Spring Break

I'm now about a week and a half into spring break here.  There was nothing spectacular planned for the vacation time, so the other Valpo students and I decided to visit a beach in Quepos called Manuel Antonio.  (This was last week.)

On Tuesday morning we woke up early and went to the bus station.  We had to take a bus to the bus station, ironically.  From there it was a 3 hour trip and it became hotter and more humid as we went.  We had some confusion about where exactly to get off the bus, so we ended up having to backtrack by taking a local bus once we arrived in order to meet our guide.  That is, one of the other student's host mother's best friend's son met us to show us the house we would stay at, which was really quite a nice place.

Almost immediately after dropping our luggage off at the house we walked to the nearby grocery store to stock up.  We had crackers, tuna, PB, bread, bananas, a cantaloupe, a watermelon, and eggs.  Thus, we were set for breakfasts and lunches at the beach.  We agreed ahead of time to purchase dinner outside of the home.

With just enough time to get to the beach for an hour or so before sunset, we lathered ourselves in sunscreen and set out for the beach.  It took about 30 minutes by local bus to get to the free beach from where we were staying.  Interestingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, a majority of the other bus passengers were North Americans or Europeans, usually of a more mature age, who were vacationing there.

  

The second day we spent nearly the entire day just relaxing on the beach and playing in the Pacific.  We also realized just how much of a touristy place it is because we discovered that if we spoke in Spanish to the various vendors they lowered their prices quite drastically.  Sneaky sneaky, right?

But anyway, the time at the beach was a much needed and very enjoyable day, although several group members got fried by the strong sun.  My shoulders burned a little bit, but not very much.  I am slowly tanning here...and I'm just as surprised as you. :)
 
Finally, on Thursday morning after breakfast we said goodbye to the beach and headed back on the bus.  Even though we didn't stay very long at Manuel Antonio it was definitely worthwhile as we have some great memories from spending time together there.

Thursday (tomorrow!) I head to Nicaragua for a week and a half.  Prayers are always appreciated.

 

Photo credit goes to Emily Knippenberg, who remembered her camera on the beach.