Monday, February 28, 2011

Quepos & Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica



We have spent the last three nights in the funky surf town of Quepos, Costa Rica.  I will admit to a small amount of anxiety the first day as we were walking around and we were the only tourist family I saw.  The next day on the public bus to the beach, on a twisty and hilly road, I again questioned our decision to vacation here.  Then we arrived at the beach... and my fears were erased.  We saw a family with a tiny baby and an older child and another with a baby in an Ergo.  Granted, these families all seemed to be speacking French or Dutch, but either way... we were not the only family! 

 Digging at Manuel Antonio beach.
 Adeline drinking coconut water straight from the coconut.  watching the guy with the huge machete chop the coconut open was worth the price - drinking the water inside a bonus!

 Mac has spent hours digging holes in the sand.  Sometimes they are sand chairs, sometimes jumping spots, sometimes feet washes, sometimes.... just holes.
 First day on the beach:  adeline got tired, came up to the chairs, got her green blankey and immediately fell asleep.  She wouldn't let us put the chair down flat, so eventually she sort of slid into a more laying down postion.  Pretty cute.
 McKinley and his favorite meal:  gallo pinto (black beans and rice).  apparently, only a breakfast food.  The juice he has is starfruit juice, another favorite.
 The kids enjoying juice after going to a funky festival where we watched a Costa Rican game show/dance contest being filmed in the bull riding arena.  Then, we came back to town to try and see the horse parade.  The signs said "2 pm",  the girl at the desk of our hotel told us it would be "on Tico Time(Costa Rican time), and it would be at least 3pm.  By 3:30 we still had not seen the start of the parade and since there were still big trucks of horses being brought in, we figured it would be awhile.  We went back to the hotel, swam, showered, and went back out for dinner.  At that point, the parade was still going on!!
 More beach holes...
 Mac and Curt jumping in the waves.
We won't let them touch any of the stray dogs running around - very hard for them to understand!  This little doggy was hanging around all day, so we snapped their picture by it. 
 Sunset on the first night.  This is when we discovered "one block from the ocean" does not mean "one block from the beach".  Live and learn.  We are one black from the ocean, however the beach is actually a 20 minute bus ride away.  Totally worth it, and the kids are now bus riding pros.

Tomorrow we head to Dominical to the animal reserve.  We hear we can feed the monkeys! Hopefully, the road is flat and straight, but we're all taking drugs just in case.  Costa Rica is not really for people who get car sick easily.  Windy's trick of taking a tiny piece of those pink allergy pills from Costco is brilliant - I don't get nauseous, but I stay awake.  Claritin for the kids seems to be doing the trick too. 










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