Arenal Volcano - A Road Trip

Our friends Gary and Ginette surprised us with a visit here this week! We all have been enjoying the time together and some adventures too. We drove to see the Arenal Volcano-an active one about 4 hrs. away. We were able to see some of Costa Rica's landscape including rainforest areas. The roads approaching the volcano are all twisting and full of potholes. Gary did all the driving and avoided most hazards! There were washed out areas of the road that were treacherous. We had decided to stay at a luxury resort called Tabacon Thermal Springs Resort within view of the volcano. It has the most incredible hot springs set in a lush rainforest environment. It was truly spectacular! The only downside was that this particular night the volcano was not active at all. We made a special nighttime drive way up a mountain on an awful rubble strewn road  to view the lava flow. This turned out to be a total non-event! We enjoyed the view for awhile but no pyrotechnics. I did buy a photo so you can see what it's supposed to look like! Here is a link to Arenal.

Monkeys at Last!

picture taken from a different site

A close up I didn't take!

Finally, when I least expected it, a large troop of monkeys came through the trees at our resort and I was able to watch them. Of course I didn't have the camera with me so I called Tom to hurry and get it!! Here are a few of the photos that I was able to take. They stayed around for a few minutes but then moved on through the trees. There were two mothers with babies clinging to their backs. They all could move very quickly through the trees and from tree to tree. Very cool!! Click on the photo to enlarge them.

A Great Evening with New Friends

We met a couple today who have a condo in Costa Rica and live here 5 months. Their condo is south of here and we will visit them next week. Guess where they live the rest of the time? Cambridge, Ontario! They are friends of our friends, Gary and Ginette. We had a wonderful dinner and then found a spot with coconut cream and banana cream pie for dessert. Yum! We were entertained by a Mariachi Band who perform at many restaurants on the beach. I just threw in a beautiful sunset photo for fun.

Fun at the Beach

We really have enjoyed our time at the beach. Our favourite spot is Playa Langosta Beach Club. Here are just a few photos of our relaxing (lazy?) lifestyle.

Ants on Steroids

Here are those amazing ants that can carry enormous objects (in this case flower blossoms) long distances. If you click on the photo twice you can see it really close up. We see them around our pool and wonder where they are trying to go. They are interesting to watch. We are watching lizards and hummingbirds but they are too fast for me to get close with the camera. I'll keep trying. The howler monkeys still haven't visited our villa as promised.

HUGE Grasshoppers

Tonight when we went out to dinner we saw huge grasshoppers 4-5 inches long! They were everywhere. They would land on you and that really freaked me out! Here are a few photos. The one was on the table in the restaurant where we had just had dinner. the other was on the road. Not my favourite wildlife! But at least they would stay still while I took their pictures.

Sunset at our Favourite Spot

I'd like to say we are doing exciting new things everyday but we are not! We are into a very nice routine at the moment and have made no real effort to change. We have explored various excursion options and will make some decisions tomorrow! Or is that "manana"? Here are just a few pictures of one of our favourtite spots called Playa Langosta Beach Club. For the price of a drink or two you are able to spend several hours at a lovely spot on the beach and enjoy the surf and the sunset. We will keep returning to this spot and will have dinner there soon.

Walking on the Beach

These photos were taken by my Blackberry. You can see how low the tide is in the morning! The second one is just an example of some of the interesting things you see on the beach!

Swimming in the Ocean

Tom swimming on a calmer day

Today we both swam in the warm ocean. At first the waves did look daunting, but once we were in all was good. There was very little undertow. I took a few photos of the beach on my Blackberry and now have to figure out how to get them on the blog! I did post them on Facebook. We have tried to take photos of beautiful butterflies, hummingbirds, lizards and monkeys but none of the photos are good enough to post-some day we will find some more cooperative wildlife who are willing to pose.

We met our hosts today. They have very generously offered us their car and driver to do errands while they are away this week. That will come in handy to do some grocery shopping. The market within walking distance is very limited but the other one across town is supposed to be good. I'll let you know. I'm surprised that there isn't a fruit and vegetable market on a street corner near by. Maybe I haven't found it or the season is all wrong. The restaurants are filled with great fruits and vegetables and salad. When I asked where did they get them they said from San Jose (a four hour drive away). We will also be checking out excursions and will let you know our plans!

Tamarindo Sunset

We spent the afternoon on the beach and were able to catch the sunset! We watched the surfers during the afternoon and then walked down to a great spot we had passed a few days ago and waited for the sunset. It didn't disappoint-my photos do not do it justice. It was surprisingly reminiscent of our own summer sunsets at Blue Mountain!

We also had a glimpse or two at a mother monkey and her baby climbing in a tree near us. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good photo. Maybe next time!

Our Villa

Our villa is quite nice. Spacious and comfortable. We don't even go up to the loft. I love the modern design and glass walls and especially enjoy our lanai. The caretakers are terrific and Annabel cleans everyday. I could get used to this! We met the owner today and he will help us plan our stay. The worst storm in many years has passed and now we are enjoying fabulous weather. The owner, Jean Marc, assures us that we will see the howler monkeys right here by our pool. He says it is much harder to see the sloths. I'll keep my eyes open! It takes a long time to upload photos so I won't be doing it too often. I doubt that I can add the links that I had on my last blog but I'll give it a try. Here is a link for The Breeze, our terrific Villa.

Our Villa's Pool

Here we are with our two level pool all to ourselves.

Saturday

November 6, 2010



Today was a beautiful day. We kept expecting rain but it never came. We have the place to ourselves since three couples with kids just left. Yes it's much quieter! We headed off to town for breakfast and found a small cafe where the food was good. There are so many restaurants from which to choose. I don't think we will run out! We wandered around the town and the beach and ended up back home in time for lunch. We spent the rest of the day swimming, reading, sunning. We planned to go back to the beach for sunset and managed to be a little late. Tonight we will get better pics I hope. We had dinner at a beachside restaurant-all very pleasant and fun. Our hosts come back today so we will find out about the different activities we want to do.

Saturday Night at the Beach

Tamarindo Beach

Too late for sunset!

Downtown Tamarindo

Coming into the downtown area. Note the terrible roads! Lots of construction going on.

Tom enjoying breakfast at a small cafe. We love eating outside!

Tom walking down the street.

I'm enjoying being outside. The Pacific is just at the end of the walkway.

Here is a link for Tamarindo

Our First Full Day

November 5, 2010

The gates to the road

Our Villa #5

We woke up early-about 6 AM. It was light out (not like home). We felt well rested and eager to start our day. We had breakfast outside on our lanai. I had made some Costa Rican coffee and it was very good. We headed out to explore the beach and took a long walk while the tide was out going south around a point. There the Pacific was rough and we realized we are lucky to be near such a sheltered part of the coastline. Many boats are moored off our beach because it is so sheltered. It was a cloudy morning but very comfortable temperature with a nice breeze. My only complaint is dogs! Too many! The only good thing is that they are not very interested in us. No poop and scoop laws here though. We were ready for lunch then and again we had a simple lunch at our villa. We went for a swim in our pool. and were just feeling like lounging around and reading when it started to rain -a warm and constant rain that continued for the rest of the afternoon. That is why I have started the blog - I have lots of time on my hands. It's supposed to be rainy for a few more days. Still looking for monkeys and sloths but only hummingbirds so far.

Arriving in Costa Rica

November 4, 2010





Leaving home at 1:15 AM in the morning was not as difficult as I had imagined. I guess we were excited and anxious to start our adventure. There is NO traffic between Blue Mountain and Toronto at that time of night. We were therefore way too early for our 6:15 flight. All went well and we were off the ground heading for Miami! Upon arrival we knew that we would have to hustle to catch our flight to Liberia, Costa Rica. Tom flagged down an employee driving a golf cart and he gladly drove us to the farthest gate just in time to board. We never would have made it if we had continued to walk. Miami is a huge airport.





We landed in Liberia at 11:07-right on schedule. That was Costa Rican time-2 hours earlier than home. We arrived at our villa, The Breeze, at about 12:30 and began to explore at about 1:30. We found the beach nearest our villa and decided to have a late lunch at a simple cafe right on the beach called El Pescador. Our host Omar made fast friends with Tom and we enjoyed a simple meal with wine and beer. We said "adios" to Omar after meeting and chatting with some folks from Chicago and headed toward the downtown of Tamarindo.





I would like to tell you that it is a quaint, colonial town but it is not. The streets are dirt roads with rubble strewn along the sides. However, the people are friendly and helpful. We walked around for awhile and found the Super Compar (supermarket) and bought a few groceries. By this time we had spent $75 for airport shuttle, $33 for lunch and $50 for groceries. We thought we knew how to calculate the cost in CR money but so far everything costs more than we thought!





Our Villa is nice-quite modern, spacious and fairly new. The caretakers, Annabelle and Jose, are very nice and helpful. They don't speak English and our Spanish is virtually non existent. Getting our WiFi working was a challenge. That should be the first lesson taught in any Spanish course. Then Jose had to try to fix our hot water (we didn't have any). He reset the breakers and the hot water tank blew up! He has since installed a new one. We collapsed in bed after a spaghetti and tomato sauce dinner and slept very well in a very comfortable bed. Our first day in Costa Rica finished.

Tamarindo Beach from the Air