2018/02 Costa Rica - Drive to Manuel Antonio |
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Friday February 23rd
In the morning it was cold and my hands had come down a little and I could see that I had dozens of swollen bites on my fingers. Sandie had some too. Esteban’s guess had been right.
Driver Ebbie picked us up at 10 in his van; he was taking us on a 4-hour trip to the town of Manuel Antonio. He took us back through San Ramon, and then through coffee plantations down to the coast, bypassing the city of San José. We had a short section of motorway toll road, and then we followed the coast on a regular two lane highway, overtaking endless slow trucks. Ebbie was a good driver; some others, less so.
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Rio Tarcoles (1.57) |
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We stopped at the Rio Tarcoles bridge to see the crocodiles. There were a couple of dozen large American crocodiles spread across the 
river below the bridge. With a crowded narrow walkway, low barriers, and constant traffic, there was a good chance of the crocs being rewarded. Back in 2014 a drunk jumped into the river and was torn apart in seconds.
We passed the resort of Jaco which is famous for its surfing but it looked just like a piece of California with its American hotels. Makes you wonder what the attraction is if it looks just like home. Warmer surfing water, perhaps.
From there on we were traveling mostly between large palm trees, plantations producing palm oil. Ever wonder where the name “Palmolive” came from?
We turned off the main road and headed down a peninsula to Quepos, once the home of the ferocious Quepo tribe who fought with the invading Spaniards, and then to the town of Manuel Antonio. The streets were steep and narrow with barely enough room for traffic to pass.
Entry to our La Mansion hotel was by a very steep driveway. With no room to turn around, after dropping as off, our driver had to back down the driveway and through an archway onto a blind corner.