Unstashing and Down The Dirt Road

 Ring ring ring ..... is that your fire alarm going off??   No because I still don't have one.  For the second time, they did not show up.  I called and got the we were called to a fire excuse.  Hmmm, isn't that the Fire Department's job?  

So .... no fire alarm for me.  I cancelled the whole deal until next year.  That left me time to eat all the leftovers in the fridge, including a big chunk of that lemon pound cake which gave me a terrible stomach ache.  

I unstashed everything I had stashed in cupboards and drawers and did the last load of laundry.  With nothing else going on, we are off to Costa Rica again.

Dinner was a nice salad since nothing else on the table was really recognizable, plus they wanted to charge us something like $15.00 each.  All our meals were included in the price we said, so they let us eat at the salad bar.  Woohoo!!  

Patty and I then wandered off throughout the hotel area, finding and breaking in to the greenhouse.  I'm pretty sure that was a no-no, but Patty is a plant person extraordinaire and wanted a look see.

We were warned not to go outside after dark, as the San Jose area isn't exactly safe.  Every single building had bars on the windows, so we decided they were right.  

We did have a large tour bus for our touring pleasure, but it left the day before with barely half our people to the coast at Tamarindo.  We got to go in the sardine can.  As you can see, traffic was light.

 The coastline was spectacular as we arrived at our hotel very late in the afternoon.  We had stepped up in the world of accommodations. 

Dinner on the patio was very nice, although I don't remember what we had.  Most every meal while there came with rice and black beans.  There are lots of ex-pats living here, including a couple we met that had opened a flower shop.  Everything is very laid back, including hair, clothes and amenities.

We were promised a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries since we completely missed the afternoon tour.  Alas, while everyone else got theirs, our room had none.  I asked the Desk person about that and they said too bad.  I think in the end we finally did get a couple of strawberries in some kind of messy chocolate. 

The sunset was pretty spectacular that evening.  With no visible bars on the windows, we were able to enjoy the ocean at night.

 The best part was the next morning when I headed to the shower.  They forgot to mention these rooms did NOT have hot water.  I don't think there was hot water in the entire hotel.  My star rating went from 3 down to 1.   

At last the entire group is altogether with our tour guide as we loaded on to a very nice HUGE bus they told us was brand new for this trip.  It really was comfortable, especially since we were finally out of the tin can.  

We stopped at a little roadside rest stop where the trees were full of macaws.  There was a small bakery where we were able to purchase goodies if you weren't allergic to bees.  The honey bees were swarming everywhere.  I was a happy camper here as I used to raise these guys.  Yes they really can take your finger off in a flash. 

 

We were off to our next destination.  To be honest, I had absolutely no idea where we were or where we were going.  There were no maps available and of course my phone didn't work.  If I had any idea just how close we were to  Nicaragua, I might have been a little uneasy.

 Now however, I'm heading to the couch for a little nap.  The band next door played until late in the night and I'm exhausted after getting little to no sleep.  I'll see you tomorrow!!