Sarah and I started our day at the Oxygen Jungle Villas, mostly just checking emails over coffee and packing up before we took off. As great as the "honeymoon" has been for the last two days, I think I'm ready to explore some more of the country.
One more. Hard to say goodbye to this view...
Before making the drive to Manuel Antonio, we ate lunch at Pizzeria La Fogata, a very well reviewed place in Uvita. Despite all the touristy draws toward American comfort food we've seen along the way (and pizza is apparently the most American of touristy comfort foods), we haven't had pizza since leaving New York. We were the first ones at the restaurant and ordered two small pizzas to share: the Mexicana (shredded beef, sweet and hot peppers, mozzarella) and the Flamingo (chicken, ham, pepperoni, mushrooms, peppers, mozzarella). There is a reason this is the #3 ranked restaurant in Uvita - really delicious food! We only ate half and we're looking forward to having the leftovers tomorrow.
Lunch leftovers.
Full of delicious pizza, we set off on the hour-long drive to Manuel Antonio. We first arrived in Quepos, the "gateway" town before getting to the national park. We didn't spend much time in Quepos, but Lonely Planet's review - "...most visitors to the Manuel Antonio area prefer to stay outside Quepos..." - rang true to us on our short trip through the town. We were happy to move on to find our accommodations for the next three days: Villa Kristina. The apartment we are staying in gets its name from its owner, Kristina, a very nice European who lives on the ground floor. She rents out the upper three floors of her home to guests like us. She warmly welcomed us and gave us a tour. Her home is in an isolated section of dense jungle, so it's a little hard to get to...but not nearly as hard as the Oxygen Jungle Villas.
View from our balcony. Overcast skies but lush jungle.
After running some errands, taking a dip in the pool, unpacking our bags and relaxing for a bit, we were ready to take a drive to check out the rest of Manuel Antonio and scope out the beach. Fortunately for us, we timed the sunset perfectly and got some amazing shots along the way.
Welcome to Manuel Antonio.
Took this one a few minutes later. Pura vida.
Afterward, we were ready for some dinner. Sarah looked up the best budget-friendly restaurants in town (Tripadvisor has really steered us in the right direction so far) and gave me a few to choose from - I said I wanted to go to the fish tacos place because it sounded "lighter than the others." Well that was not the case, but it was so good I can't complain. We got the Sampler for 2 at El Gato, which included: fish tacos, fish filet, fish balls (basically a more doughey, spherical fish filets), fries and onion rings. And two beers each. For $25. I love Costa Rica.
Yum. The lettuce in the taco counts as my veggies for the day, right?
Tomorrow we'll explore the beach before finding some local place to watch the World Cup Final. Happy Saturday!