Manuel Antonio

Whenever a young, single, adventurous gringa decides to leave the world of deadlines and stress for warmer waters, I suppose its natural for her friends to accompany their "bon voyage" with some comment or other about finding a latino lover. But of course, it's all in good fun, and no one actually means anything by it. In fact, it must be the rarity for their gringa friend to not only come back bronzed, but with an even bronzer man wrapped around her elbow.

Well my friends, I haven't only lost my elbow, but my heart has been stolen by Manuel Antonio.

If only you could meet him, ay Dios mio, you'd understand why I've fallen so hard. He is everything a girl could want. His muscles are as toned as rolling hills. He has the strength of a thousand ancient boulders. He is full of life. I have never met another man who is filled with so much life it overflows like a rushing waterfall into everyone he meets. Oh! And he can speak several languages. He is definitely my kind of man.

I know this sounds crazy but, even though we only met four days ago, I know without a doubt this was love at first site. I never believed it would ever happen to me... oh, but it did. We spent four amazing days doing everything together. We were inseparable from the moment we saw each other. We went swimming, and fishing, hiking, and horseback riding. He showed me the bounty of his country: the wild toucans, howler monkeys, and those conniving spider monkeys.

I got lost in his wild ways. Feeling so free and alive, but secure within his embrace. His quiet songs would help me find sleep each night and wake me each morning with eager exclamations of what awaited us that day.

I will never forget you Manuel. Even though our lives crossed for such a short time, you are and will always be my latino lover.

 Haha, jokes up. Manuel Antonio is not in fact a real person. Manuel Antonio is the name of the second most visited National Park in Costa Rica.

 This past weekend we got to stay at a friends house which is located in the mountains just outside of Manuel Antonio. This is the view from their house. One day this is the kind of place I want to live. Wild toucans flying around, riding horses to the neighbors house, waterfalls and watering holes everywhere. Just watch out for the poisonous green tree frogs! 

The beach is beautiful, the tourists ruin the scenery, but luckily we got their early enough to see it in its natural beauty.

Those monkeys really are conniving. They will come right up to you. They even stole Hollie's toothbrush right out of her bag!