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| Beautifully clear view of Arenal Volcano |
Arenal volcano was stupendous this morning. Somehow during the night,
it forgot to rain and instead, showcased the volcano in full, bathed in
bright hazy sunshine. Not being daft, I hastened to dress and almost
sprinted down to breakfast to make sure that we got one good shot.
Experience has already taught us that if you wait five minutes, the
weather may change. Scowling children pretended to smile, while I
happily snapped pictures anyway. With luck, one might actually look
human.
It was also the last morning of our wonderful
family room. Our maid had left us lovely towel animals and we will miss
her. I am also going to miss the amazing omlettes made fresh by the
chefs...but I ought to do something else or my clothes won't fit. After
breakfast, suitcases were stuffed into the wee car, and off we twisted
for the last time. We headed out around the lake towards Liberia.
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| German Bakery |
Brilliant sunshine left the views crystal clear as the sun sparkled off
the lake. The grass was lush and the egrets posed contentedly with the
cattle as we cruised by. I would have to say that if I was backpacking, I
would definitely include a stay at Toad Hall. Their optimism and
signage made me laugh and for $15 a night, I would check out their "free
advice " and "free beer, some days" along with their trip advisor
award. Since I am not backpacking, we sped by and stopped at the German
Bakery instead. Here, freshly baked sunflower bread was procured, along
with German chocolate muffins, chocolate croissants and snapple iced
tea. This meant we had sandwiches for the road.
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| We had to laugh |
The entire trip was only 238km but it took 6 hours due to incredible slow moving trucks around the lake and construction. Obviously, they take advantage of the dry season to inconvenience tourists just like everywhere else. Lol. Once into the dry side of the mountain, the temperature hit 36 degrees. We didn't stop again though. Along the way, we saw the drive through dessert for mcdonalds, police aircraft and lots of interesting villages.
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| Last view of Arenal |
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| Road side dryness |
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| Insanity traffic in Liberia |
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| Tamarindo El Diria Resort |
Now, we are Tamarindo. On first glance, we are in a surfer town with lots of tourists. The beach is bustling with vendors and locals, while tourists crowd the bars, boats and beach. Once checked in, the kids hit the child friendly pool, while I relaxed in the sun. We are in a simple hotel room so, hopefully, the weather will be nice enough to be outside. I did sneak away to watch the sunset, and then opted to cruise for dinner. I am so tired of sandwiches of the peanut butter variety today. I have made loads from that wonderful bread. After trolling the streets, we ended up at a wee Italian place up from the beachfront. Little Italy made yummy pizza for our cheapest dinner yet, plus next door was Gelato. Wandering the streets on the way back, we stumbled into a former Fort McMurray resident and now have messages to deliver back home. What are the odds of that?
Notes to those traveling with children. Do eat pizza and have ice cream. Do not allow admission to gift shops without a cursory glance. Male anatomically correct body parts for corkscrews...ummm....thankfully my daughter assumed it was a whistle. Also, there is open drug use here as you'd expect in hippyland. Explaining the smells should prove interesting over the next couple of days...it sure is one way to get an education. This is also a much younger crowd here, compared to where we have been. Let the beach fun begin.
