We were up at 6:15, packed, dressed, put our luggage out at 7 before going down to breakfast. We loaded on to the bus and headed out at 8 for the long drive to Los Suenos Marriott at Playa Herradura. The sun did come out but we ascended and descended into clouds before we got halfway there. There were fields of produce and an area where ornamental plants are grown for export. Most fences use trees for fence posts. They are pruned periodically and make for an interesting sight. We went through lots of small towns with many schools and sodas (what they call the small neighborhood restaurants).San Ramon was a larger town with a lovely church and an interesting school called Escuela Jorge Washington with a carving of the quarter likeness of George Washington over the entrance. We made a quick pit stop there at a very large souvenir shop with an amazing garden on the hillside behind the shop.
Then we headed toward the ocean. It was a much drier landscape with lots of beautiful produce stands. We stopped at noon for lunch at Restaurante Nambi in the town of Tarcoles - another tourist restaurant with a buffet. As we arrived they were having a 2 girls/1 guy dancing show. I thought it was rather a feeble attempt at "Las Vegas". The buffet had pasta salad, green salad, rice and beans, arroz con pollo (chicken and rice), plantains, small boiled potatoes, baked fish, and some sort of strips of beef cooked in a sauce. The neat thing was the tamarind juice which most people disliked, but I really enjoyed.
At 1 we boarded 3 tractor drawn carts for a 20 minute ride to a boarding area for a ride on the Tarcoles River. We saw some neat lizards, especially the Jesus Christ lizard. Most of the birds we saw were common to Florida - spoonbill, various herons, egrets, jacana, osprey, snowy egret, and the magnificent frigatebird soaring overhead. The river is full of crocs, and we did see one that was really 16' long and came quite close to the boat. Grackles are considered a pest bird, and we saw plenty of them. I really liked the black necked stilt and the spotted sandpiper. We meandered down a mangrove creek where I saw some neat looking crabs. Then we headed back to the landing.
We drove a half hour to Los Suenos Marriott arriving at 4. It is a huge property on the edge of the Gulf of Nicoya and the Pacific. Check in took a while, but we got to our room. It is very humid and hovering between warm and uncomfortable. Bill and I walked the grounds and sat under a large tree out by the large beach. There was lots of hotel security at the boundary of the hotel and the beach.
Dinner was at 7:30 and was really quite nice. It was outside on a covered terrace and was a served dinner. We started with a caprese salad. This one was a huge tomato sliced thinly with the cheese in between each slice, so it looked amazing. Then it was cut into quarters from the top down with a sprig of basil on top. I had ordered blackened sea bass (which really wasn't blackened). It came with some delicious polenta, cooked spinach, and mashed potatoes. For dessert we had a passion fruit cheesecake which I didn't love. We made it back to the room at 9pm. I wrote in the journal and hit the bed.
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