Quepos Got up early, did some last minute shopping in San Jose. Had to buy an electric adapter for my digital camera (Canon Ixus 300). It was quite difficult in the shop to explain what I really needed. But with some help from other visitors I got the right thing. In Costa Rica the have a 110 volts in stead of 220 volts electric system. Luckely my accu-loader could handle both, only the right connector was needed. So, I got that one. After getting some little sandwiches at the bakery shop, we headed with our luggage for the bus. All luggage was stored on top of the bus. So, around ten o'clock we headed out side San Jose through the Interamericana, along side the airport towards the Pacific coast. The sky was a bit cloudy, so an stop to visit the Volcan Poas was skipped. This vulcano is still showing sign of activity. Last eruptions were in may 1989 and 1995. The crater of this vulcano is 1.5km across and 300 meter deep. The blue colored crater lake is worth a visit. Unfortunately, most day of the year, the vulcan is coverde in the clouds. So, you won't be able to much then. Something we did. After 2 hours spend in the bus we stopped for a small lunch break near the Rio Tarcoles. Here we eat our first Casada, rice with beans, a typical Costa Rican menu, with a huge bottle of water. After lunch we all go to the Crocodile Bridge where you can see real crocodiles on the borders of the river. The rumors goes that the restaurant feeds these animals, so, I don't know if you still can call them wild crocodiles. But they are huge and impressive to see. We continue our trip through the Costanera, the road alongside the pacific coast. This unpaved road goes across a lot off little rivers, with very old bridges. Altough some are being build new, most of them have had the best time. Luckely our bus goes very slowly over them... These flat area along the coast has been used before as a banana plantation, but they were hit by some diseases. Nowaday, this area is full with African Palms. These palms are now used for the palm-oil they produce. These oils are used for cosmetic products, machine oils and cooking oils. During the trip we see a lot ot the typical identical looking plantation villages. So, after a bus ride for five hous we arrive in Quepos. Many years ago, a wealthy village when the banana plantations where still in full growht. The port was used for the transportation of the banana's. After the banana diseases, african oil was transported. But the oil is less bulky, so less succesfull for Quepos. The harbor is a bit run down nowadays. The last years, it's mainly used for sportfishing activities. Beside this, the some tourism activity has appeared as this is the closest village to the Parque National Manuel Antonio, the most visited parque in Costa Rica. Quepos is a nice, small village. After entering the village whe went directly to our hotel, a little hotel run bu a friendly family. Rooms were divided, and these were very simple. No hot water, no electricity beside a light. After the quick freshen up, we take the normal bus from the busstation and head towards the beach near the entrance of Manuel Antonio. A bus ride taking us in half an hour to the beach. Very amusing to be surrounded by all the local. The bus is a very old american schoolbus painted in many colors. At the beach, most of us take a dive into the sea, which is beautifull. Sky is couded, but temperature is almost 28 grades celcius. Unfortunately, after 1 hour, rain starts falling from the sky. We all headed for the local beach restaurant and start drinking beer and cool drinks. Enjoying ourselves here, after a hour or so, we take the bus again and head for our hotel. Most of us forgot to take our umbrella's with us, so we arrive there soaked wet. Diner was used in Quepos, a good suggestion from our Costa Rican busdriver Carlos. After checking e-mail at the local internet cafe (and reading the Tico-Times for the 11-9 news) I head home and go to sleep. Tomorrow we get up early for Parque National Manuel Antonio. Manuel Antonio National Park At 7 o'clock in the morning we take our bus to head to the entrance of Manuel Antonio National Parc. With two guides, Pedro and William, we start the hike through the parc. Weather is nice, and being early in the parc, means that there are not many people around there yet. We're being told that in the high season it is important to go to as early as possible. These parc only allow a limited number of people into the parc (600 during the week, 800 during the weekends and holidays). So, changes is that you won't get in if you show up in the afternoon. The parc is not big, it's only 680 hectares, making it one of the smallest national parcs of Costa Rica. And it's also one of the prettiest with its beautiful forst-backed tropical beaches, drmatic rocky headlands with ocean and islands views, prolific wildlife and amintained trail network. With the guides, we managed to see a lot of animals, starting from little spiders to monkey's and several sloths. With the help of their binoculars, we saw the smallest birds high up in the trees. After a walk of one hour on a normal road we head left into the deep forrest. We take the steep trail, a small path to the lookout over the Playa Puerto Escondido (4th beach). On this trail we encounter many sloths and white-faced monkey's, squirrel monkeys and some howler monkey's. On our way back we see some lizards ands iguanas. After the long hike, we dicided to rest a bit on the beach. The clouds were almost gone, sea water was cool and refreshing, huge waves make us enjoy the water even more. So, a few hours were spend on the Playa Espadilla Sur (2nd beach). So, after a few hours, we headed back to the bus tation to wait for the local bus. We saw some ropes hanging over the road , to make it easy for the monkey to go to the beaches without actually having to pass the road... At diner that evening, it was easy to see who had spend time in the sun that afternoon. My nose and face were completely red... Diner was again spend in a good restaurant, fish was for me on the menu again. After diner, a walk through the rain brought us back to the hotel.