COSTA RICA 2014
Monday September 15
Having made a plan to visit Spain, a place I have never
been, it only seemed logical to consult Dave and Julie, the world travelers.
So, being the kind fellow he is, Dave came for dinner one night to extoll the virtues
of Malaga and its environs. At the end, though, he said: But you know, we have
these condos in Costa Rica and you could always go there! Turns out the condos
were going on the block and this could be our last chance to get there and have
the Selden/Pace experience. Their travel schedule was not accommodating at trip
to CR, with or without us. So he made us an offer we could not refuse. Even
though it is not the “prime” season, if we decided to go we could help get the
condos in perfect shape for their sale.
Having foregone the opportunity in Spain for the moment, we
offered up our condo spot to Luane and Rhonda who were planning to meet a
friend in Portugal around this same time. They started their due diligence, but
just couldn’t make it work. So we tossed our trip out and they bit.
Not only were we going to CR, but Doug was going to have the
pleasure of the company of 3 women. Who could ask for more?
Flying from Phoenix to Liberia is not as straightforward as
one could hope for. So we opted for a Monday morning redeye-it literally left
at 1 am and routed us through Atlanta. There we had enough time to grab
breakfast at Fridays and shop the duty-free where Doug dutifully purchased a
bottle of Scotch.
We landed in Liberia, CR that morning around 11. 80% of the
folks on our flight from Atlanta were newlyweds and another good chunk were
celebrating anniversaries. So everyone was happy except the lady who had a
seizure, but there were a plethora of medical personnel amongst the merrymakers
and it was all good.
After sending our bags through an X-ray machine, we were
given a less than stern warning by a really nice CR guy who did not look any
more official than the other passengers, that if we considered how rude it was
to bring all this household stuff in from the US when we could just buy it in
CR and support their economy we would no doubt be so ashamed of ourselves that
we would comply with his suggestion that we refrain from doing so for at least
the next six months. No problemo!
We were greeted out front by an affable fellow from our realty
managers RPM, named Juan. He quickly advised us that even though it is probably
not kosher in America, he goes by the name Negro (appropriately accented in
Spanish) and informed us that no one would know who we were talking about if we
said Jose. Turns out, Negro is perfectly suited to his job as tour guide and
Negro is perfectly suited as his name as he is a black Costa Rican. He was very
funny and most accommodating and left us his card as he and, everyone else it
seems, is a tour guide as well as driver.
As for his name, Rhonda pointed out
it would be like when they called their uncle by his nickname
"Blackie" although he was a very white-ish fellow himself. It sure
beats my grandfather's nickname "Windy" which he even had embroidered
on his work uniform name tag, due to the fact that he never stopped talking-
and in the most colorful ways. He would start every story (all of them were set
in the AZ summer) "It was hot, god damn it was hot...." But I
digress.
 |
| Mamon (leche), a palm fruit, was sold along the roadside. |
Our first stop, after the 1.5 hour drive through the lush
jungle, punctuated by cute little towns with names like Filadelfia, sporting
the most wonderful covered bus stops, was the Diria Hotel. Our Matapalo condo
is part of the sprawling Diria complex and we would have hotel privileges,
which was great as it is situated right on the beach of Tamarindo. We got our
wrist bands which would signify our legitimacy as guests and were told we would
be wearing them for the duration. Luane as a bit taken aback at the thought of
having to wear them for a whole week (little did she know then that we would actually
forego our opportunity to move to the Langosta beach condo for week two, thus
leaving the bands on us for a full two weeks. Amazing how the human can adapt.)
Then Negro took us to get the condo key in Langosta.
[A note about the road between Tamarindo and Langosta: Only about
a ½ a mile, it might as well be across the country the road is that bad. This
will become an issue that is revisited a number of times during our trip and
certainly influenced our decision to stay put at the Diria.]
We dropped our gear and headed out on foot to discover our
environs and forage for food. We made our way through the lush condo pool area
across the road to the Diria beachside bar/restaurant and had our first
encounter with Luis who would come to have a heyday at the thought of a guy who
is named “dog” would have three wives. He knew our names: Rhonda was
Monday/Tuesday, Lulu was Wednesday/Thursday and Kim Friday/Saturday. Sunday, the
day of rest, Luis suggested Dog should spend with him on his boat where there
would be beer and lots of women.
We were about to dig our chips into a luscious looking bowl
of sea bass ceviche when Rhonda spied the ubiquitous Lizano sauce and hugged it
to her breast. Apparently this is a big thing where she used to live in
Seattle. Who knew? We all came to love that sauce, especially on ceviche of all
kinds.
[A note about the
people: CR has no military, boasts a 95% literacy rate, is primarily agrarian
and contains some of the happiest, nicest people you will even encounter
anywhere. There really were no rude or ugly people there at all.
There are very few traffic control devices and they seem to
be unnecessary as we never saw a wreck or a speeder even though the roads are
shared by cars, SUVs, busses, bicycles and dogs. There was study in a village
in Germany and after they removed all the traffic control devices speeding and
car accidents plummeted-left on their own, people realize they must work
together and it becomes much more cohesive rather than adversarial (with
everyone worried about the other guy following the rules). That sums up CR to
my mind.]
We then walked the beach, purloined provisions at the market
just below our condo and then hit the pool right at dusk. It was pretty sweaty
by then and we are now all cool, as is the condo, and the clouds at sunset were
spectacular. We were aware it is the
rainy season, but this first day brought no precip.
Really sleepy because of flying through the night, so we hit
the sack early (Doug enjoyed Monday Night Football with Spanish announcers for
a bit).
Tuesday September 16
Tuesday we lazed about in the pool and the beach after
sleeping in. We are starting to get our bearings and can see that this is going
to be very relaxing. We then took a taxi ride to the Auto Mercado, which is the
Safeway of the region and stocked up on staples and things for the condo.
Situated in an exceeding ornate, if a bit oriental-styled new shopping mall,
the store was great and the people working there were as nice as can be. But it
was clear that food here is not inexpensive. Spent the evening at the Diria
beach and shopped our way through the main street, stopping for lunch on the
beach of lobster taco and discovered the delicious local beer-Imperial.
Wednesday September 16
On our fist Wednesday, we woke to a crystal clear morning
and could see for miles from the balcony where we enjoyed fresh fruit (the
mango and pineapple are especially good) and a raisin wheat bread baked at the
Auto Mercado.
We then got down to business at Matapalo and took inventory
of what we brought versus what was here. We think everything is in place;
decided to combine the two sets of existing dishes into one at Langosta and put
the Corelle dishes here. We reorganized some things in the living room and
thoroughly cleaned the storage room with alcohol (sorry, broke the bottle of
rum in there as I was sweeping) and tossed some things that looked like
trash. The electric wire running from
there into the condo had a conduit tear so we photo'd that and reported ii to
Kevin. Then we taxi'ed over to Langosta with the rest of the loot and did the
same over there. with the folks at RPM
about our condo issues and possible tours, we booked a boat cruise and made our
way to the hotel down the street.
We walked in like we owned the place and strolled the
grounds, settling in seats nearest the beach and the beer, not too far from the
band. We sat around there for a while and when a mob of young hotel workers
started doing dance routines around the pool decided it was time to go. Doug
went to pay our bill only to discover we had invaded “all-inclusive” land.
These resorts charge their guests a flat fee per day which includes all food
and drink so they had no way to accept Doug’s money! Embarrassed, we quickly
ducked into the gift shop while waiting for our taxi which turned out to be a boon-we
bought some great CR chocolate that we never saw again. L and R got some cute
beach dresses for really cheap. Rhonda calls it her Scottsdale dress.
While we all agree Langosta
is lovely, it seemed hotter over there and since we are so happy at Diria we
decided to just stay put for the duration. We informed Kevin at RPM that we
would be back one last time to finalize the installation. This way it will
reduce the cleaning in two places and the wear and tear.
We advised Dave and Julie that the nicks in the hall had
been perfectly repaired and agreed that the wood on the cabinets needs some
touch up. A deep cleaning would also be good but it’s not bad.
We brought a boogie board with us so we would each have one
at Diria. This started a daily routine of evening boogie boarding that came to
border on obsession.
We made our way back to Matapalo, had a salad lunch and more
beer/wine and watched them add even more crap to the marathon race set up that
is going to be taking place here on Saturday-there are now Toyota flags and
several other sponsor tents, etc. This race will attract 4000 runners and 8000
hangers on. Just watching the growing race HQ take shape is fascinating.
As we made our way to the beach we saw an even bigger iguana
by the pool.
Doug is enjoying watching American movies in Spanish.
We are turning in early as tomorrow is Palo Verde and we
meet our other buddy Negro at 7:30 at the gate. None of us are morning people.
Thursday September 17
Our friend Negro appeared right on time and despite our
penchant for morning snoozing, we were all ready to go to Palo Verde. The ride
was a bit over an hour and took us through a sugar can plantation of Del Monte
extraction. Negro was very forthcoming in managing our expectations. We boarded
the boat shortly after sacrificing Kim to the mosquitoes for good luck and
right off the bat saw a baby crocodile.
The air was cool and soft and the tide was coming in so the
water was on the rise. We saw all manner of flora and fauna, varieties of
birds, egrets, tiny bats, howler monkeys, but the white faced monkeys were not
feeling social. Please see FB for the piece de resistance-our 10 foot buddy
Chito who enjoyed his repast of cow intestines immensely.
We then went for a “tipical” lunch in the town Bolson:
chicken in a luscious sauce, fried plantains, B+R, pasta with mushrooms and
corn, tortillas and tamarind juice. It was delightful and filling!
The young son of the chef-ess regaled us with his little drummer
boy imitation and we thought he should team up with the Jesus Christ lizard and
go on tour. (The lizard flits across the water as if he is walking on it-hence
the name).
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We hit the pottery shop and each made a purchase from the
adorable proprietor/artist who described his traditional methods and gave a
brief demonstration.
Then Negro announced it was time to return to Tama-gringo!
Ha.
The scenery is improving from Doug's point of view as we hit
town and see a band of surfer babes in thong swimwear ambling down the Main
Street, surf boards in tow.
It was sprinkling when we got back, so we took a rest period
in prep for our afternoon ritual of boogie boarding followed by mojitos at the
Diria bar. It went swimmingly until the clouds looked too ominous. Just as we
took cover under the thatched bar roof the sky opened up.
People, including the transit cops, are starting to amass in
front of the marathon-we are expecting 4000 runners. Even the pool has signage.
No sign of live music but we expect quite a show from the balcony whatever the
case.
We bought a whole chicken from
It is a beautiful evening and we are relaxing and doing the
towel laundry while listening to french music and having drinks. Pistachio ice
cream and cookies await in the kitchen.
Friday September 18
We decided to just keep close to home and spy on the
marathon activity. The marathon really has been in the set up; they have
literally spent 3 days erecting things and I have never seen so much signage in
my entire life. The entire town is papered over with Adidas, Gatorade, Cristal,
Toyota, etc.
This afternoon they set up the finish line across the Main
Street right in front of the Diria Hotel, which narrowed it to one lane. With
4,000 runners plus significant others arriving, you can just imagine the
traffic jam.
We did some shopping and reading, relaxing, etc. We were on
the balcony when all of a sudden we realized we were eye level with a drone
which was apparently taking overhead footage of the marathon home base.
It rained off and on at times today but that did not deter
us from our afternoon rounds: an hour of boogie boarding followed by mojitos at
the Matapalo bar. We are so confused as we learned the marathon is about
running; here, we have been training all week for the boogie board marathon
only to learn we are mistaken. Fear not, we will continue our training
regardless, as even vacations need a bit of routine.
Went to dinner at Patagonia, the local Argentinian
restaurant recommended by the Argentinian proprietor of the shop Mucho Gusto
which is chock full of all the coolest art and eco-jewelry. We went back there
after dinner and the wife opened just for us and we bought more stuff. We then
discovered the gelato stand (like we needed to know that!) and milled about in
the race area which has occupied the entire pool between the condo and the
hotel. Shoes were on display everywhere. They fed all the runners the
traditional spaghetti dinner and about 9:30 started pulling out all the tables
and chairs that they spend all last evening installing. Most of the folks are
speaking Spanish/Portuguese; very little English, but I did see a Chicago
Marathon shirt go by this afternoon.
Saturday September 19
We woke to a fantastic fireworks display at 5 am, just as
promised by the Marathon organizers. Lucky for me I simply had to pull back the
drape for a perfect view. Each volley was followed by a spray of glitter. I was
able to get back to sleep. Doug, not so much.
L and R did some exploring in the morning and found some
amazing bread while scoping out the racers. No sooner did the race start, but
the race to take down all the crap also began. By noon most of that stuff was
gone.
We took off for a walk after noon going to the right when
you get to the street, rather than left. We went a fair distance and finally
came upon the Witch's Rock which is an entrepreneurial effort of some Yanks
from San Diego who drove through Mexico and Central America and finally lit in
Tamarindo where they started their beach living empire. They now brew beer in
addition to all the other offerings: surf shop, place to sleep, outdoor bar,
etc. We enjoyed a couple of pitchers while we soaked up the ocean breeze which
is missing on the road given the buildings in between. Then we bought a coconut-Pipa,
mostly to watch the gal open it with her machete. The juice was nice but needed
a little something so Doug ordered a shot of rum. The coconut water then became
great. See FB video.
We walked back and got home just as the sky opened up and
the 5 hour downpour started. We have had a few showers each day, but this one
was the biggie. I used the afternoon to finish a watercolor pencil drawing of
our tour guide Negro and the others read and relaxed after D and R fixed the
squeaky door with the WD-40 we found at the best market we have come across
yet.
We had dinner at the Diria wood fired pizza place which was
just so-so and so we had to go the main bar and get an aperitif. Luis, our
buddy was there and when he saw Doug's new T-shirt which touts the benefits of
Agua de Pipa (coconut water) he launched into an explanation that went
something like this:
"Costa Ricans National Scream is Pipa! Pipa! This is
because coconut water is so good for you. When you go pee it is yellow. After
coconut water it is so clear you could wash your face with it. It is very good
for the kidneys." Luis then reminded Doug that tomorrow was his day off
from wives, being that it was Sunday. As conversation ensued at one point all 3
of us simultaneously corrected D on a misstated fact; Luis offered to bring him
a Red Bull.
We grabbed a street vendor gelato and watched the closing
ceremony for while in the drizzle but found the traffic jam to be far more
entertaining.
We are hoping for a clear day tomorrow as we are most
frustrated at missing our date with the surf and getting thrown off our boogie
boarding routine.
As a denouement, at 10:45 PM they reran the fabulous
fireworks show and as I was reading in bed, I repeated my pulling back of the
drape to watch. Quite a show!
Sunday September 20
Everyone slept through last night's fireworks except yours
truly. Sunday brought us Doug's traditional pancakes, right after we realized
we bought powdered sugar instead of baking powder and he ran to the store to
rectify. They were very good, if not quite the same. Nutella and banana was
great on top.
We were just talking about how nice it is to have everything
within walking distance and not have to drive. We can shop, dine, grocery shop,
Farmacia shop, etc. all right here.
Luane has become something of a minor meteorologist (thanks
to “not so” Accuweather’s website and advised us on just the right time to hit
the beach for our daily boogie boarding adventure ahead of the rain which would
not matter except it also brings lightening.
The surf was rough today and the tide was way in. All of us
got in some pretty good rides and a wipeout or two. Because it was midday we
had a repast of our fave sea bass ceviche and shared a whole fried red snapper.
L and R has their traditional mojito but for dessert our buddy Luis brought us
a round of short ones. A nice touch.
We then hit the hot tub and spent the remainder of the
afternoon watching NFL football with Spanish announcers. We are waiting until
someone scores 40 so we can learn how to say that in Spanish as earlier in the day
we were wondering.
The rains came again in a big way about 4 pm and it is still
raining at 9. We went out for sushi at the cutest little bamboo decorated
restaurant tucked in behind the shops lining the main street. It was yummy and
we tried something new: frozen mojitos.
We thought we might try to stream the Roosevelts for our
evening entertainment but CR does not seem to have the rights to very many
things as nothing we have tried streaming so far has played.
Oh well. I am reading a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer
and that is much better than TV anyway. (Thanks Melanie).
Monday September 21
How wonderful to sleep until 8 and not have to go to work!
We took a long walk on the beach this morning, right after our visit to RPM to
book tomorrow's adventure in Canyon Viejo. Our pal Negro will be picking us up
at 7 am! We walked toward Langosta and I got out to the point. Such a beautiful
day; the water was so very blue and we saw our first sandpipers including a
little baby one.
Our afternoon Boogie boarding was a bit more challenging
today, although each of us got in at least one good ride; the tide is all the
way in and the waves just weren't breaking much. But we virtually had the place
to ourselves. We had our traditional mojitos (and R tried a Ciprianha) while
waiting for the sunset. Got some good photos before the rain started between us
and the horizon which made for some stunning sky action that we continued to
marvel at from the balcony after we got home.
We had all intentions to walk to El Coconut but it was
closed so we returned to Patagonia and had another delicious meal and great
wine. What a fun place, dogs, cats, babies, burnt out surfer dudes who come by
and kiss all the cute waitresses. And the people at the next table got a call
that their friend was hit by a car. So action packed. The rain was very light this
evening but you never would have guessed by the look of the clouds, thunder and
lightning. But it is nice out.
We are watching Monday night FB in Spanish and on the break
they are doing the ESPN sports update. No problema!
Tuesday September 22
[Observations from our
host-Dave: Here are a couple of snippets of information that you might not have
noticed:
I assume that you have
managed to find every place that you have looked for during your eight days in
Tamarindo. Do you recall seeing or using
any street address to find any place?
You have done just
fine without the benefit of knowing the street address of any place because
Tamarindo does not have any street addresses.
Nor does any other place in Costa Rica, with the exception of the
capitol city of San Jose, a city of more than one million, which has started to
get street addresses only within the last few years.
You may have noticed
that businesses that advertise and give their location as near someplace else
that they assume you would know. Even today in San Jose places identify their
location as being near someplace else.
For example, the San Jose Marriott gives its location as "700
meters west of Bridgestone/Firestone."
There is a tire factory alongside the highway that presumably everyone
knows. Even the city maps of San Jose
identify a location as "Coca Cola" because there used to be a
bottling plant at that location and people still give directions by reference
to that location using the name "Coca Cola" to identify that spot.
Something that you
have likely not is that it is estimated that as many one-fourth of the people
in Costa Rica are undocumented immigrants from Nicaragua. Consider what the
situation would be in the USA if we had an undocumented population that
large. The per capita income in
Nicaragua is a fraction of Costa Rica.
Most construction labor and agricultural labor jobs are held by Nicos
because Ticos do not want those jobs.
I am not able to
perceive who is a Nico and who is a Tico, other than making an assumption when
I see construction or agricultural labor.
Before the recession hit, when there was a fair amount of construction
activity in Tamarindo, you would see the construction workers living in little
make-shift shacks on the construction sites.
Dave your observations are interesting about the lack of
addresses. I found myself doing that when trying to describe a place in
Phoenix-I was saying what was nearby. I just wonder how mail works.
As for the Nico's, the only time I really thought about the
Nicaraguans was when we were close to the border; to be so near to a wonderful
place like CR has to be an enticement much like MX/US.]
Pura Vida! That CR motto describes our day in a nutshell.
Canyon de Viejo
is no place for old men. Nestled in the mountain top above Liberia (you can see
Nicaragua from the first zipline platform) the resort is cleverly arranged
around the natural resources to maximize interaction with them. It would truly
be an escape from civilization to stay there for a couple of days. Staffed by
the finest looking young people, they had us feeling youthful within a matter
of minutes.
After getting our "full combo" wrist bands, we
made fast friends with Hernan, the sinewy Argentine with an enticing accent and
Sergio, who had a minor command of English but a major talent with smiling. As
time would tell, these two would be some of our favorite guides (although no
one can hold a candle to our BFF Negro who was our escort for this trip).
We geared up and immediately made our way to the practice
platform and started zipping right over the most gorgeous canyon, eroded
through the volcanic rock by a pretty hefty river. You definitely wanted to
look down! On about the 4th line Sergio demonstrated the technique of going upside
down, but none of us were quite ready for such an extreme step.
Rhonda shook off her jitters by about the 3rd line and we
zipped through two more before taking a water break where our guys had a snack
for fortification (turns out they would need it for later). Negro filmed us
going over the last 2 lines (see FB). We all started dredging up latent
collective memories of our apish ancestry by the end.
We then took a stroll across the suspension bridge (which
was much scarier than the zip line) to the horse corral where we were handed
off to Tavo and Xavier and our horses. Mine was hand- picked for me and her
name was vieja-not sure why they thought I would go with the old woman, but she
was a kind horse, if a bit annoyed by the flies. (We had coated ourselves in
DEET and were virtually unbugged). Rhonda had never ridden a horse before and
the only "incident" in our 45 minute ride, of course involved her
horse, Chad, who kicked out at Doug's horse for acting like he was going to
pass them up.
We went by a ranch and herded the goats and lambs for a
while, heard some loud birds but never really saw them.
Our last stop dumped us at the river where we rejoined
Hernan and Serg to tube the river. This involved suiting up in life jackets and
jumping on tubes that were too enormous for us to paddle ourselves. So in the
slow water H or S would hook his feet in one of our tubes and that person would
grab the handle on the next tube and the guide would "swim" that trio
to the next rapid.
The rapids were pretty lively, but we had no idea we would
be going over 2 sets of falls-one 7 feet and the second just as big but a bit
longer. They had worked out an interesting system for this which worked
perfectly except we did lose Lulu on one, but she made a quick recovery.
Early in the ride Doug got snagged on a tree branch and I
got jammed between him and the rock, but the guys deftly handled the situation.
It was so gorgeous; the fauna was incredible; in some places
the fern grew right out of the volcanic rock. The butterflies were intensely
blue or yellow. L and I saw a huge brown, furry spider. Toward the end we got a
soft, light, beautiful rain. Doug kept complaining that the rain was ruining
everything because he was getting wet! By now the guys had figured out his
humor, as he kept referring to anything that was slightly challenging as
"El Diablo!" Soon H was doing the same.
Eventually we made our way under the zip lines and to our
destination, the resort. After a short climb we were at the restaurant, where
we enjoyed the most delicious lunch accompanied by starfruit juice. Right after
we sat down (and yes, we were soaking wet from our trip) at our table
overlooking the canyon we had just run over and through, the sky opened up; the
soft beautiful rain became a torrent for a good 15 minutes. We watched in awe
as the river rose higher and higher and realized our timing was blessed.
Now, you may think that was the end....but no! The SPA
awaits.
Fashioned out of a rock area along the banks of the river,
you go through a house where you can get a massage our use the s-a-u-n-a (they
pronounced every letter). Then you make your way to the volcanic hot springs
pools which are fashioned out of the rock. One is hot, one medium and one cold.
But first you go around the corner to the edge of the river and find a jolly
fellow with a paint brush and huge coconut bowl full of hot volcanic mud who
paints you from head to toe. After standing around for about 10 minutes (you
can lounge on one of the concrete chaises facing the river), you rinse off in
showers that come out of the side of the rock. Needless to say, this was the
most soothing end to a very active morning.
We got back about 4 but were too spent to boogie board.
Instead we excitedly anticipated the sunset from our balcony - something we had
not done yet as heretofore we had been at the beach, and enjoyed the flock of
parrots flitting through the Diria canopy which is about eye level from here on
the 4th floor.
It had been a few days since it was not overcast at sunset,
doubling our excitement for potentially seeing the green flash. We made our way
to the 7th floor and met another couple with the same idea.
We ate chicken from Gallo Fino in the condo and spend the
rest of the evening rehashing our morning adventures. We just could not get
over it: "This was one of the best days of my life," observed Luane,
who is a lover of outdoor activities.
Again, we are just so thrilled to be here. A true vacation,
in every sense.
Tomorrow we are going to explore other Pacific beached by
car.
Mucho gusto.
Wednesday September 23
We rented a car for a day to explore the other beaches,
having no idea what was in store.
Aside from the less than helpful road maps (and we use the
word road very, very loosely) we were acting on verbal observations from our
ever helpful guide Negro regarding a great place to eat and from the comedian
waiter Luis about a black beach.
After a visit to the Langosta condo to finish our work of arranging
the decor (we discovered that the AC was on and was not supposed to be which
was immediately reported to RPM and they confirmed that was an error), we
decided the place is a showcase. It looks really, really nice and shows
wonderfully. It should sell immediatmente! R and L were very helpful in
assessing and deciding about certain appointments and we made a complete set of
dishes by cannabilizing some from Diria. We did hang on to one of the boogie
boards so there are 2 in L and 4 in D.
The "road" between here and there is like is
always was; Negro says that it will be paved next year-and that they have been
saying that for 20 years. His observation was confirmed this morning when we
saw the Tamarindo News for Sept-Oct which bore the headline: Road to Langosta to be Paved. We are not
holding our collective breath.
We then set out on our adventure to the South. Luckily we
were on pavement for most of that portion; the first thing we found was the JW
Marriott so we had to investigate and the guard was very forthcoming with a
parking pass. We left CR and entered resort-land which could have been anywhere
in the world. A major golf course, huge homes, a clinic, an equestrian center
all grace the massive but perfectly landscaped JWM holdings. The resort was a
sight to behold as you can imagine and it occupied a spot on a tiny piece of
beach. The one inch blue tiles lining the 3 or 4 acre pool was marred only by
the sight of a whole bunch of old, hefty, balding executives playing water
volleyball while their pleasing plump spouses looked on from adjoining lounge
chairs. It was otherwise so perfect we even saw a small green iguana in the
parking lot as we left. We think he is
on an invisible fishing line and is a resort feature.
Back in the car we struck out to find Lola's on the Playa
Avellana. This involved covering no pavement but thousands of ruts and holes;
the scenery was thick jungle dotted with the occasional organic farm or
vacation cabins. Signage is as effective as the transportation engineering so
we were kind of feeling our way along. After a good half hour we spotted a sign
for Lola's (right after we passed the Mauna Loa resort which had a place called
Loa's causing speculation that perhaps due to the accent we may have
misinterpreted the recommendation). We were relieved.
Lola's even had a parking attendant who directed us to park
on a slab of rock that had a nice drop off that our Toyota Yaris could not have
handled, thus his services were greatly valued as represented by our parting
tip.
As promised Lola's was fab. They had lean-to furniture under
terrific mango trees and a perfect view of a ton of young tow heads learning to
surf. I also found an unusual rock/shell formation. The lunch was heaven-best
Hawaiian poke R and L ever had. Green papaya salad was off the charts and
Negro's fave: fish and chips lived up to the billing. Doug said it was the best
ever but that caused more speculation whether it was situational given the
setting and the fact that he was in a Kim and Luane sandwich with a Rhonda on
the side. Ha! (Sister-wife humor!) Fully satiated esthetically and
dietetically, we set out for Playa Negra, yet further to the South. By this
time the white Yaris is looking decidedly brown as it has been drizzling rain
off and on all day and remained overcast virtually all day (so it was a good
one for car exploration).
We had to stop for
directions but finally found the turn off to Negra only to discover that here
we had to pass through car sized pot holes filled with turbid water prohibiting
visualizing the bottom. We were assured by an Anglo couple walking by, with
whom we had previously exchanged transportation wise cracks that we should
forge ahead. "Everyone does it," exclaimed the hot pink shirt clad
blonde, at which point Doug gunned it over the cacophony of protestations from
his 3 wives who occupied both the back and front seats!. Needless to say, it
was harrowing and we were all in shock and even though there were terrible
sounds emanating from the undercarriage, just as Miss USA had promised, we made
it.
Oddly, when we got out to walk down the footpath to the
beach, it was perfectly paved with the most beautiful bricks. Go figure.
At first step the beach was as blanco as Doug's back before
CR. We then went to the left and sure enough everything turned black and
squishy. It was gorgeous and even more so when we found a 3- story pink house
on the hill just above the beach and a bright orange shell that now resides in
the condo as a designer accent piece.
Withdrawal from the area was a bit less dramatic as the
wives chose to walk out rather than ride; for some odd reason the car hopped
right over the Grand Canyon.
We stopped for directions (once again) to find the quickest
way to pavement and made our way out. Kim was intent on getting to all the
beaches and since it was only 4:30 we made our way to the north of Tamarindo to
catch a glimpse of Playa Flamingo, despite the fact that the bumpy rides were
not that pleasant and Doug was getting a little sick of driving. Even on the
paved roads there are perils, bicycles, and dogs, construction with the warning
signs conveniently located in the middle of the project, more dogs and the
occasional cat.
We got to PF just before sunset. Once again we were on this
incredible white sand beach with a view that would rival a Dali painting (huge
rocks randomly stick up out of the water in the distance and the cloud
formations with the sinking sun behind were low and unusual, complete with a
keyhole). We were almost the only people out there.
The wave was enticing but being concerned about driving we
knew we need to start back. What a long, strange trip it was: tiny, congested
road, drizzling rain, few lights, much traffic, many cyclists with little or no
reflection and a debilitating fog on the OUTSIDE of the windows. We finally
made it to the only gas station in the region and they used their experience to
scrub the windshield with a soapy mop and rinse it off with a hose. We thought
we could release the collective breath we had not been holding since the
beginning of the trip, but it turns out it didn't help. Now car lights from
behind were adding a blinding reflection, more bikes in the road, oncoming
traffic and then, (and I am not making this up) we passed a blind man trying to
cross the road)! That white knuckle ride took longer and resembled a video game
so much more than Doug could have imagined, but he valiantly got us to the
condo on one piece.
Unable to leave the condo, we supped on a luscious home-made
salad and Manzanilla (butter cookies) with Nutella and killed all three bottles
of wine and a six pack of the CR beer Imperial.
Just a nice rainy, day for a drive.
Thursday September 25
One other impediment to Doug's driving that I failed to
mention was his glasses were also fogged up.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday in Phoenix Dave had a meeting with
the former President of Costa Rica and they discussed ______. I had Doug fill in the blank when I read him Dave’s
tale and of course he got the correct answer-the road between Tamarindo and
Langosta. Actually Dave expanded the questions to infrastructure in general in
response to the President’s invitation to invest in Costa Rica. She explained
that it is prioritized for the export industry first and tourism second. So
maybe that report in the news was true?
I would think car owners would be replacing suspension and
tires all the time-that alone should be a basis for fixing the roads. Certainly
the red tape that slows progress has to do with environmental impacts but there
are arguments cutting both ways on that; you would save on making more tires.
Following our harrowing car trip we had a lazy day by the
pool. We then decided to conduct a sea bass ceviche taste test and went to two
beach spots to compare to the ones we had already had. Turns out, the Diria has
the best by far.
We met a Canadian couple who insist they save money by
renting cars and going around on their own and they indicated we should have
turned up the heat in the car to clear the windows. They had gone fishing and
"the wife" (his words, which ticked her off) had reeled in a huge
sailfish which we know because we saw the picture. As we were speaking with
them he was winding up his rod from beach fishing but behind him in the surf a
couple of locals were catching fish in much the same way as the pelicans.
We returned to our boogie boarding. The sunset was
unbelievable and I kept getting smacked in the face by the waves due to the
distraction. Followed up with our mojito habit.
For dinner we finally made it to El Coconut. As promised it
was wonderful and they were running an amazing special so it was inexpensive as
well.
Our waiter is a kid who moved here with his family from
Brussels when he was 12. The owner was every bit as exotic as Dave had
previously depicted: tall, Nordic, slim, dressed to the nines in heels, she was
prancing around as if modeling. We had a nice chat with her after dinner: her
mother and 99 year old grandmother still live in Norway, her dad lives in China
and her brother in Chile but they get together at least annually.
Doug mentioned he had been reading about her and she was
curious to know someone had been writing about her. Doug provided some details
and she said, "Why would someone write about me like that?" Doug,
seeing a set up like never before immediately responded, "Because he is in
love with you!" She observed that all the men are in love with her which
is fine as long as they don't expect reciprocation (she is married and has a
child). She then related a recent incident where one of her regulars came in
with a guest and as they were exchanging pleasantries, the new fellow put his
hand on her ass. She was aghast and of course brushed it away with incredulity.
So now, I am sure she went home and over a drink described
to her husband how some American condo owner writes about her.
Friday September 26
A lovely day at the beach/pool/boogie board spectacular; the
waves were exceptionally high and strong-just ask the teenage surfers who kept
giving us dirty looks for being in the way. One was whistling as he was hot on
Kim's tail right after she had caught a major wave and could not hear him over
the roar. Oh well, those teenagers had to put up with us because we were “standing
our sand”.
The day was punctuated by the achievement of our goal of
each eating a whole fried red snapper at the Diria (Doug opted to stay with his
sea bass ceviche). Luis was his usual silly and highly efficient self and he
gave a demo of squirrel feeding.
At one point he got very serious and turned to Doug: "I
must ask you as many people have been asking me to find out--are you Robin
Williams' family?" We laughed for it had been some time since that
observation had been made. Doug told him our best RW story: When Mel was about
2 we took our only trip to MI for Xmas. We took the kids to see
"Hook" and Blake, our adorable tow headed 4 year old nephew exclaimed
when RW first came on screen "Look! Its Melanie's daddy!"
One other post script about boogie boarding: we are
seriously considering crowd sourcing a film that would be entitled: The Endless
Summer III: Baby Boomer Boogie Board Edition which would feature us making our
way around the world’s beaches boogie boarding the same waves as the Endless
Summer guys surfed. I focus-grouped the idea on a subsequent boat trip and got
a very positive response.
Saturday September 27, the Last Day
Perhaps the rainiest of all days yet. it was thundering and
lightning as early as 5 am. When we took our morning jaunt it was humid as
hell. We then took the Marlin del Rey catamaran adventure out to a cove between
here and Flamingo beach and the pouring rain followed us all the way there, stopping
long enough for us to snorkel, etc. and resuming the pelting all the way back.
On the way out we were treated to the site of a pair of sea turtles mating in
the surf. I discouraged the Germans and Israelis aboard from photos as I was
sure that their countries would frown on turtle porn being imported. Although
it was wet, it was great fun and the scenery was fine even with the downpour as
the boat was full of gorgeous kids from San Jose who had a hard time keeping
their swim trunks draped across their narrow hips. (see FB).
[Meanwhile Phoenix was experiencing one of the fiercest storms
in years; the second this season caused by a Pacific hurricane or cyclone. This
is an unusual weather happening and made for an especially brutal monsoon
season. The cyclones, though, are far north of CR-we never saw a sign of it.]
We are so grateful for this amazing opportunity. I speak for
us all in saying this was probably the most relaxing, gorgeous, exciting and
invigorating trip we have ever taken. We certainly understand why Dave and
Julie loved CR so much they bought not one, but 2 condos. It was a blessing to
enjoy them and we look forward to returning one day now that we have learned
the ropes. I would not hesitate to return in the rainy season.
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