Iguana on a hot tin roof

Folks,

We’ve had a great week. We went to Manuel Antonio and had a wonderful time on the beautiful pacific coast. The update is slightly longer, but will be back to normal next week!

Getting there
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As ever, the journey to Manuel Antonio was not without event! Our taxi to the airport should have taken 20 minutes, but took 45 as a truck had crashed into a bus on the motorway. We got there with minutes to spare. The domestic terminal is a tiny hot overcrowded building right next to the tarmac. When we went onto the tarmac to board, we were confronted with a tiny 6-seater Cessna! It was so small that Jack had to travel in the co-pilot’s seat, with the steering thing moving around in front of him. It was so small that the plane was buffeted about with every little gust of wind. I was so nervous. But the views were incredible. Especially when we came out of the cloud and saw the pacific coast for the first time.

Manuel Antonio
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Our flight was to Quepos, and it was a short drive by bus to our hotel. We had a small villa up the hill looking over the rain forest to the pacific. There were extensive grounds, patrolled by many squabbling iguanas. In fact, we were woken each morning by the sounds of an iguana clambering across our villa’s tin roof. Manuel Antonio is a popular coastal resort, popular with American’s, gays, and (I guess) gay Americans. It was a short stroll to the beach, and we went there every day.

Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio
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The highlight was our visit to the national park in MA. It was just a walk from our hotel, and it was magnificent. We just followed the trail paths and saw a turtle swimming off the beach, three snakes, a family of monkeys passing in the trees overhead, a couple of sloths high up in the trees, iguanas, cicadas, a racoon, and lots of strange red-legged crabs. To cap it all, we discovered a small secluded beach that we had entirely to ourselves and skinny-dipped in the warmest sea water I’ve ever encountered.

Ollie’s Folly
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One of the most interesting places we visited for a meal and a drink was a restaurant and bar built around and inside an old war plane. It was purchased by Oliver North as part of the Iran/Contra deal to support the contras during the war in neighbouring Nicaragua. It was captured in Costa Rica before it got to Nicaragua and is now known as Ollie’s Folly. The restaurant is around the plane, including under the wings, and the bar was inside the plane itself.

Back to San José
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The flight back was less eventful, given that it was an enormous 12-seater plane. I know we’ve given San José a bad press in our last email, but we’re now going to check out the outer, wealthier, suburbs. We’ll probably have to live here for a few months anyway until we get oriented. Also, the Irish mafia is coming to the rescue. We had a couple of contacts leaving. One is a guy called Liam Branigan, who some of you may know. He used to work in Irish Life, although I don’t know him myself. Anyway, he’s now in Cuba, but has put us in contact with a friend of his, Fionn, who’s in Cuba for the week, but will be back Friday. I’ve also contacted a guy called Shane, who was in the same language school as me, a couple of years before. He’s now living and working here, and we’re heading off to meet him at six.

It will be great to talk to someone with experience of the place, and we’re logging off now to compile a pile of questions to ask him.

Keep in touch. Don’t be afraid to send reply emails! We’re hungry for news!

Until next week!

Adios,

Éamon & Jack