Costa Rica: Tamarindo

Tamarindo was scorching hot again today. This is a place where people come annually. We met several folk today that make coming here their vacation every year. I can see why. The lounge chairs are plentiful, and the surfing is great. The beach is full of colorful shells and the sand rivals Rathtrevor Beach for sculpting and sandcastle art. Drawing in the sand is a local habit here. You can tours, or do what we did, sit happily by pools and beaches pretending to do nothing.

Now, I don't do "nothing" well. In fact an hour in the sun and I get twitchy, wanting to do something. Having barely made it to breakfast before they closed, I sat on my opinions and left the kids in the pool for a lengthy stretch, only hauling them out when I saw shades of pink on the shoulders. We had a sketchy lunch in the room and then, I pounced.

Thanks to some "expert" tourists, I opted to walk along towards the river. Despite the complaints, I stuck to my guns and found boats at the river, willing to take passengers. We bargained and got seats on the boat for $60 for our group of four. At the resort, a tour would have been $35 per person. We had a shady canopy, and up the mangroves we chugged. It was lovely. The operator stopped for photos as we asked, and found us a group of howler monkeys. It was a great way to spend two hours in the heat of the afternoon. We walked back along the beach and then plunked down by the beach pool.

Dinner was at Witches Rock. If you want hamburgers that are thick and juicy, this is the place. They had a large campfire, and jugglers came by top form. This place is on the beach and is accessible from both sides. Amusingly, a dog came a begging. Even funnier was the demand for ice cream by two hopeful faces...of course we caved.

Now, I am listening to the Friday night crowd and dance music blasting from the clubs. Not having a barely there dress in my repertoire, it is likely better that I  dance on my balcony. Friday night in Tamarindo, I don't ink you can beat this...sorry Mexico, I have a new favorite place...on this side of the Atlantic anyway.

Popular outing

Howler Monkey

Tamarindo on Dwellable

Costa Rica: El Diria Hotel and Tamarindo Beach

If you are looking for brilliantly hot sunshine, tempered with a breeze and things to do, this is the place. In the morning, the El Diria Hotel provides guests with a complimentary breakfast. We were told it would be continental style. The feast before us included waffles made to order, cereal, omlettes made fresh just the way I like it, a huge spread of pastries, bread and fruit. This is not continental but it is delicious.

After breakfast, we got a prime beach front location. Being on the beach, everyone is going to try and sell you something. From whistles and pottery, to your lounge chairs in the sand, to surf lessons...everything is for sale. You can have a massage on the beach, or play in the sand. Eventually, I was tired of being pestered so I withdrew to the pool and parrot watched instead. They seem to have green parrots here. The kids are being fish in the pool so, a close eye has to be kept on sunscreen. Pure vida as the saying goes.

Lunch today consisted of more homemade sandwiches with the yummy bread. I think that is something we are really missing back home, the access to a good bakery. I tend to go overboard when I find one as I never get it otherwise. Sunflower seed bread...omg.

This afternoon, we drifted back to the clover shaped family pool. It has stools in the water for me as the tiles are blisteringly hot on the feet. There is a swim up bar for those that want it, but I was happy with my water, it's even too hot to drink here at 37 degrees. There are trees for shade and bridges with water spraying out. The pool is also much deeper than the beach side pools so the kids can actually swim. Swim they did, for over four hours, which likely saved them for a terrible burn as they instinctively swam in the shade. Even my sun loving self chose shade over the mid day sun as I was afraid of the burn.

Showered and changed, we opted for a sunset walk along the beach. The sunset was fabulous, and the monkeys nowhere to be seen. The sandflies so were enthusiastic and the pelicans were having a feast. I have to note that you will smell happy smoke wafting across the beach in sections the closer you get to the public side of the beach access points.

Tamarindo is young at hippie/surfer heart. The people here understand the love of surfing and have hostels aplenty. I actually feel odd that we are not hosteling it here.  The locals are on the beach as much as the tourists. There was even a pottery class.  There are a few touristy shops, and lots of tour options to choose from, but in the end, this place is about the waves.


For food, after the walk, we chose wok and box, or something like that for food. It was amazingly tasty and reasonably priced. Of course, we had to stroll back to the gelato shop to sample more of his flavors. Since we now know that he makes it all himself, I want to try cinnamon and baileys mixed together. I had hazelnut and coconut tonight and that is happiness in an ice cream cone.

Sleepy, I am ready for bed. Hopefully, tomorrow is cooler. But only a bit....

Tamarindo on Dwellable

Costa Rica: Arenal to Tamarindo

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.

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.

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.

Last view of Arenal

Road side dryness

Insanity traffic in Liberia

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.

Guanacaste on Dwellable

Costa Rica: Relaxation and Driving to Arenal

While Costa Rica has a lot of wonderful things to do, sometimes it is equally good to take a day to do nothing. Well, to be honest, it wasn't nothing but it was incredible. On Saturday, we opted to spend time with some very special people who invited us out to the countryside on the outskirts of Santa Rita. This was very near where the bird watching tour was, so it was hot, sunny and dry. After the soaking we had experienced, we welcomed the change.

This was a day of  barbecuing, good conversation and good wine. It was camping with the luxury of a pool, bathrooms and outdoor kitchen. The children were in the water, hanging from the zip line and generally relaxing.  I was thrilled to see a green parrot flying in the trees. We had a wonderful hospitable day, and we were sorry to have to go back and pack.

Now, hard shell suitcases are the new in thing, so I had acquired a new set for Christmas. These suitcases are not forgiving if you like to buy souvenirs. It took me two hours to try and fit everything back in. So far, the handle has broken off, the zipper protested and generally,I miss my old suitcase. For the record, my next suitcase will be a backpack, soft sided.

In the morning, it was time to check out of The Villas Palmas. Our three bedroom apartment was wonderful, but I have to say, I don't miss the ants that paraded everywhere. It was very safe and very secure, being in a neighborhood that felt homey, even after dark.

Now this looked like a promising way to travel

Living on the hillside

The views are incredible

Behind trucks, driving is slow and steady

Bridges only fit one car, and this is a highway

Arenal in the distance

On departure, we drove through the exceptionally twisty roads to Arenal Volcano. We took the advice of the consulate seriously and didn't stop as theft is a real issue here. The drive goes up river valleys, around mountains and through gorgeous villages. However, do take a motion sickness tablet if you even think it might be a problem. My youngest had us guessing a few times. As you drive, the forest becomes green and lush. We  had a picnic lunch in the car, which was good as the drive took four hours.

Our destination was Arenal lodge. It is past the dam and up a very adventurous rutted track. The views from here were incredible. Today was a day where the volcano was bathed in sunlight. The weather was warm we opted to splash in the chilled pool water and soak in the jacuzzi that feasts the eyes on an exceptional landscape. There are amazing birds flitted in the garden and horses in the lower pastures. We took tons of photos as we were warned that the weather here is very unpredictable.

Everything seems to be for sale

This is how tricky the entrance is to Arenal Lodge...they let you know you made it. Ummmm

The road

The master bedroom

The kids room

The volcano was clearly visible...we were so lucky

Me of course!

For supper, we ate at the  restaurant on site.  The food was delicious. I will say that there is no children's menu, so choose the chicken or beef. The meat needs to be well done to get medium rare, my medium tenderloin was almost breathing. But the ambience here is peaceful and soothing. Our family room has two bedrooms and a living room, very large. and gorgeous. The rain pounded on the roof throughout the night, which just added to the rainforest vibe.

Tomorrow,  we are back  to exploring.

Nuevo Arenal on Dwellable