Hotel Casitas Eclipse, Manual Antonio, CR @ 10:12, Jan 12
Woke up this morning and first thing on our mind was sunblock! Time to get
slathered up for our catamaran trip! We ate breakfast at El Gato Negro, the
hotel restaurant, again. Jieling had the continental breakfast again, but I
was feeling adventurous so I opted for the American Breakfast, which
consisted of eggs, toast, potatoes, and a hot dog. At 8:15AM we boarded our
bus for the catamaran.
We arrived at a dock in the city of Quepos, which is a neighbor town to
Manuel Antonio. We boarded the Tom Cat II, and after someone puked over the
side rails, we made our way to the ocean! The boat was pretty big for our
group of 25ish, and sported a water slide and a bar. Jieling got the party
started with a mango juice. We sat in the front of the boat, soaking in
some sun and enjoying the beautifully blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. We
spotted a mother humpback whale and its baby, who apparently must
accumulate fat in warm tropical waters before it can survive in colder
waters. Nature!
The next part of the trip was snorkeling. It was fun but pretty uneventful.
All we saw were a few different fish. Someone saw a turtle, but
unfortunately I wasn’t that someone. The crew opened the sails and we
floated on the waters for a while. We enjoyed a lunch of fish-kebabs, pasta
salad, and some fruits. Not bad, but not great either.
We enjoyed the sun and waters for a while, beforw we eventually made it
back to land around 12:30PM. On the way back to our hotel we passed a
school called “Republic of Korea.” Apparently schools here like to name
themselves after nations. I wonder what the school named after North Korea
is like! Anyway we got to the hotel, cleaned up, and napped. We love to
nap!
We woke up from our long nap and went to our final dinner with our Gate One
travel group at the hotel restaurant El Gato Negro. The appetizer was some
sort of beef and fish carpaccio. It was OK, but the fish tasted really
fishy. Jieling got beef with mushroom sauce, but it tasted like liver so
she traded for my chicken with a bearnaise-like sauce. My chicken was
better but I love Jieling so I was willing to sacrifice my chicken for her.
We finished with a tiramisu which was just OK.
After dinner we headed to El Avión across the street because Jieling was
going through a smoothie withdrawal. We went with this nice Azerbaijani
family that lives in NY that we’ve made friends with, and a man from San
Antonio. They all talk a lot which is nice, and they always have funnu and
interesting things to say. The father of the family likes to make fun of
the Texan man for being single, which is awkward. He invited us to have
dinner with him in NY though, which is nice.
We called it quits around 10 and headed back to our room. We watched part
of the Top 25 Sexiest Cover Girls on E!, then headed to bed. This is our
last night in Manuel Antonio before heading back to San José tomorrow. We
fly back to the States the day after. Boy does time fly!
