7/4/24
Today was the day we were moving from the La Fortuna volcano area to Tamarindo Beach. The night before there were torrential rains that caused mudslides and closed some roads. We weren’t sure how that would impact our drive! Originally we knew the drive would take about 4 and a half hours.
We were up very early for breakfast. Our transportation was coming around 9 a.m. to get us. We had one last meal at the amazing buffet!
Quick video of the buffet offerings:
After breakfast, we called to be picked up from our room and taken to the lobby with our luggage. I had a quick talk with our driver and let him know that there were some who were prone to car sickness, and to keep that in mind when driving. We ended up going a different, less windy road because of the mudslide.
Here are some views from our almost 6 hour drive to Tamarindo!
This was a school:
I forget specifics on this tree, but it was a landmark for sure. Many people were stopped here to see it, and there were a few vendors set up right next to it.
This was Rio Celeste area.
Around 3:15 p.m., we made it to our hotel! (It was raining!) The Tamarindo Diria Beach Resort. This resort is located in the heart of Tamarindo, on Playa Tamarindo Beach. It’s walking distance to many restaurants, bars, and shops. Our stay here included breakfast.
This was the private shuttle we had. It was like a whirlwind when we pulled up. A completely different vibe from La Fortuna! We were in the “city” now. Several bellmen with carts immediately surrounded us before we were even off of the shuttle! I went directly to the front desk to check in with everyone’s passports. We were all booked in Sunset Ocean View rooms.
Immediately upon opening the door to the room, there was a musty smell. I wasn’t sure if that was because no one had been in the room in awhile? (The smell did not go away during our stay.)
The room featured two queen beds, and was spacious enough for the four of us.
The view from our balcony:
There was some storage, but we didn’t unpack anything from our suitcases.
(I think the sink is where the musty smell was coming from…)
Overall, we were happy with the room. The location was good, the view was great, and it was clean. It was definitely not quiet like our resort in La Fortuna!
You can see the chairs on the grass that were part of the resort. The beach however was public, and the resort did not have beach chairs there. There were several vendors walking up and down the beach (relentlessly) trying to sell us things. Drinks, hats, sunglasses, shirts, whistles, you name it, they were trying to sell it! Even if you said no one time, they would ask again on their next round down the beach.
One of the resort pools:
(That area closest to the bottom was not a pool! It was fountain water.)
The front desk:
Notice it was open air! Not indoors.
We were starving. Since it was raining, we just decided to try lunch at our resort. This was the same location that would serve our included breakfast. (It was very empty now, but that was not the same during breakfast! It was jam packed with every table taken.)
The pricing was in USD.
We went with the chicken nachos.
They were very good!
Fries:
Also good.
And my youngest got a cheese pizza:
We were pleased with everything we ordered.
This was our view during lunch/dinner:
We checked out the beach when the rain stopped.
For dinner, we decided to just get ice cream at a little shop right outside of the resort!
It was delicious.
The resort looked so pretty at night too!
We were exhausted from the long travel day, so decided to go to bed early.
Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures 