The Odell Yodel: Costa Rica: Day Five

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

This morning Joel and I woke up a bit sad. Today were leaving La Fortuna and traveling by plane to Quepos. We were sad to be moving on after all the fun we had been having, but we were also looking forward to the beach and the Manuel Antonio National Park located just outside of Quepos.

The infrastructure in Costa Rica is what you might expect in a third world country, so there is not an easy or fast way to travel by car, so we decided to fly to our next destination. We took a cab from our hotel to the small airport in La Fortuna. When I say small, I mean small. The airport used to be a barn which was converted into a small bar and sitting area which is called the airport. As we "checked into" our flight, we were told we had to pay a small fee to the field owner who allowed the airline to pave a runway through the middle of the their field. Yes, the runway was a paved lane down the middle of a farmer's field. We entertained ourselves the short time we had between our arrival at the airport and our departure by playing scrabble on my Kindle.

The airport in La Fortuna

This is the runway, a paved road between fields

We've got our tickets and our passports - ready to travel!

While we were waiting for our plane, we experienced a Costa Rican monsoon. It in literally seconds, it went from a pretty sunny day to a downpour with small rivers forming! The noise of the rain on the tin roof of the airport was so loud! I tried to take some pictures of the heavy rain, but they just don't do it justice!

A poor attempt to document the monsoon!

Our plane!

From the time our plane arrived to when we boarded, it was only 15 minutes. They unloaded the arriving passengers, their luggage and loaded the boarding passengers and our luggage in no time at all! The flight from central Costa Rica to the pacific coast was only thirty minutes. Because we were flying in such a small plane, we didn't have to fly at a very high altitude, which I enjoyed because I was able to see so much of the ground. We passed rolling hills covered in lush rain forests with rivers curving their way toward the sea. Costa Rica is a beautiful country! We landed at the Quepos airport which was very similar to the one left behind in La Fortuna. We then took a cab the short ten minute ride from the airport to our hotel in Manuel Antonio.

Joel is excited to get this trip started.

Jackie and Chris are ready for take off!

We stayed at Issimo Suites and were once again met by the hotel staff with drinks, making us feel very welcomed! Our rooms were amazing. We had floor to ceiling windows which featured sweeping views of the jungle and the beach. Our room included a king size bed, a "L" shaped sofa which could be moved around to make two twins or another king sized bed, a jacuzzi bathtub, satellite TV, a bathroom with a bidet and a shared balcony with Jackie and Chris. It worked out nicely that our two rooms were the only two rooms in this wing of the hotel, so we had a lot of privacy. Once again, Jackie and Chris had a slightly bigger room but Joel and I were not complaining! We couldn't have been happier with our decision to stay at Issimo.

Chris is enjoying his welcome beverage

Me and Jackie enjoying our yummy drinks.

Jackie, Chris, and I checking out the view from our shared balcony.

Our first monkey sighting, right on the deck near the pool!

A momma and baby white-headed capuchin monkey

Joel was ready to jump into the pool!

We decided to walk down the road to Biesanz Beach, a small beach about ten minutes from our hotel. Even though the day was overcast with a bit of rain, we enjoyed walking along the beach. After our stroll, we headed back up to the hotel for an early dinner where we learned everything on the menu was half off, all day, every day! It was like happy hour all the time. I am pretty sure I ordered an appetizer, an entree, and dessert at every meal, every day. We ate like kings!

Biesanz Beach

Joel and Chris enjoying the beach

We spent the rest of the night, playing cards on our shared balcony, listening to the sounds of the jungle and the beach, while watching tiny lizards fight for space on the wall, all while enjoying our first night in Manuel Antonio.