherlock Holmes’ time? I trotted back to the room and traced back the event from the previous evening/ Around 7 pm, I had done a sanity check of our funds and placed $120 in the wallet for expenses the following day. The wallet was left by a window and we were in the room all the time before I noticed the money missing. We were pretty bummed out – the fact that someone could open the window, pick the money and leave the wallet back seemed too creepy. I walked up the reception to complain and after listening to me, the girl mentioned that this hadn’t happened in Los Pinos, but that it was not unusual in the area. The most amazing thing was that she pulled out 60,000 CRC from her office money box and gave it to me! I experienced the worst and best of Costa Rica within an hour that Thursday morning. Why should the hotel take a loss and make me whole? Simply based on my statement, she gave me the money that I said I had lost? While the possibility exists that this could have been an inside job, I choose to believe in the fundamental goodness of Costa Rica and that the girl behind the counter was genuine in sympathizing with me and giving me the money that was burglarized from us!
Until we were well out of Monteverde, we were traveling in dirt roads that was roughing us up with jolts and bumps as it did on our way in. If you are ever visiting Monteverde, do brace yourselves for a rough ride all the time you are there. The roads became better after a while and our ride took us via the port town of Puntarenas on our way to Manuel Antonio.
We stopped at another bridge, this time famous for crocodiles. The river and its banks had several crocodiles basking. After a James Bond style switch from one vehicle to another, we pulled into Manuel Antonio around 1 pm. Being a coastal town, it was hot and muggy here, as opposed to the cool Monteverde. Soon after checking in at Hotel Costa Verde, we headed out for lunch at Raphael’s Terraza, a restaurant that had a great views of the pacific coast. Jana claimed that the burrito she had was the best she’s ever had. Food was very good, but extremely slow in coming. I guess you have to wait for all good things in life. Or not be behind a very large family gathering when placing your order in a restaurant
We wanted to swing by the beach, but it had started raining and we decided to sit it out. By the time it stopped raining, it was getting dark, we were just able to take some distant shots of the ocean. A late lunch meant we weren’t hungry enough for dinner. We also had an early start the following day, a guided hike in Manuel Antonio National Park, so we retired early that evening.
