We enjoyed an early morning swim and then Chris had booked massages for us. The two ladies came to the rental and set up their massage tables on the deck in the shade. It was De. Light. Ful.
I could have used a little more pressure to work out the kinks in my neck that traveling with a backpack always bring, but we both had a relaxing morning.
We had to check out at 11:30, so we quickly showered and packed all of our stuff up.
We didn’t have to be at the Andaz Resort until 6 in the evening for the welcome reception.
We had heard that Tamarindo was a cool place to visit and so we set off for there. From our vacation rental, Tamarindo was probably 30 minutes. But following the roads, it took us almost two hours to drive there.
We stopped first at Reina’s Chocolate Tasting Room. If you are ever in Costa Rica, I would not say that it was the worth the stop. We tasted a variety of chocolate, hot cocoa, and bought a few chocolate bars. It was a lot of time spent talking. I’m glad we hadn’t signed up for the chocolate tour which took at least two hours.
We continued on to Tamarindo and found when we arrived that it was packed with lots of tourists. Because of the location of the beach and the wind, the waves make Tamarindo perfect for surfing.
Chris found a small out of the way beach—Playa Langosta—that we drove to. It was not crowded at all but it was also high tide and the waves were crazy. We were just standing at the edge of the water when two big waves came in. Good thing Chris was holding my hand or I would have tumbled over. As it was, the waves pulled my right leg behind me and I could feel a big muscle pull. Yeouch. That hurt.
We watched as two little kids played around in the water as their moms sat nearby hoping to give massages on the beach. I might have taken them up on it if I hadn’t just had one!
After a little time at the beach, we drove back into town and walked through a few of the shops. There wasn’t anything that we needed or wanted, but it was just fun to walk around and check things out.
It was hot. And humid.
We needed to arrive at the Papagayo Peninsula for an evening reception for LogicMonitor with all of the other attendees for Club at 6 pm.
We had a couple of hours of drive time through the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica, back through Liberia and past the airport toward the coast.
The Guanacaste is a tree that grows a fruit that is ear-shaped. Not really edible for humans. Guanacaste translates to ear.
The Guanacaste region is so dry, much more desert-like and hot. The rainy season begins in May and many locals were waiting for the rains to start. The temps in Costa Rica were hotter than normal.
As we neared the Papagayo Peninsula and the resorts, the landscape made a dramatic change from dry to lush and green.
We had to enter the property through the main gate where we were checked to the resident list.
One more gate and we were finally at the resort where we dropped off luggage, the car and then checked in the main outdoor lobby. That is, after I had to search for my passport. It wasn’t in my backpack. Whew, finally found it in my luggage. Needed that for check-in.
Andaz was posh. After check in, we were driven in a golf cart with our luggage to our room in building 7. Very lovely.
I think we were still shedding sand from our foray into Playa Langosta as we took a quick shower before meeting many of Chris’ coworkers.
The group was about 100 people in size, many coworkers and their plus 1’s.
After the reception ended at 8, we enjoyed a quick meal at the tapas restaurant. It was pretty busy with many of his coworkers also needing to eat.
We sat on the patio at the last available table and ordered small dishes from around Central and South America.