Leaving Lapa Rios was not our favorite thing. How could anything else compete? We were driven to a tiny airstrip located right along the most beautiful stretch of white sand beach you could imagine. A horse grazed along the strip, and only moved out of the way as the small airplane came in to land. There was a moment of uncertainty when we realized that the pilot was expecting five, not six, passengers. The plane had enough seats, but the pilots are only given enough fuel to carry out the expected run. Nevertheless, he allowed us all onboard, and even put M, the tallest of the passengers, in the co-pilots seat. M seemed rather pleased with the situation, and I'm still annoyed that I didn't have the guts to jump down and take a picture. Very soon, we were off.
The town of Quipos seemed large to us after all our time spent in the Osa Peninsula, but really it is a small place that was originally built to house the workers who picked bananas for Chiquita. This is not a glamorous destination, and the only evidence of tourism are the shops and restaurants geared more to the backpacking crowd. Like in so many other places, it turns out that the "fancy" people live higher up the mountain.
Leaving Quipos behind, you begin to climb into the hills, and as you do so, you start to notice a change. The landscape is still beautiful, and the views get better and better, but the houses and shops begin to thin out. In there place are condos and hotels. Masses of condos and hotels. They seem practically to be stacked on top of each other, and by the time you reach the plateau, they've become so opulent and ostentatious that they can only mean one thing. Americans. A vanishingly small number of Costa Ricans can pay 600k for an Italianate condo with views of the ocean. An even smaller number can afford to live in the gated communities that feature homes in the millions of American dollars. Welcome to nouveau colonialism at its finest.
Don't get me wrong, our accommodations were very nice, the pool was astonishingly lovely, and you could take a private van down to the beach, but there was always an undercurrent of ickiness about the place. This is not really Costa Rica. The only actual Costa Rican people you see are the ones who serve you, and they've been taught not to chat with the guests.
That said, we did have some good experiences while we were there. One of our guides recommended a restaurant called Ronnie's Place. We took a taxi through the pouring rain, followed the long and very rutted driveway, and eventually ended up at a cute little open-air dining room with a roof but no walls. The food was a decent quality Italian, the ceiling was covered in teeny tiny lizards (geckos and anoles for anyone who cares), and a little gray kitten made the rounds of all the diners. Out over the ocean, a lightening storm kept giving us those split second illuminations of the valley and beach below us. It was a most memorable time.
The beach was also quite something. You know that classic clear blue water/golden sand/palm tree image on postcards and in movies? Yeah, they film and photograph a lot of that in Manuel Antonio. While some parts of our visit there were not great, the beach was the best we found on our whole trip. We lay on beach chairs, ran in the waves, and M even spent some time body boarding! I took one of my favorite pictures there as well. When it's cold and gray in Seattle, I'll be looking at that picture and remembering that beach.
All in all, Quipos and Manuel Antonio might be great places to stay if you don't mind being in tourism central, and you are very careful about the kinds of accommodation you get. The nature reserve and the beaches are great, and probably there are more nice spots for dinners and shopping and such. Just do a lot of homework before you go so you don't end up thinking that Costa Rica is just the land of the expensive condo.
The town of Quipos seemed large to us after all our time spent in the Osa Peninsula, but really it is a small place that was originally built to house the workers who picked bananas for Chiquita. This is not a glamorous destination, and the only evidence of tourism are the shops and restaurants geared more to the backpacking crowd. Like in so many other places, it turns out that the "fancy" people live higher up the mountain.
Leaving Quipos behind, you begin to climb into the hills, and as you do so, you start to notice a change. The landscape is still beautiful, and the views get better and better, but the houses and shops begin to thin out. In there place are condos and hotels. Masses of condos and hotels. They seem practically to be stacked on top of each other, and by the time you reach the plateau, they've become so opulent and ostentatious that they can only mean one thing. Americans. A vanishingly small number of Costa Ricans can pay 600k for an Italianate condo with views of the ocean. An even smaller number can afford to live in the gated communities that feature homes in the millions of American dollars. Welcome to nouveau colonialism at its finest.
Don't get me wrong, our accommodations were very nice, the pool was astonishingly lovely, and you could take a private van down to the beach, but there was always an undercurrent of ickiness about the place. This is not really Costa Rica. The only actual Costa Rican people you see are the ones who serve you, and they've been taught not to chat with the guests.
That said, we did have some good experiences while we were there. One of our guides recommended a restaurant called Ronnie's Place. We took a taxi through the pouring rain, followed the long and very rutted driveway, and eventually ended up at a cute little open-air dining room with a roof but no walls. The food was a decent quality Italian, the ceiling was covered in teeny tiny lizards (geckos and anoles for anyone who cares), and a little gray kitten made the rounds of all the diners. Out over the ocean, a lightening storm kept giving us those split second illuminations of the valley and beach below us. It was a most memorable time.
The beach was also quite something. You know that classic clear blue water/golden sand/palm tree image on postcards and in movies? Yeah, they film and photograph a lot of that in Manuel Antonio. While some parts of our visit there were not great, the beach was the best we found on our whole trip. We lay on beach chairs, ran in the waves, and M even spent some time body boarding! I took one of my favorite pictures there as well. When it's cold and gray in Seattle, I'll be looking at that picture and remembering that beach.All in all, Quipos and Manuel Antonio might be great places to stay if you don't mind being in tourism central, and you are very careful about the kinds of accommodation you get. The nature reserve and the beaches are great, and probably there are more nice spots for dinners and shopping and such. Just do a lot of homework before you go so you don't end up thinking that Costa Rica is just the land of the expensive condo.
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