Travels with Hayley

Today was Kristie’s birthday and so we woke her from a deep and restful sleep with a very loud and tuneful rendition of happy birthday – she was, as you can imagine, suitably impressed. We had curated an array of gifts including a scrunchie with smiling avocados on, a bottle of the ubiquitous savoury sauce that is on all the tables at the sodas (we bought it, we didn’t steal one from the table!), some milka biscuits (have you ever been to a country you couldn’t get milka chocolate?! It’s everywhere!) and a cuddly toucan that she loved and immediately named Manuel, after Manual Antonio where we were staying.

We kindly let her actually get out of bed and get ready and then met downstairs for breakfast. While this hotel is very pretty and has a lovely pool, the logistics leave a lot to be desired. So far we have no hand towels, no blankets, no WiFi in rooms, no to a request for a hairdryer and no smile from the miserable mannequin of an receptionist. You have to order your breakfast the night before from 2 options and book a half hour time slot. We had 7amand at 7.45 we still had no breakfast and we needed to be out the front at 8 for our trip to the National park. Finally it came, I was too irritated by that point to eat much of it tbh but managed some pineapple and a pancake. The pineapple out here is amazing, so sweet and juicy!

We got the public bus out to the national park which backs onto the beach. Marvin gave us a guided tour but it was so busy, much more so than the other resorts. Manual Antonio seems to be the most popular resort here because of the beach and there were so many groups out on the trail at points you were almost queuing to see things. There was a cute moment when a little American boy declared at volume, ‘I saw it with my own eyes!’ I don’t know what he saw but oh he was so happy about it!

Seen with my own eyes were a brown basilisk, also know as a Jesus Christ lizard as they can run on top of the water for up to 2 minutes, bats, a black iguana, a sloth having a good scratch and best of all, a mummy sloth with the cutest baby 😍

We then had the rest of the day free to do as we pleased. There was a private beach in the park that was the stuff of fantasy, white gold sand and really gently lapping sea. We laid our towels down in the sand (next to a massive iguana sunning himself on a tree, they are literally everywhere, we saw an enormous one just walking down the street in town yesterday…) and jumped straight into the sea which is just like a bath.

Worked on floating with Homa again and because the sea is so salty an it was so calm she managed it! She was convinced it was only because of the salt water though so we have to try again in the pool back at the hotel later.

She and I then went for a walk and ended up at the very end of the beach where we spotted a monkey. And another, and another, and another…! They were everywhere, swinging through the trees about our heads, carrying their babies, playing, grooming – it was amazing.

Someone had left their backpack on the beach while they had a swim and one of the monkeys, after furtively checking if the owner was around (I’m not exaggerating, he genuinely checked over both shoulders!) grabbed the bag, unzipped it and started emptying everything out. He grabbed a towel and rubbed it all over his head, I swear he was imitating people drying their hair?!

He then threw the poor woman’s knickers into a bush and stole her face mask and ran up the tree with it! About this point she came back from the sea and tried to get her stuff back – the monkeys got sooo mad, screaming and showing their teeth – a guy tried to step in and pull the stuff back with a stick and they went crazy, jumping at him and screaming to high heaven. I would have 💯 just abandoned the stuff!

Eventually he managed to pull most of it back for her and the monkeys gave up and ran off – she was very grateful but did acknowledge that she probably wouldn’t be wearing those knickers again 😂

We wandered back into town on the way stopping for a coconut (very disappointing, tasted a bit funky and gone off) and trying on some clothes in some shops – it is now 💯 established I am too old/have too big boobs for a crochet belly top. You’d have thought I’d have already known that without trying it on wouldn’t you but I was in the holiday spirit! 

Waiting at the bus stop we bumped into a bunch of the others and had an ice cream while we waited. Only my second ice cream of the whole trip, what’s happened there?! Good job it was delicious and worth the wait!

We went to the pool on our return and spent an hour working on floating. She nearly had it but the fear had her. I got out and was reading, looked back over and she was doing it!! I took a few videos and when she looked up and was done we had a big hug and she cried a lot – what an achievement and the day before she turned 50! She was so, so chuffed with herself as she should have been, made all the time spent helping her totally worth it.

I popped to reception before getting ready for the evening to enquire after my laundry. When we had first arrived (yesterday) I’d dropped it with them who assured me they would send it to the laundry and it would be back the same day. So far, nothing. Same receptionist was on when we got back (male, about 19/20) and so I enquired where it was. He said he thought it should have been back by now but rang them and they said it would be there in 20 minutes. He promised me he would bring it straight to the room…

45 minutes later I’m downstairs and ready to meet the others for dinner. I enquire ‘Kenny, where’s my laundry you promised me…?’ He looks slightly panicked and confesses they haven’t dropped it off and now they aren’t picking up the phone.  

At this point I go round the side of the reception desk, crouch down really close to him and say ‘Kenny. I need you to listen to me really carefully when I say this. Look right into my eyes Kenny as this is very important.  I’ve got no clean knickers Kenny, I’m on my last pair. I’m now making this your problem as well as mine, do you understand me? Look into my eyes Kenny and tell me we’re in this together and it will get fixed’. He stares right back with panic at me and says ‘Umm – firstly I want you to know you look very pretty tonight!’ It was so funny. I told him it was a good start but I’d still be needing my pants and don’t make me bring out my mean voice when I got back!

We all jumped into the mini bus to go to a local family house for dinner. I’d been really looking forward to it but it ended up being a bit of a damp squib. We’d had to order in advance (which was weird, why not just do a buffet?) and we helped cook it but it was all done at different times so we weren’t all eating together. I was in charge of squishing the plantains slices in a special press to make patacones which are just squished plantains deep fried. It’s very odd, they are everywhere but they taste so much worse than plantains before they are squished, they are so dry! All that extra effort for no return – I suspect you had to grow up on them to appreciate them…

It was all really bland, none of the food here is particularly spicy (barring that incident with the chilli sauce earlier in the trip…) but it’s very flavourful, this just didn’t taste of anything. Plus it was so unbelievably hot, we were outside on a closed in terrace which was like a heat trap with one small fan.

Judy came over funny and had to go and sit by the fan, she really didn’t look too good at all. I just couldn’t eat anything except some salad, it was just too warm and with nothing tasty to tempt you, there was no point. I felt so bad as the family were so lovely, I’d managed to have a Spanglish conversation with grandma who was adorable and we had a big (sweaty) hug as I left. It all fizzled out quite quickly and we just sat and waited for the bus back to the hotel.

We got back to the hotel to a very smug Kenny gesturing at my clean folded laundry in a bag beside him, he was so chuffed with himself for someone that had got something done 24 hours late – manana right! I gave him a huge kiss on the cheek  and made him all giggly and then claimed all the clean pants with joy – I honestly can’t tell you how exciting clean, properly dry clothes are on these trips. Saying that, they do get wrecked, the laundry in San Jose bleached my black hoodie so now it’s covered in rusty red stains I keep having to colour in with a felt tip (I will dye it again when I get back, this isn’t a long term solution!) and my white shirt this time came back with both yellow and blue blotches on it 🙄

It was still boiling so a few of us hit the supermarket for drinks and then headed for the roof to the pool. We sat with our feet in the water and just chatted, it was lovely. Marvin came to join us and kept us entertained with stories of the worse trips he had done, they included armed robberies, broken down vans and all sorts of nightmares – we have been super lucky!! 

Had a shower when I got in, this is the first hotel that has has reliable and consistent hot water so it feels like such a treat! Off to bed for I’m sure, another incredible day tomorrow!

Lots of love xxxx