Our First Full Day in Tamarindo!

To pick up where I left off this morning, after Bryan and I were swimsuited and sunscreened up, we went outside and found ourselves a couple of beach chairs that were positioned in a patch of shady sun, thanks to the beautiful palm trees.  We laid out, reading of course, and enjoying the beautiful view and the sea breeze.  The beach right in front (behind?) our hotel is actually fairly rocky.  We'll have to walk a little bit to the left or the right if we really want to swim.  Of course, if we just want to get wet, we can follow the kids' examples and go sit in the tidal pools lol.  We stayed there about an hour, alternately watching the ocean and the people and dogs (there are so many dogs!  and they're ALL trained off lead! it's amazing!) and reading out books.  I love that we both enjoy reading the way we do :-D.

At about 9:30ish we started looking for breakfast and ended up at Buon Apetito--an Italian-esque cafe next door to La Palapa (well, to the parking area anyway).  I had a bowel of fruit--mango, banana and pineapple--with yogurt and granola, and a batido (shake) of water, pineapple and strawberries.  Bryan had a jellied croissant and a bowel of fruit, along with a batido of water, pineapple, strawberry and mango.  Breakfast was about $14--prices here seem to be on par with home, which is probably due to Tamarindo being such a touristy surf village--there's a Subway, a Pizza Hut, and a TCBY to boot!

After breakfast, we went back to our chairs and read a while longer, until Hunter and Amber came back from their beach walk, which included breakfast at El Pescado Restarante.  We discussed the tours we were interested in, and they went to book theirs while Bryan and I went back to our room to look at our budget and make our final activity decisions.  We had already decided to take surf lessons with Cherri's novio (boyfriend)--he's giving us a discounted price of $35 a person (normally it's $40-$45).  That's at 9am tomorrow.  We looked that the catalog of activities from the tour booking place right next door--Destination Adventure Tours--made our decisions, and went and booked!  We're going on a horseback ride-snorkeling-mangrove tour on Monday for $75 a person.  Hunter and Amber will be going as well--that's from 8am until about 2:30pm.  Then Hunter will go to his resort certification dive class at 3:30pm ($50), so that he and Bryan can go on the Catalina Island Dive on Tuesday ($100 per person, as long as both have some type of certification, all gear included!).  Wednesday, we're all going on a full day tour ($125 a person) to the Rincon de la Vieja volcano--there will be canyon adventures and jungle adventures, hot springs and the volcano itself, of course.  Then Thursday we fly out--I'll be sad to go, I think.  Of course, I'm always sad to leave new places we've traveled abroad to see.  I am glad that, even with everything scheduled, we'll still have plenty of beach time!

This afternoon, Hunter and Amber went to see the neighboring beaches of Conchal and Langosta, and Bryan and I kicked back and--you guessed it!--read.  We also walked down the beach quite a ways--almost all the way to the estuary.  I'm definitely going to have to go seashell hunting at some point--there are the spiral shells that are everywhere, and very pretty stripy shells too!  After our walk, we reapplied sunscreen (I am NOT getting burned and miserable this trip!) and went swimming/body surfing a bit down the beach to the right of our hotel.  Bryan's glasses were actually knocked off within two minutes of being in the water.  We were both pretty upset, though Bryan was definitely mad.  We stayed in the water for a bit longer, figuring since we just got in, we might as well.  After about five minutes and several more waves, Bryan was dragging his feet along the sandy bottom when he felt something odd.  Reaching down, he grabbed the object and brought it to the surface.  It was--his glasses!  We were both happily shocked and very relieved.  Needless to say, the glasses immediately went on our beach towel for the duration of our swim!

After our water time, we returned to La Palapa.  I used the outdoor shower under the tree house to rinse off and then Bryan and I passed the time reading in the sun until Hunter and Amber returned.  Once they got back, the three of them went to the dive shop to get the boys fitted for equipment and fill out paperwork for Tuesday's dive. I took a wonderful hot shower in our beautifully tiled bathroom and brushed out my hair.  Bryan came back and showered.  Apparently Hunter and Amber were showering at the same time he was, and, since our showers share a wall, they got all the hot water while Bryan got all the water pressure.  As Hunter pointed out, better split those two up than have a cold water shower with no pressure as well!

I put on my awesome brown sundress and got ready to go to dinner.  Once Bryan was ready, we went outside to wait for Hunter and Amber and to enjoy the beautiful sunset.  We all went to the restaraunt next door and enjoyed a delicious dinner, though I much preferred La Palapa's ceviche to the "Mexican" nachos.  Amber and I had glasses of red wine while the boys had beers.  Bryan and I had spaghetti with mariscos (shellfish/seafood), Amber an Italian sandwich, and Hunter some kind of pasta with shrimp.  We then came back to La Palapa for the end of happy hour--Amber had two wonderful daiquiris and I stuck with wine.  So far, I especialy enjoy the La Palapa restaraunt and bar--particularly the 15% discount we get for being guests!  lol).  Now Bryan and I are turning in to get enough sleep for our surf lesson tomorrow!

That said, Bryan has had a headache, sore throat and a cough.  I'm hoping I didn't pass on my bronchitis to him, and that its just some sort of allergy/sinus thing, but I am a bit worried.  I'm trying not to worry, or hover, but I'm going to keep a close eye on his symptoms.  There's a farmacia (pharmacy) across the street if I need to go get him some medicine.  Other than that though, things are idyllic.  I'm loving speaking Spanish OUTSIDE of the classroom context regularly again--and I'm loving having people speak Spanish to me!  I've gotten one or two compliments on my Spanish, which always boosts my confidence.

Particularly, I've enjoyed talking with Cherii, even though she and (it seems) the majority of everyone else we've spoken with are very concerned with my being "very white" (as one of the tour booking guys put it lol).  They keep reminding me to wear bloqueador (sunscreen)!  At least my mom would be happy.  Really though, I don't mind it at all--it's touching that strangers care about whether or not I get sunburned  That's just one example of how friendly and nice eveyone here seems to be.  On that note, to bed!  I must have enough energy to make a fool out of myself with a surfboard tomorrow!!!

Upon Arrival

We arived yesterday at about 1:15PM.  The flight was fairly comgortable, with a nice cereal/fruit/muffin breakfast and the movie "My One and Only" about George Hamilton.  It was actually a very interesting movie, tracing the life of George Hamilton during the summer after his mother left his father, at the end of which he landed his first movie role.  There was a bit of turbulance, but nothing too horrible.  Amber was up in row 12 and though we started in row 21, we switched seats with a mother and son so that they could sit with the father.  They had the middle and aisle seats four rows back, so it worked out all around.  We even got off earlier at the airport due to the rear stairwell.

Bryan slept and listened to his MP3 player most of the flight and I listened to the airplane radio, watched the movie, and worked on the crossword in the Continental magazine.  I also focused on disregarding the 50ish year old lady in the adjacent row who insisted on dressing worse than many 15 year olds I know, and sharing her very USA-centric persepective about lodging conditions in Costa Rica.

The airport in Liberia was open-air with these amazing large metal fans.  Customs went swiftly (I got my first stamp in my new passport!) and we all reclaimed our baggage without a problem.  We left the airport via a corridor of human walls, all with taxi signs, tram signs or rental car signs.  A nice airport employee helped us find the AVIS representative and, after a brief wait in the shade of some pretty flowering trees and bushes, we boarded the correct shuttle.  Our car rental went smoothly as Bryan had reserved the car beforehand.  I waited outside with our luggage, conversing with two college students from Denton, while Amber and Bryan were inside.  Once all the paperwork was signed, we inspected the car, loaded the luggage, and headed off to Tamarindo!

The drive took longer than expected--about an hour and a half as opposed to the expected 45 minutes to an hour.  Part of that was due to a construction delay, and part of it was due to Bryan driving rather slowly so that we could observe the passing scenery.  Listening to several Spanish music stations, and the rare English one or two, we cruised in airconditioned comfort.  We saw many small homes, ranging from well-kept to run down, that were painted in colors ranging from earth tones to bright primary colors.  Interpersed among these smaller dwelling were some very nice and large (by American standards) abodes.  The foliage was beautful--huge trees, some mango, other that we could not identify.  I especially loved the trees that grew up and then spread out into a natural flat-top cabana-style shelter.  The flowers were blooming everywhere--and this is the dry season!  The splashes of color were eye-catching and exciting.  We also passed many pastures with horses and cattle, though many of these were pretty skinny.

When we arrived in Tamarindo, we began looking for La Palapa.  It was initially hard to locate, as teh sign was moderate in size and bracketted in between other buildings.  The highway dead-ended into a turn-around loop, which we used to turn around after passing the hotel lol.  Once we were in front of La Palapa, I jumped out to inquire about parking.  After one failed attempt, we found the correct wooden gate.  I again exited the vehicle, lifted the latch, and opened the gate.  After Bryan drove in, I resecured the gate, we unloaded the car, and Amber and I took the lead as we entered the hotel.

The lobby is open-air and open, taking full advantage of the fairly constant sea breeze.  We checked in at the front desk, and were then shown to Amber and Hunter's first room.  I say first, because in short order Amber discovered the AC was broken.  By this time, Bryan and I were getting settled in Room 6--our wonderful loft room!  (We both LOVE it!)  There was a knock on the door--Amber had been change to Room 5, right nest door!  (Unfortunately that AC was also having problems, but they fixed it first thing this morning...now it runs perfectly!)

Once we had all gotten settled and changed--Amber into her swimsuit and Bryan and I into shorts and T-shirts--Amber went to explore the beach and Bryan and I went to explore the town.  We walked down to Super Las Olas, a small supermercado, and bought sunscreen and two bottles of water.  Most places here accept dollars--we have yet to find one that doesn't actually.  Upon our return to La Palapa, Cherri (the girl who checked us in--she also likes schifi/fantasy books and we seem to have hit it off.  She speaks Spanish and English equally well, and speaks Spanish to me and English to Bryan, Amber and Hunter) asked that we move our car out of the reserved spot we had unknowingly parked in.  Of course, when we moved the car, we saw the "RESERVADO" sign...silly us.

After that was taken care of, Bryan and I laid claim to two beach chairs in the shade of the palms and spent the rest of the time until the beautiful sunset reading out books.  Amber continued to swim.  At sundown we took some more pictures (more, because we took several at the Liberia airport) and then grabbed a beach table at the hotel restaraunt for dinner and happy hour!  I had the La Palapa Pasta (pasta with lobster and shrimp in a wonderful sauce) and a buy 1, get 1 happy hour pina colada, which was the best pina colada I've ever had!  Bryan had the seafood past and the local Pilsner (also B1G1) and Amber had something with shrimp and the B1G1 pina colada as well--she agreed that it was the best pina colada ever, even though neither one of us could finish our second.  All the sugar AND alcohol made our stomaches turn a bit lol.

After dinner, Amber stayed up to wait for Hunter, who took a later flight and didn't get to the hotel until about 11PM.  Bryan and I went to bed early, after unpacking and getting settled.  Bryan had a bit of a chill, so we started the night with the AC off.  Then at 3AM we both got overly hot and turned it back on!  We slept for almost 11 hours total, waking up at 8:30AM.  The view from our loft bed straight through the top windows is incredible--palm fronds framing the deep blue of the ocean with the amazing sunrise coloring the sky.  I'll update late today--for now, we're going to hit the beach!

And We're Off! (Finally!!!)

After several months of planning, and several more months of waiting, Amber, Bryan and I have started our journey to Tamarindo, Costa Rica!  Having finished booking our flights and our hotel (La Palapa) back in October, we are more than ready to embark on our vacation.  Amber confirmed both of our room reservations this past week (though they had somehow lost Hunter's and her reservation--luckily they still had an open room!) and Bryan reserved a car via Avis last night. 

Yesterday Amber and I got pedicures with bright, happy clors and ran various errands.  I have all of my necessary precriptions (I double-checked this time!), and we spent last night cleaning house (Amber accuumed--she's so sweet!) and Bryan and I finished packing.  We manganed to fit all our things into one big bag that weighed in at 46.5 pounds--hooray for one free bag check under 50 pounds per person on international flights!  We loaded the luggage--and the dogs--into the Santa Fe and headed to Mom and Dad's in spring and bedded down for the night.

Annabelle demanded a towel for Haley's and her kennel at about midnight, so I got out of bed and found one.  Haley stole that one from Annabelle, so I had to get up at 1:30 AM to get ANOTHER towel for Annabelle--spoiled dogs, but we love them!
***Funny aside:  Mom and Dad didn't get home until around 1 am.  They were in Georgetwon, TX to watch Austin participate in a 3-student panel session with the fromer head of the CDC whose plan for vaccinations eradicated smallpox (go little brother!).  Mom forgot to tell Dad that Amber would be sleeping in Austin's room, and he burst in with Penny's dog crate, turned on the light, and asked "Why are you sleeping in here?!?"  He thought I was sleeping in Austin's bed.  Amber said, "Hi, I'm Amber," and needless to say Daddy was very sheepish and felt bad for waking her up lol!***

This morning Bryan and I woke up at 5:15 AM.  Bryan got a shower (we girls did the whole bathing thing last night) and we packed everything back up.  We fed teh girls and let them (and Penny and Missy at this point lol) outside.  Dad got up around 6 AM and we loaded up to head to the airport by 6:15AM.  Traffic was light (249 to Beltway 8 to Bush) and Dad dropped us off by 6:45 AM (yay Daddy!).  We were sent to the first class check in--no line!--and security was a breeze.  I'm glad Bryan was alert--it shows how long its been since I've flown that I tried to go to the wrong security line!  I also forgot to take my cell phone out of my pocket, but we'll just pretend to forget about that.  We grabbed breakfast at the same diner Bryan and I ate at before our honeymoon flight to Aruba and walked around the airport Borders for a bit.  I was pleasantly surprised by their selection, but figured since I was already bringing 8 books with me, I could do without another.  Unfortunately, we did forget to buy gum. 

Now, we're waiting at out gate!  Documents have been verified and we're about to board!  (Flight 645 Continental IAH-->Liberia)  Costa Rica here we come!

~Kristen