The first day, we went to the public beach, so there was parasailing and banana boat riding to watch, vendors to politely turn away, and not a seagull in sight. We stayed there for nearly six hours just until the sunset, getting sunburnt, dodging riptides, and having loads of fun.
That night, we stayed at a small motel at the end of dirt road. They had about three dogs and maybe ten rooms. I roomed with three great girls, Susanna, Adriana, and Savannah. In between arriving back to the motel and dinner, we watched the first Spider-Man, which Susanna graciously translated, as it was dubbed in Spanish. At dinner, we ate whatever we had chosen earlier on in the week. I had the delicious lemon butter chicken with assorted veggies and rice. For dessert, we had this really good coconut custard cake thing. Following, we talked for a while and some of us thought about turning in for the night, when the lights suddenly shut off. Up until this point, I had forgotten that it was my birthday so I turned to my great friend Janessa and told her, "If this involves me, I'm going to throw up."
Yeah, that sounds bit gross but it accurately depicts how I feel about being the center of attention.
And, guess what?
It involved me.
A cake was placed in front of me and the candles were attempted to be lit, at least three times, because the fans were on. So, we finally decided to sit in the still, warm air for a few moments in order for me to be able to make a wish (which I ultimately forgot to do because I was so embarrassed). I blew out the candles but was immediately informed that we would not be eating the cake until tomorrow.
About ten more minutes passed as we sat and talked more, and I pet some of the dogs, when Janessa said, "We should totally push these chairs and tables out of the way, cut out the lights, and have a crazy dance party."
However, we knew this was likely impossible, so we continued talking for a while. Not five minutes later, the tables and chairs were moved, the lights were out, and music was turned on. I don't remember exactly what we danced to, but I know we at least danced to the ChaCha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, the Hoedown Throwdown (I was a bit alone for that one, haha.), and Footloose. Savannah and I are all too familiar and always ready for these dances.
And so, we danced our dinners away until our feet were black and we couldn't ignore the call of sleep anymore.
The next morning we were up at about 6;30am to go to the Manuel Antonio National Park. It was about a 30 minute walk from the park gate to the beach; however, we took a detour down a sloth trail.
We didn't see any sloths.
I've never seen some people so disappointed.
However, some of the disappointment was quickly washed away at the sight of the beach. For a few hours, we frolicked in the water, took hilarious pictures, and watched a gang of three raccoons, two "Costa Rican" raccoons, and three Capuchin monkeys steal a loaf of bread from people who snuck food into the park.
On the walk back to the cars, Janessa and I skipped ahead and walked straight on through the sloth trail, but apparently, the rest of the group so a sloth from afar, but I think we'll have plenty of opportunities to see another one, so I'm not too upset. After that was lunch (and my cake!) and the car ride back.
So, yeah, in a sense, the best birthday ever.
*In the next few days, I will be uploading more pictures from Manuel Antonio and just Costa Rica in general. Stay tuned!
