Quepos/Manuel Antonio: Monkeying Around

Ashley was very careful not to get sucked out into the ocean, however two tour-mates were not so lucky. Apparently Costa Rica has some of the strongest rip tides, and also the strongest life guards, who swam into the Pacific to save their friends. Britt and her skin were thankful for every last drop of her expensive sunscreen and she felt it was worth every non-hive covered inch of her body. Britt and Ash stopped moving long enough to relax TWO days on the beach and to get their massages... while they both uttered the words "not so hard please", fearing after all their adventurous activities they would end up injured from their massages, all-in-all it was an amazing experience. They decided not to settle in the town of Quepos forever when the water stopped working in the whole town, and no one was able to flush a toilet, wash their hands, or shower.

Where they stayed: Hotel Le Priss, in the town of Quepos, about a 20 minute bus ride from Manuel Antonio. Their room had air conditioning, which was fantastic as it was about 40 degrees and they both felt like their faces were melting off while standing still. Note: they are not complaining, just setting the scene. The hotel had a pool on the roof which they took full advantage of the day the water stopped working...basically the same thing as showering? This would sound much grosser if it hadn't been just the two of them.

What they ate and drank: Pre-made sandwiches from the grocery store while en route from Monteverde to Quepos (gross)... followed by a strawberry daquiri and beer on the beach (awesome). That night they ate at "Ronny's Place", where Ash had seafood pasta and Britt had chips, salsa and guacamole. Highlight: when some of their tour-mates ordered an alcohol soaked banana dessert that came with a fire show. Their beach day they ate a breakfast buritto in the morning and veggie nachos with guacamole in the afternoon (are you sensing a theme here?). Shamefully they report that they ate buffalo chicken tenders for dinner... but hey, these went perfectly with the Costa Rica versus US soccer game. Sports, wings, and beer!

What they did: Started off traveling on a windy, bumpy road in desert heat with a broken AC and 18 hot bodies (not fun)... a pit stop at a lazy river with a fruit stand on the side made them think that they may get a refreshing drink and go for a dip, until they saw that the lazy river was full of crocodiles. They finished it up in pure vacation style - relaxing on the beach. They layed on the public beach, they layed on the private beach, they swam in the public beach, they swam on the private beach. They watched two sunsets. They also did a guided tour of Manuel Antonio Park where the guide showed them sloths, sloths and more sloths, frogs, crabs, and howler monkeys. They started the tour with two women, one of whom believed that the guide was putting slides in the telescope to fake the existance of the animals and soon refused to stop looking. Luckily they were joined by a family who was quite excited about the wildlife and didn't think that tour guides would climb jungle trees and plant stuffed animals in place of monkeys. They finished this off taking photos of and reveling at the cuteness of the Capuchin monkeys, one of whom they named "Iced Capp", after Ashley thought they were called "Cappucino monkeys". Maybe the skeptical woman believed that these were robotic monkeys, as she refused to enjoy them too. They finished off their last night with all of their tourmates on the dance floor, watching the local boys coax women with, "I just want to dance with you, teach you how to salsa" (including our own Britt).

Lessons Learned: If you're going to go swimming in the ocean and leave your bag on the beach, prepare for Iced Capp to steal your picnic lunch. (This happened to the family beside Britt and Ash, who were not prepared enough themselves to actually take a lunch into the park). Even if 16 people spend 17 hours a day together, they will still miss eachother when they are apart. This may result in adding eachother to facebook and talking over facebook while still on the tour.

Best conversation stopper: From a woman on our guided tour of Manuel Antonio: "Oh, you all are from Arkansaw. Bill Clinton is from there, us Canadians love Bill Clinton". The other woman, "I'm a Bush fan"... and nobody spoke. Again.

As Ash and Britt are now on their way back to San Jose, and... home... (insert very sad sad face here), there are a few more questions:

1) Will Britt get her fajitas at the last stop?

2)Will Ash ever be able to wash off all the sand stuck to her body?

3) Will everyone make it to their flights on time?

Stay tuned!