Happy Bastille Day! Today is also National Mac & Cheese Day in the U.S., according to Sarah. She is sad that there aren't any restaurants that serve Mac & Cheese in Manuel Antonio (at least that she could find...and trust me, she looked hard) so we started the day with her second favorite treat of the moment: iced coffee. After our coffees, we headed down to Manuel Antonio National Park.
We were sad to learn that the park is closed on Mondays. We hadn't thought to check the schedule beforehand, but you can be sure we'll check for every other park we visit from now on. Disappointed but not discouraged, we made the most of the situation and decided to spend the day on the beach right next to the park. Hardly a terrible outcome.
A Pelican greeted us from a nearby rock.
There were a bunch of rock formations on the beach and just off the coast.
There were lots of creatures around - especially crabs like this guy.
It cleared up even more as the day went on; really turned into a great day at the beach.
Sarah quenched her thirst with a coconut right from the beach.
We headed home when we were ready to get out of the sun (and to seek shelter from the thunderstorm that was about to roll through). Once the rain passed, we headed out to grab some dinner at Ngo, an Asian take-out restaurant in town. I know we've been saying this a lot, but the food was just amazing. Unlike any Asian food I've had before - the Vietnamese / Chinese owner borrowed styles from all over the continent to create a very unique flavor. The sweet and spicy chicken we got was the special stand-out through: the light dough that breaded the chicken made it taste like a General Tso's chicken donut. Might sound a little weird, but it was out of this world.
We also loved the Singapore Noodles - the slightly sweet taste was a great balance to the spicy chicken.
Tomorrow we head back to San Jose to return the rental car, re-group and then head to Panama first thing on Wednesday morning.