La Salva

Hola Chicos! Allow me to brag about my beautiful weekend in Manuel Antonio. :) After a busy afternoon of finding our correct bus stop, buying the correct tickets, and snoozing on the bus for three and a half hours we finally arrived. It was getting dark when we first got there so finding a hostel was our first priority. The one we had planned to stay at was about five miles before the bus stop so that backfired a little, hostel plans almost always do. But luckily they're never hard to remedy in such a touristy location. Obviously lost, a tico asked us if we needed a hostel. So we discussed it for a while and then walked about a block up the hill to go see our option. It turned out to be perfect. Ten dollars a night, 4 dollars for a huge breakfast, free showers, coffee and tea, internet, all connected to a bar and restaurant. It was a lucky find, especially since it almost immediately started raining afterward. We ran to a close restaurant for some dinner and happy hour and spent the rest of the night at the hostel bar with some guys from Portland, small world! Saturday we woke up very early and made it to the National Park by 8. This place was so unreal. Absolute jungle experience. You have to be careful with your belongings in case monkeys and/or raccoons try to steal them! We saw lots of interesting bugs, white faced monkeys, spider monkeys, saw and heard lots of howlers (probably my fav!), iguanas and gekos everywhere, beautiful beaches, and finally a sloth! Sloths are some of the most peaceful creatures on earth. Personally I think they're adorable... But I can see why most think they're ugly. Usually the animals were fairly high in the trees but I did the best I could with my camera (thanks mom!). We must have walked 7 miles through the park, around the peninsula, up some steep, slippery hillsides, sandy paths along the beaches, and of course with our toes in the ocean. What an amazing, gorgeous place. The rest of the day was mostly spent on the beach since we were both too exhausted to do anything else! We grabbed some lunch at a local place and I had jalapenos for the first time in months! It was delicious. We ended up going back for dinner, and happy hour, later that night to watch the sunset. It was beautiful. We had until noon on Sunday to walk along the beach for the last time, collecting lots of shells and cool rocks, taking some cheesy photos, and soaking up the last bits of sand and sunshine Manuel had to offer. It was probably my favorite location thus far, had a little bit of everything but never too much.
Just two more weeks left in school and I have a few more big projects coming up. Friday will be really exciting, we're visiting the children's museum, which I'm told is a lot like the science center, everything's hands on. It looks amazing, I'm very excited. That said, I'd better start my homework.

Love