Tuesday, February 5, 2013

CA Trek 2013 - Manuel Antonio

After two weeks of constant traveling, sleeping in hostels and riding in vans for nearly the entire length of Central America, we were all ready to treat ourselves to a few days of luxury. Enter Manuel Antonio.

Getting there wasn't easy. The Nicaragua - Costa Rica border I has for to be the most poorly conceived border crossing in the world. In fact, if you asked me to design the worst international border in the world, I probably still wouldn't come up with something as bad as this. After three hours of maneuvering our way through that mess, we were finally in Costa Rica and rented a car to take us the rest of the way to Manuel Antonio, six hours south on the pacific coast.

What awaited us there, however, made it well worth the hassle.

We spent the remainder of our trip in the most magnificent house, built on the side of a hill overlooking the Pacific. The house itself was expansive and gorgeous, but the best parts were the spaces on the edges.
IMG_8796 IMG_8881
The first floor opened up into a triangular infinity pool, where I spent the vast majority of the time. On one side, there were swinging chairs and chaise lounges to lie around in. On another, bar stools inside the pool, in front of a grill where we often ate dinner. And on the final side, an endless view of blue skies and ocean as far as the eye could see.
IMG_8800 Week Three
The house also had a third-floor lookout with a thatched roof and two big hammocks. As awesome as the view from the pool was, the view here was even better. We didn't have the greatest luck with sunsets during our stay, but there weren't many better places to watch them from than those hammocks.
IMG_8833 IMG_8885
For four straight days, we did little more than lounge around the house, soaking up rays by day and partying at night. We bought groceries and cooked delicious meals. We drank bottle upon bottle of rum. We sang, we danced, we loved life.

After two weeks on the road with packed schedules and tiny hostel rooms, this was the perfect way to end our trip. It's hard to find the words to capture the simple pleasure of the carefree time we spent in that house. I could have stayed there for weeks and was really bummed when the time came to leave.

Our three weeks in Central America were an amazing time and we all became much closer for the experience. There are people I had barely spoken to before the trip that I now count as friends. Together, we explored new countries, had glorious adventures, and shared unforgettable experiences. I'm so grateful to all the wonderful people who helped make it all that it was. The trip will go down as one of the most memorable I have taken.

1 comment:

  1. I didn't have time to read your full account, but it sounds like it was an amazing trip and the photos are great. Awesome looking house and the photo of the waterfall is quite good.

    ReplyDelete