Monday, 11 April 2011
Thursday, 18 March 2010
The most stressful morning of our lives?!
So yesterday there had been a couple of times when it had been a bit stiff getting the car into 3rd gear, but I hadn't paid much attention to it as the car was still driving okay.
This morning we got up at 6:15am to be packed and at the hotel for 7:00am (we had been put up in the owners' guest house overnight as the main hotel was full). We started the day off badly by checking emails and discovering that replacing the combi-boiler that broke the day before we set of for Costa Rica will most likely cost £3-£3.5k. Ouch! Plus the soonest it can be done is next Wednesday and we had arranged to host six guests over the weekend. Double ouch! A bad start to the day in anyone's books, but wait, it gets worse.
The sun was shining, so we were at least positive we'd have good view of the volcano crater once we got up there. We left our luggage at the hotel to keep it secure with the aim if collecting it on the way back en route to the airport. Then we headed up the road to try and find te road to Poas.
We'd barely got outside Alajuela when it started. All of a sudden I started really struggling to change gears. This got gradually worse as we climbed higher ad higher until it got to the point where I literally had to try desperately to get into 3rd gear and use only that gear for the rest of the climb uphill to the volcano. We were praying that we wouldn't have to stop at all, as 1st gear wasn't really happening at all. Great.
Of course we were worried about getting to the crater, but the real worry was whether or not we'd be able to make it back.
Anyway, we successfully got to the crater and it was definitely worth the effort. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and we had a perfect view down into the crater with its steaming centre. We took the obligatory photos and then decided to do the 30 minute walk through the cloud forest to see the lake before heading back to see if the car was going to get us back. This was at 9:30am, our flight was at 1:20pm.
I had to try a range of things to get the Terios out of reverse and into 1st gear (there was a big crunching sound), and 2nd gear wasn't much better. Then I prayed it would go into 3rd as we left the park and started our descent. Result! I managed. We followed a tourist minibus for a while, which was great until they stopped in a town. I had to stop and then it was back to trying 1st gear. Not happening. Hazard lights on. Pull over. Engine off, try again. Yes! Now 2nd gear? Nope. Dammit!
This was basically how our journey went for 40km. Praying I would be able to change gears, staying in as high gear as possible for as long as possible, cursing every time we had to stop the car. We were both starting to worry that we might not ever get back to Alajuela, but I thought that with a bit of luck we could get to the hotel at least.
No such luck. The clutch went just outside Alajuela. No gears, no driving, no phone. Nightmare scenario.
By this time Amber was freaking out (with good reason, it was now 10:30am), so I knew I'd better do something productive. I went and found a pay phone to call the car rental company. It wouldn't take cash. Typical. What to do now? I saw a pharmacy and figured they must speak decent English. The question was whether or not they'd want to help us. I tried my luck out of desperation an by some miracle one of the girls spoke perfect English and called Mapache for me! Finally things were looking up! The Mapache guy said he'd have an engineer with us in 30 minutes and we'd be able to pick up the bags and get to the airport on time. Fantastic.
After an hour (that's right, one hour!) we were threatening to ditch the car and get a taxi to pick our bags up. Ten minutes later the rescue team arrived, by which time we were both pretty strung out with all the stress and angry that we'd lost so much time when we really needed to be at the airport hours ago (originally we were going to drop the car off at 10:00am).
To their credit Mapache dropped the mechanic with the car and the driver took us straight to get our bags and then on to the Mapache office to fill out a statement (which we managed in just 2 minutes) before dropping us at the airport. We checked and I'm not being charged for the clutch (clearly not my fault).
You'd think that once we got to the airport things would suddenly become easy. You'd be wrong. We got through security and got a (seriously overpriced) bite to eat and were on the cusp of boarding the bus to take us to the plane when it happened.
Moisturisergate.
They were checking our bags one last time. One woman made a half-hearted attempt to search my bag and totally missed the bottle of aftersun and tub of face cream I'd forgotten were still in there, loose. Amber had put her liquids into a transparent bag in the top of her hand luggage like a good girl and guess what: the stupid woman checking her bag decided that she would have to confiscate all the bag's contents. Why? Because the bag wasn't a Zip-Lock bag. I kid you not.
As I'm sure you can imagine, Amber was by this stage in no mood to be messed around! So, we had a comedy stand off. There was no way we were leaving £50 worth of hand creams, homeopathic remedies and aromatherapeutic oils after the morning we'd had and the security lady was determined not to let these tourists get away with using any old transparent bag to hold their liquids.
In the mean time the bus left with all the other passengers...
Eventually the woman realised Amber wasn't going to give in and they informed us that I had 2 minutes to run and buy a couple of Zip-Lock bags in the duty free shop. Why the silly cow didn't tell us that in the first place I have no idea! I couldn't believe it. And then, even after I'd got the bags, the horrible woman still kept Amber's toothpaste!
That was the final straw for Amber and she ended up in floods of tears on the bus. Full scale meltdown. I'm amazed she managed to hold it in until that point to be honest, poor thing. I'd challenge anyone to go through what we did and not feel like crying afterwards. I have to say, I did feel a little sorry for the air stewards as we boarded the plane. They were looking rather concerned that Amber was in such a state and I'm sure they assumed we'd had a huge fight (I got some dirty looks). Little did they know.
To cap it all, we ended up on a plane where you had to pay $6 to watch the inflight entertainment! Incredible.
Amazingly, although I still can't quite believe it, everything was pretty much plain sailing from then on. We had a smooth flight to Newark; an easy time with passport control; and with transferring our baggage onto the connecting flight. The flight back was actually pretty fun. We got seats right by the door to the plane; we had great conversation with a guy sitting in our row whose company makes the headphone sockets on Brutish Airways planes (he also runs the Isle of White pro ice hockey team!); and the cabin crew were hilarious. They were having a great time and it made the journey so much more enjoyable.
Even so, it was a huge relief to touch down in Heathrow and know we'd made it. What an epic finale to such a wonderful holiday!
I can't wait to go back.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
This morning we got up at 6:15am to be packed and at the hotel for 7:00am (we had been put up in the owners' guest house overnight as the main hotel was full). We started the day off badly by checking emails and discovering that replacing the combi-boiler that broke the day before we set of for Costa Rica will most likely cost £3-£3.5k. Ouch! Plus the soonest it can be done is next Wednesday and we had arranged to host six guests over the weekend. Double ouch! A bad start to the day in anyone's books, but wait, it gets worse.
The sun was shining, so we were at least positive we'd have good view of the volcano crater once we got up there. We left our luggage at the hotel to keep it secure with the aim if collecting it on the way back en route to the airport. Then we headed up the road to try and find te road to Poas.
We'd barely got outside Alajuela when it started. All of a sudden I started really struggling to change gears. This got gradually worse as we climbed higher ad higher until it got to the point where I literally had to try desperately to get into 3rd gear and use only that gear for the rest of the climb uphill to the volcano. We were praying that we wouldn't have to stop at all, as 1st gear wasn't really happening at all. Great.
Of course we were worried about getting to the crater, but the real worry was whether or not we'd be able to make it back.
Anyway, we successfully got to the crater and it was definitely worth the effort. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and we had a perfect view down into the crater with its steaming centre. We took the obligatory photos and then decided to do the 30 minute walk through the cloud forest to see the lake before heading back to see if the car was going to get us back. This was at 9:30am, our flight was at 1:20pm.
I had to try a range of things to get the Terios out of reverse and into 1st gear (there was a big crunching sound), and 2nd gear wasn't much better. Then I prayed it would go into 3rd as we left the park and started our descent. Result! I managed. We followed a tourist minibus for a while, which was great until they stopped in a town. I had to stop and then it was back to trying 1st gear. Not happening. Hazard lights on. Pull over. Engine off, try again. Yes! Now 2nd gear? Nope. Dammit!
This was basically how our journey went for 40km. Praying I would be able to change gears, staying in as high gear as possible for as long as possible, cursing every time we had to stop the car. We were both starting to worry that we might not ever get back to Alajuela, but I thought that with a bit of luck we could get to the hotel at least.
No such luck. The clutch went just outside Alajuela. No gears, no driving, no phone. Nightmare scenario.
By this time Amber was freaking out (with good reason, it was now 10:30am), so I knew I'd better do something productive. I went and found a pay phone to call the car rental company. It wouldn't take cash. Typical. What to do now? I saw a pharmacy and figured they must speak decent English. The question was whether or not they'd want to help us. I tried my luck out of desperation an by some miracle one of the girls spoke perfect English and called Mapache for me! Finally things were looking up! The Mapache guy said he'd have an engineer with us in 30 minutes and we'd be able to pick up the bags and get to the airport on time. Fantastic.
After an hour (that's right, one hour!) we were threatening to ditch the car and get a taxi to pick our bags up. Ten minutes later the rescue team arrived, by which time we were both pretty strung out with all the stress and angry that we'd lost so much time when we really needed to be at the airport hours ago (originally we were going to drop the car off at 10:00am).
To their credit Mapache dropped the mechanic with the car and the driver took us straight to get our bags and then on to the Mapache office to fill out a statement (which we managed in just 2 minutes) before dropping us at the airport. We checked and I'm not being charged for the clutch (clearly not my fault).
You'd think that once we got to the airport things would suddenly become easy. You'd be wrong. We got through security and got a (seriously overpriced) bite to eat and were on the cusp of boarding the bus to take us to the plane when it happened.
Moisturisergate.
They were checking our bags one last time. One woman made a half-hearted attempt to search my bag and totally missed the bottle of aftersun and tub of face cream I'd forgotten were still in there, loose. Amber had put her liquids into a transparent bag in the top of her hand luggage like a good girl and guess what: the stupid woman checking her bag decided that she would have to confiscate all the bag's contents. Why? Because the bag wasn't a Zip-Lock bag. I kid you not.
As I'm sure you can imagine, Amber was by this stage in no mood to be messed around! So, we had a comedy stand off. There was no way we were leaving £50 worth of hand creams, homeopathic remedies and aromatherapeutic oils after the morning we'd had and the security lady was determined not to let these tourists get away with using any old transparent bag to hold their liquids.
In the mean time the bus left with all the other passengers...
Eventually the woman realised Amber wasn't going to give in and they informed us that I had 2 minutes to run and buy a couple of Zip-Lock bags in the duty free shop. Why the silly cow didn't tell us that in the first place I have no idea! I couldn't believe it. And then, even after I'd got the bags, the horrible woman still kept Amber's toothpaste!
That was the final straw for Amber and she ended up in floods of tears on the bus. Full scale meltdown. I'm amazed she managed to hold it in until that point to be honest, poor thing. I'd challenge anyone to go through what we did and not feel like crying afterwards. I have to say, I did feel a little sorry for the air stewards as we boarded the plane. They were looking rather concerned that Amber was in such a state and I'm sure they assumed we'd had a huge fight (I got some dirty looks). Little did they know.
To cap it all, we ended up on a plane where you had to pay $6 to watch the inflight entertainment! Incredible.
Amazingly, although I still can't quite believe it, everything was pretty much plain sailing from then on. We had a smooth flight to Newark; an easy time with passport control; and with transferring our baggage onto the connecting flight. The flight back was actually pretty fun. We got seats right by the door to the plane; we had great conversation with a guy sitting in our row whose company makes the headphone sockets on Brutish Airways planes (he also runs the Isle of White pro ice hockey team!); and the cabin crew were hilarious. They were having a great time and it made the journey so much more enjoyable.
Even so, it was a huge relief to touch down in Heathrow and know we'd made it. What an epic finale to such a wonderful holiday!
I can't wait to go back.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Samara to Alajuela
I'm writing this on board the plane home from Newark to London, so you'll have to forgive me if I miss any details, I'm exhausted! Can't seem to get to sleep, so thought I'd better do the last couple of days.
Yesterday morning we got our final fix of Samara (beach, pool and sunbathing) until checkout time, which was 11:00am.
The girl on reception reckoned you could get to Alajuela in about 3 hours, so we set off in high hopes of having a smooth journey and being able to do or see something interesting en route. I had my heart set on 'World of Snakes'. No prizes for guessing what they have there!
Sadly it was not to be. We must have had the worst luck ever because we kept getting stuck behind trucks that didn't have enough power to go uphill at any speed, which was a) very frustrating and b) added loads of time to our journey.
This plus the fact we'd left Samara so late meant that we were nearing all te potential interesting places just as they were closing at 4:00pm. As a result we were both in a pretty rubbish mood.
To make matters worse we had no idea which junction to take to get off highway 1 to get to Alajuela. We also had no real idea how to get to Hotel Coconut House, as both our maps were for the wrong part of Alajuela!
In the end we took a random exit, got pretty lost and stopped at a petrol station to get fuel and ask directions. Thankfully the attendant managed to direct us to places we recognised from walking around at the start of our trip and we were able to use various landmarks to find the hotel. We were so relieved to finally get there as we were both pretty sick of the inside of the car.
Really the only good thing about the journey was that we stopped for lunch at the cryptically named Restaurante El Toro #3 and were served fantasic casados by a very large Costa Rican lady. It was at the side of the road and save for a couple of truckers we were their sole clients. The food was great though and the little black dog was very friendly. I did feel a little sorry for the chckens running around the place oblivious to the fact the they might soon end up on a plate.
We almost had an accident when I saw a sign for a dinosaur park. I was trying to read it to work out what on earth it might be and momentarily took my eyes off the road. Amber had been looking at the map, so it was really lucky she noticed the van in front braking in time for me to properu test the brakes on the Terios.
Cars are definitely more dangerous than scorpions.
That night we went in search of Costa Rica's famous Cafe Britt coffee to bring back to the UK. Both small supermarkets we tried didn't have it so we ended up driving to Maxi Bodega who did. From there we drove into Alajuela for dinner.
I finally braved cow tongue in tomato
sauce, which I'd seen on several menus I'm various restaurants this trip. It was really tasty once you stopped thinking about the fact you're tonguing a cow.
After dinner we took a stroll and sat in the park in front of the cathedral to reflect on our uneventful day. If we'd known the timing would be all off we'd eiter have srated at Samara longer or left earlier to be at one of the places of interest before it closed. Bad planning, but hey, it happens. We resolved that in the morning we would try to go to see Volcan Poas before driving to the airport to make up for it and end the trip on a high note.
Little did we know...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Yesterday morning we got our final fix of Samara (beach, pool and sunbathing) until checkout time, which was 11:00am.
The girl on reception reckoned you could get to Alajuela in about 3 hours, so we set off in high hopes of having a smooth journey and being able to do or see something interesting en route. I had my heart set on 'World of Snakes'. No prizes for guessing what they have there!
Sadly it was not to be. We must have had the worst luck ever because we kept getting stuck behind trucks that didn't have enough power to go uphill at any speed, which was a) very frustrating and b) added loads of time to our journey.
This plus the fact we'd left Samara so late meant that we were nearing all te potential interesting places just as they were closing at 4:00pm. As a result we were both in a pretty rubbish mood.
To make matters worse we had no idea which junction to take to get off highway 1 to get to Alajuela. We also had no real idea how to get to Hotel Coconut House, as both our maps were for the wrong part of Alajuela!
In the end we took a random exit, got pretty lost and stopped at a petrol station to get fuel and ask directions. Thankfully the attendant managed to direct us to places we recognised from walking around at the start of our trip and we were able to use various landmarks to find the hotel. We were so relieved to finally get there as we were both pretty sick of the inside of the car.
Really the only good thing about the journey was that we stopped for lunch at the cryptically named Restaurante El Toro #3 and were served fantasic casados by a very large Costa Rican lady. It was at the side of the road and save for a couple of truckers we were their sole clients. The food was great though and the little black dog was very friendly. I did feel a little sorry for the chckens running around the place oblivious to the fact the they might soon end up on a plate.
We almost had an accident when I saw a sign for a dinosaur park. I was trying to read it to work out what on earth it might be and momentarily took my eyes off the road. Amber had been looking at the map, so it was really lucky she noticed the van in front braking in time for me to properu test the brakes on the Terios.
Cars are definitely more dangerous than scorpions.
That night we went in search of Costa Rica's famous Cafe Britt coffee to bring back to the UK. Both small supermarkets we tried didn't have it so we ended up driving to Maxi Bodega who did. From there we drove into Alajuela for dinner.
I finally braved cow tongue in tomato
sauce, which I'd seen on several menus I'm various restaurants this trip. It was really tasty once you stopped thinking about the fact you're tonguing a cow.
After dinner we took a stroll and sat in the park in front of the cathedral to reflect on our uneventful day. If we'd known the timing would be all off we'd eiter have srated at Samara longer or left earlier to be at one of the places of interest before it closed. Bad planning, but hey, it happens. We resolved that in the morning we would try to go to see Volcan Poas before driving to the airport to make up for it and end the trip on a high note.
Little did we know...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Nosara to spectacular Samara
I am writing this entry with a heavy heart. Today we make the journey back to Alajuela, from where we will be flying tomorrow afternoon. Right in front of my feet is the black metal fence marking the boundary of the Samara Treehouse Inn, through which I can see the fine sand of the beach (literally - the thin bars of the fence are all that separates my sun lounger from arguably the most beautiful beach in Costa Rica) a row of coconut palms, the expanse of the beach (it's low tide) and the surf. I don't believe in a heaven, but if I did I would hope that it looked something like this.
The day before yesterday we left Lagarta Lodge, with it's monkeys and scorpions, and drove to Nosara village to have an ice-cream at Robyn's (yummy!) before driving the 50 minutes of dusty, bumpy road to Samara. Compared to some of the drives we've had to do this was a breeze and we arrived at the Samara Tree House Inn at 12:30pm. It wasn't easy to find though! They need a big sign out front because we drove straight past it and had to ask directions in the end.
This place is fantastic. We have our very own treehouse! There's a bedroom with double bed, a bathroom with funky blue tiles, a kitchenette and a sitting area that looks straight out onto the beach. Plus two TVs and WiFi throughout. Under the treehouse are two hammocks, two sunloungers, a sink, a BBQ and a table and chairs where you are served breakfast every morning. Not bad at all!
The only weakness is that the staff could be a lot more friendly. After receiving such amazing service in all our other hotels, it's a shame that they make you feel like they're doing you a favour.
We had lunch at Sheriff Rustic - awesome cheap casados - and then walk down the entire beach in search of Villas Kunterbunt, where we had stayed before. We didn't manage to locate it, but it's definitely still here somewhere. The beach is long, so we were pretty exhausted when we got back. I tried to do some body boarding but the surf here is worlds apart from the surf in Playa Grande.
We had dinner at the best Italian in town: El Dorado. Fantastic pizzas.
Yesterday we had more of a plan. At 7am we hired a two-man kayak and paddled to Isla Chora, an offshore island that I foolishly swam to last time we were here. It's half an hour by kayak. When we got there it was just us, the hermit crabs, the frigate birds, a few iguanas and the odd pelican. All very romantic until I noticed that the large group of vultures were tucking into the remains of a baby dolphin a few metres from our landing spot!
The hermit crabs were so busy! It was like watching a busy city from the sky as they zoomed around the beach.
After about an hour we returned to the treehouse and went to take some photos along the beach. Then we drove past Plata Carillo to an amazing secluded beach with turquoise water and impressive spray from the huge waves. It's a natural swimming pool at low tide, but I think we saw it at it's best.
After we got back I bought some fresh ceviche from a guy at the side of the road. It was so fresh. Lunch was a pretty basic affair and afterwards we did some emailing, had a glass of wine, hung out (literally) in the hammocks and got ready for dinner.
The Lonely Planet recommends Casa Esmeralda and for good reason. We are very well and I finally got to eat a whole grilled fish.
Everything was as it should be until Amber was on her way into the bathroom to brush her teeth and let out a blood curdling scream.
Massive...cockroach...in...bathroom.
Damn. I hate cockroaches. Why? Because they move so flippin' fast.
Cue me scrambling around on my hands and knees in the tiny sweltering bathroom trying to catch the bugger so I can throw him out the window. Not fun. Not fun at all. I got him in the end though and we could both sleep untroubled by the fear of waking up with giant bugs crawling all over us.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
The day before yesterday we left Lagarta Lodge, with it's monkeys and scorpions, and drove to Nosara village to have an ice-cream at Robyn's (yummy!) before driving the 50 minutes of dusty, bumpy road to Samara. Compared to some of the drives we've had to do this was a breeze and we arrived at the Samara Tree House Inn at 12:30pm. It wasn't easy to find though! They need a big sign out front because we drove straight past it and had to ask directions in the end.
This place is fantastic. We have our very own treehouse! There's a bedroom with double bed, a bathroom with funky blue tiles, a kitchenette and a sitting area that looks straight out onto the beach. Plus two TVs and WiFi throughout. Under the treehouse are two hammocks, two sunloungers, a sink, a BBQ and a table and chairs where you are served breakfast every morning. Not bad at all!
The only weakness is that the staff could be a lot more friendly. After receiving such amazing service in all our other hotels, it's a shame that they make you feel like they're doing you a favour.
We had lunch at Sheriff Rustic - awesome cheap casados - and then walk down the entire beach in search of Villas Kunterbunt, where we had stayed before. We didn't manage to locate it, but it's definitely still here somewhere. The beach is long, so we were pretty exhausted when we got back. I tried to do some body boarding but the surf here is worlds apart from the surf in Playa Grande.
We had dinner at the best Italian in town: El Dorado. Fantastic pizzas.
Yesterday we had more of a plan. At 7am we hired a two-man kayak and paddled to Isla Chora, an offshore island that I foolishly swam to last time we were here. It's half an hour by kayak. When we got there it was just us, the hermit crabs, the frigate birds, a few iguanas and the odd pelican. All very romantic until I noticed that the large group of vultures were tucking into the remains of a baby dolphin a few metres from our landing spot!
The hermit crabs were so busy! It was like watching a busy city from the sky as they zoomed around the beach.
After about an hour we returned to the treehouse and went to take some photos along the beach. Then we drove past Plata Carillo to an amazing secluded beach with turquoise water and impressive spray from the huge waves. It's a natural swimming pool at low tide, but I think we saw it at it's best.
After we got back I bought some fresh ceviche from a guy at the side of the road. It was so fresh. Lunch was a pretty basic affair and afterwards we did some emailing, had a glass of wine, hung out (literally) in the hammocks and got ready for dinner.
The Lonely Planet recommends Casa Esmeralda and for good reason. We are very well and I finally got to eat a whole grilled fish.
Everything was as it should be until Amber was on her way into the bathroom to brush her teeth and let out a blood curdling scream.
Massive...cockroach...in...bathroom.
Damn. I hate cockroaches. Why? Because they move so flippin' fast.
Cue me scrambling around on my hands and knees in the tiny sweltering bathroom trying to catch the bugger so I can throw him out the window. Not fun. Not fun at all. I got him in the end though and we could both sleep untroubled by the fear of waking up with giant bugs crawling all over us.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, 14 March 2010
"Martin, I think there's a scorpion in the shower, but it could be a crab..."
Last night, just before bed, Amber found a 3" black scorpion next to the tiled shower area. Last time something like this happened was in Guatemala, when a tarantula climbed out of the plughole and I had to carry it through the hotel to the front door and across the road to let it go. This time I wasn't prepared to pick it up, but it did encourage it into the box for my aftershave and take it out of the hotel to get rid of it.
I had a great exchange with the night guard:
Me: (tapping the box) Hay un escorpion.
Guard: Un escorpion?
Me: Si.
Guard: A dentro? (In the box?)
Me: Si.
Guard: Muerto? (Dead?)
Me: No.
Guard: Vivo?
Me: Si!
Guard: Ah...
At which pointed he agreed that I should probably take it far away from the hotel and get rid of it!
Don't worry, we have photos.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I had a great exchange with the night guard:
Me: (tapping the box) Hay un escorpion.
Guard: Un escorpion?
Me: Si.
Guard: A dentro? (In the box?)
Me: Si.
Guard: Muerto? (Dead?)
Me: No.
Guard: Vivo?
Me: Si!
Guard: Ah...
At which pointed he agreed that I should probably take it far away from the hotel and get rid of it!
Don't worry, we have photos.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Rancho Tico, un almuerzo muy rico!
So we set off in Terry the wonder jeep to find Nosara village and an ATM. I took out a bunch of colones (rather worryingly the machine told me I have insufficient funds to take more than I did, but that's just not true).
We decided to follow up a recommendation from some Americans we met yesterday, who made us feel very jealous with stories of visiting Madagascar and the Galapagos, and also India where they saw wild tigers. Almost makes you want to be rich and retired. Almost. Anyway, they recommended we try the food at Rancho Tico. So that's what we did, and it was really good. Two cokes and two plates of casado: un con pollo y un con chuleta. Delicious! Plus the guy serving us was great at his job and made us feel very welcome.
The restaurant is basically a wooden dance hall with a very tall roof and heavily varnished wooden furniture. Despite the heat of the day it was really nice inside this cavernous space enjoying good local food. Amber even spotted a few small bats hanging down from the roof.
After lunch we decided to head back to the hotel and do Internet stuff before heading down to the beach to watch the pelicans fishing.
I had a horrific lizard related accident. I was running barefoot from the room to the pool and an anole ran right out in front of me just as I put my right foot down. He scampered under a bush afterwards, so I thought I'd just stunned him (he was still breathing), but when I came back the ants were swarming all over his dead body. Not good.
For some reason I thought it would be quicker to drive to the river mouth to watch the pelicans, so a 5 minute walk took us 10 minutes in the car! Common sense 1, Martin 0. Amber found it suitably funny.
The pelicans are great fun. Such big clumsy birds, but their aerial acrobatics when they plunge themselves into the surf are really fantasic. It like they transform into streamlined torpedoes, just for a second they make even the terns (who were also fishing) look inelegent. We must have used a quarter of my camera's memory card trying to get perfect photos of them diving.
We had cocktails on the terrace whilst watching the sunset and then had a fantastic meal at our own outdoors, cadlelit table. All very romantic and the best steak I've ever had.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
We decided to follow up a recommendation from some Americans we met yesterday, who made us feel very jealous with stories of visiting Madagascar and the Galapagos, and also India where they saw wild tigers. Almost makes you want to be rich and retired. Almost. Anyway, they recommended we try the food at Rancho Tico. So that's what we did, and it was really good. Two cokes and two plates of casado: un con pollo y un con chuleta. Delicious! Plus the guy serving us was great at his job and made us feel very welcome.
The restaurant is basically a wooden dance hall with a very tall roof and heavily varnished wooden furniture. Despite the heat of the day it was really nice inside this cavernous space enjoying good local food. Amber even spotted a few small bats hanging down from the roof.
After lunch we decided to head back to the hotel and do Internet stuff before heading down to the beach to watch the pelicans fishing.
I had a horrific lizard related accident. I was running barefoot from the room to the pool and an anole ran right out in front of me just as I put my right foot down. He scampered under a bush afterwards, so I thought I'd just stunned him (he was still breathing), but when I came back the ants were swarming all over his dead body. Not good.
For some reason I thought it would be quicker to drive to the river mouth to watch the pelicans, so a 5 minute walk took us 10 minutes in the car! Common sense 1, Martin 0. Amber found it suitably funny.
The pelicans are great fun. Such big clumsy birds, but their aerial acrobatics when they plunge themselves into the surf are really fantasic. It like they transform into streamlined torpedoes, just for a second they make even the terns (who were also fishing) look inelegent. We must have used a quarter of my camera's memory card trying to get perfect photos of them diving.
We had cocktails on the terrace whilst watching the sunset and then had a fantastic meal at our own outdoors, cadlelit table. All very romantic and the best steak I've ever had.
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Lazy days
After breakfast and blogging we headed back to the room. There are two large dead trees that obscure our view. There was a huge iguana sunbathing on a branch of the left hand tree. He made for some great photos. The right hand tree is home to a pair of parakeets who must be nesting in a hole in the trunk.
The howler monkeys were in the tree over our room. Again I got some great shots. The photo album from this trip is going to be monkey-tastic!
While Amber had a snooze on the sunlounger, I took a half hour stroll up the hill. It's interesting that here too there are a lot of houses being built and sold. According to Lonely Planet it's mostly North Americans moving down here to retire and enjoy 'sophisticated jungle living', but I have my money on a Swiss takeover. The lodge down the road is called Casa Suiza...
Didn't see much on my walk: Some woodpeckers, a hummingbird or two, a big iguana (we played hide and seek) and a Sceloporus lizard, who refused to be photographed.
Next up is a dip in the pool and then we have to venture out to find an ATM and some lunch. I'm keen to hit the beach for a bit and then later on watch the brown pelicans dive for fish in the river mouth.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
The howler monkeys were in the tree over our room. Again I got some great shots. The photo album from this trip is going to be monkey-tastic!
While Amber had a snooze on the sunlounger, I took a half hour stroll up the hill. It's interesting that here too there are a lot of houses being built and sold. According to Lonely Planet it's mostly North Americans moving down here to retire and enjoy 'sophisticated jungle living', but I have my money on a Swiss takeover. The lodge down the road is called Casa Suiza...
Didn't see much on my walk: Some woodpeckers, a hummingbird or two, a big iguana (we played hide and seek) and a Sceloporus lizard, who refused to be photographed.
Next up is a dip in the pool and then we have to venture out to find an ATM and some lunch. I'm keen to hit the beach for a bit and then later on watch the brown pelicans dive for fish in the river mouth.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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