Manual Antonio, Costa Rica: Vacation May 1-9, 2018
Airport/Arrival-
When
we stepped out of the airport we hit a wall of in-your-face mercantilism. We were surrounded by taxi drivers fighting
to offer us a ride. We literally had to
push our way through to the rental car shuttle bus stop. Even at the bus stop, endless people kept
coming up and offering transit services.
“This is a bit over the top,” I said to my group after the eighth guy
approached us at the bus stop.
After
about twenty minutes, we arrived at the car rental agency. I thought I got a great rate off of Orbitz from
a smaller rental company, but they did the old switcheroo and added “mandatory
insurance” that wasn’t mentioned anywhere on my rental confirmation. I balked.
They said if I wanted the car, I’d have to pay it. The mandatory rates brought the rental cost
up 400%. I told the guy that it was
totally ridiculous to issue a confirmation that didn’t have these costs listed
or mentioned and walked out.
I
went to another agency next door to see what I could get. They tried to screw me even more. My family was waiting and it was boiling hot outside,
so my back was up to the wall and they all knew it. I went back to the original agency and reluctantly
paid up. My mood went from excited to
sour in less than an hour from touch down- not the best welcome. I resolved to never take the best deal online
from an unknown company and just pay up with a Hertz or Budget to avoid these
scams. Also, the car we were given
sucked; it was a beaten down Diahatsu and its A/C couldn’t overpower the scorching
heat, but at least we were on the road, moving forward.
Manuel
Antonio
 |
| Monkey on our balcony |
Three
hours later, we pulled into our condo and our excitement was restored by the
beautiful landscape all around. The
rental car shenanigans were history now.
I first saw our rental condo on AirBnb, but as I was investigating other
options, I stumbled upon its website and got the place for 25% less by booking
directly. It was right in town and close
to the beach. We had a fantastic view
overlooking the rainforest at the Pacific. This worked out.
Beach
 |
| The Main Beach at Manuel Antonio |
Once
we got out of the car, another woman immediately approached and asked if we
needed beach chairs and umbrellas. I told
her we did. She said $14 for two chairs
and an umbrella. I told her we needed at
least three chairs (we were three adults and one child). She said $18.
I was again skeptical of the prices, but found myself handing over the
money anyway.
Everyone
I spoke with before our trip raved about Costa Rica (and Manuel Antonio in
particular) but they hadn’t been there in over ten years. They told me about untouched beaches and the
impressive nature, but never the prices. I knew that over recent years the place had become
an American tourist Mecca, but could it really have gotten to be such a rip-off?
After
we took a swim and relaxed a bit, I decided to investigate and walked down the
beach and up to the little road. I saw a
smaller parking lot on the side of the street.
I went over and asked the guy how much.
“$10 Senor.” I said thanks and
started walking away. He yelled, “$8” as
I walked away. I now understood how it worked.
I
then asked some other people down the beach about chairs and umbrellas. The price was lower. Despite travelling to so many places around
the world, I had let the Costa Rican aggressive mercantilism overpower my
common sense.
The
next day we didn’t stop at the parking lot despite all the attendants freaking
out when I drove on the other side of the road around them. Whistles were being blown and they were
yelling “Senor! Stop!!! You need to stop!!!”.
I didn’t care. I was on to their
game now.
We
went to the end of the little beachfront road and found a parking strip off to
the right. The attendant asked for $10,
I looked shocked and said, “$10? It was
$5 last time we parked here!” He
immediately took the $5. The next day I
paid him $3.50. Since I figured that was
fair, I stopped negotiating and we parked with him every day going forward.
On
the beach, we walked by a few people renting chairs and umbrellas. We stopped at a nice patch of sand and said,
“How much for four chairs and two umbrellas?”
“$16
Senor.”
“No,
we were offered a much better price over there.” I vaguely waved back the way we came and
started walking away.
“How
much?”
“$7.”
“Ok,
my friend.” That was easy. He led us to a nice pavilion with four lounge
chairs and we settled in. Less than $2 a
chair, $3.50 for all day parking- finally, the cost side of this equation was
coming back to reality.
Food
There
are tons of expensive tourist trap restaurants with great food, but also crazy
prices. The first couple places we went
to, which were highly recommended, had entrées for $20-30 each! I like a good meal as much as anyone, but this
kind of coin for fish in Costa Rica? Come
on. The next day we explored Quepos, the
little town down the mountain. We found
a fish market. Fresh fish and seafood
offered daily straight from the ocean. We
picked up some beautiful Red Snapper and Sea Bass. It was a hefty amount of fish, enough to feed
three adults to full satiation. It cost
$10.
Once we found this place, we
cracked the nut and started eating dinner at our condo and then hitting some bars
for $1.75 Imperial beers and $5-6 tropical cocktails. As the trip progressed, we also found some
great seafood restaurants near the beach that cost about $15 per person including
a couple drinks apiece, which was well worth it.
 |
| Imperial Beer- my favorite CR beer |
Summary
There
are many little beaches to choose from, but the big one at Manuel Antonio was
our favorite. It had a lot of little
cafes to eat at and the best waves to body surf. The big thing is you have to negotiate tooth
and nail for everything. The locals
start really high, but fold quickly. The
most beautiful beach was inside the nature preserve, but it’s only accessible
if you go on a tour, so we only visited that one once. At that one, monkeys and raccoons come right
up as your lounging looking for food.
 |
| a Sloth hanging around |
You
see lot of wildlife all around and the air is clean. Our condo had monkeys coming onto our balcony
all the time. We’d feed them apple
slices out of our hands. It was always a
pleasant thing when a pack of 10 monkeys would stop by. We also saw lots of sloths, lizards, frogs and
birds.
Overall,
Costa Rica was a great beach vacation and I’d happily return, but next time,
I’ll try to find an area more off the beaten path.
The
locals were friendly and it was totally safe everywhere we went. It was good, healthy living (pura vida!) with
an impressive landscape of rolling hills, rain forests and lots of animals. Well worth checking out.
 |
| The beach inside the Nature Reserve was the most beautiful and pristine |
That
being said, after spending a month in India recently, it’s hard not to compare
the two and despite the long distance, I’m still a much bigger fan of the
subcontinent.
###
Do
you like Travelogues? I blogged my
extended journey throughout India earlier this year. You can find the first post (with lots of
photos) linked below. Give it a read-
some interesting and funny stuff there-)
###
