Posted at 4:25 pm by taryngirl, on September 25, 2024
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.
Posted at 4:44 pm by taryngirl, on September 11, 2024
7/3/24
We had a busy day on tap! We were breaking off into sub groups to experience some different things.
First thing this morning, a large part of our crew went on a zipline excursion. My sleep schedule was still not adjusted, so I was up bright and early at 7:00 a.m. I woke up to THIS AMAZING SIGHT!
This is the view standing on our private terrace! Every room at this resort has this view. It’s just breathtaking.
This was the first time since we were here that we had a clear view of the volcano! It was always covered with clouds. And just ten minutes later…
My daughter and I did not go ziplining, so we went to breakfast around 7:45 a.m. We saw this little fella on the way:
ZIP LINING EXCURSION:
This was set up through our hotel. The tour company picked up our group from the lobby.
A map of the course:
A sloth sighting!
My older daughter was able to take some videos for me!
Everyone had a great time!
Back at the hotel, we went to the pool after breakfast. I had a pedicure scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
The spa was located right near our room. It was down a walkway that went into the trees, and you could hear a waterfall close by. After checking in, they walked me down a path to this little hut (there were several different ones). It was open air and meant for just one client at a time.
Right side view:
Left side view:
My technician spoke very little English, but it didn’t really affect the pedicure at all. It was not a standard pedicure station! It was a foot spa with a chair next to it. I was a little bit bummed about this, but it went on to being one of the best treatments I’ve had!
The view from my seat:
Overall, it was a great pedicure! And I was happy with the result.
While I was at my pedicure, some people from our group went to a chocolate and coffee tour. They got to create their own chocolate bar.
And learned all about the coffee process:
It had started raining in the late afternoon, and we spent the the rest of the time in the room napping and getting ready for dinner. We had plans to go to “downtown” La Fortuna via Uber/Taxi, and eat dinner there. However, the rain was relentless! It wasn’t a tiny passing shower.
We decided to gather for some champagne and make a decision about dinner.
It was showing no sign of slowing, so we decided to just eat dinner at the resort. We called, and they came and picked us up and dropped us at the restaurant.
It’s a good thing we did, because there were some mudslides and closed or blocked roads. (This did affect our drive to the new resort the next day!)
One of the great things about this trip is that there was so much to do! Everyone could do what they were interested in.
Our systems were definitely still on east coast time! I think we went to bed the previous night by 9:00 p.m. Costa Rica time, and were up and at breakfast by 7:30 a.m.!
Some beautiful scenery on the way to breakfast:
The breakfast buffet here is complimentary with your stay. I took this video on our last morning there. It is HUGE! And has so many options!
Here are our plates from the first morning:
THE FRUIT! So delicious! And the gallo pinto…I ate this every morning!
The restaurant as I mentioned before, is open air. We had some visitors!
The rest of our group was filtering in to breakfast. We got together and discussed the excursions we were all interested in taking, and then a few of us headed to the lobby area to book them for the rest of our time at this hotel.
Here you can see the lobby is quite small. This desk where the girl is sitting is where we signed up for the tours.
The girl who helped us was AMAZING! Super patient since we were complicated! We miraculously got every excursion we wanted.
They did have a little beverage station that had different flavored water each day.
Once we were all signed up, we headed back to the pool until it was time for the first tour at 2:00 p.m.
The amazing view from the pool:
The kids were starting to get hungry for lunch, so decided to order from Alambique Pizzeria.
Here’s the Hawaiian pizza:
Here’s the kid’s mini pizza:
They use a wood fired oven, and these were great!
Here’s the cheeseburger:
All of the food was really good!
This was our view during lunch:
I never got tired of this view and the quiet of the resort!
The ATV Tour crew departed for their excursion. I was not going on it, so I had my lunch at the pool bar.
Beef quesadilla:
This was really good! It was not ground beef, but chunks of beef.
The tour was booked with ATV Super Quads. Here they are getting ready!
My daughter’s view through this part:
Along the tour, they did see a sloth!
They also had a chance to swim in some hot springs.
My family:
(Almost everyone declared this as their favorite tour at the end of the trip!)
After they came back from the tour, we just hung around the resort a little bit, and then got ready for dinner.
We had private transportation scheduled to pick us up at our rooms at 7:00 p.m. to take us to dinner. We did make reservations ahead of time at Jalapas Restaurant! (You can view the menu at this link.)
It was about a 20-25 minute drive to get there. I had researched restaurants off property that would take reservations. This one came up several times and had great reviews on Trip Advisor as well. The views are amazing, but we missed that part because it was dark during our reservation time!
The first thing I ordered was Coke (in a bottle)!
Appetizer…Fish Chicharrones and Fried Calamari:
Appetizer…Salmon Tartar Patacones:
Chicken Fried Rice:
(This was DELICIOUS!)
Fetticini Alfredo:
Pasta Pomodoro:
Chifrijo:
Grilled Chicken:
I can not say enough amazing things about the staff at this restaurant! Everyone was kind and welcoming. Our waitress (the owner’s daughter) even split our checks for the four families, which as we know is not an easy task! Especially when there is a slight language barrier. We were so happy they accommodated us this way!
While we were waiting for our transportation to pick us back up, we were the last people in the restaurant. The owner came out and had a great talk with us! Everything from Costa Rican culture, the restaurant business, his family, and so much more! He really was the nicest man. He also asked questions about the United States, as he has never been.
Our trip to Costa Rica has been in the planning stages for almost a year! It was a celebration for my daughter and nephew’s high school graduation. All together there were 4 different families traveling.
I heard rave reviews from fellow travel agents in my agency about Memorable Costa Rica. I reached out to Melany there, and she helped me put together the perfect vacation! We knew we wanted to see both the volcano and rainforest areas, as well as the beach. We settled on this itinerary:
June 30-July 4–Hotel Arenal Manoa (near La Fortuna)
July 4-7–Tamarindo Diria (Tamarindo)
This itinerary had us flying into San Jose and flying home from Liberia. The most difficult part of planning and booking this trip was the airfare! The pricing was crazy and we didn’t know when to pull the trigger on buying the tickets! I’m glad we waited a little bit, because the price coming home dropped over $400 per ticket!
We flew from Baltimore, and our flight was at 8:50 a.m. We left our house around 3:00 a.m., so we would be there 3 hours in advance. We parked directly at the airport. There was barely a line to check in, and barely a line for security! The line to check in did grow quickly once we were through.
Our flight was about 4 hours and 45 minutes. It was uneventful, and my family slept for most of it! Upon arrival at the San Jose airport, we headed to customs. We did not have to fill out any forms on the plane. We stood in line for over an hour waiting to clear. We got our luggage and headed outside to find our private transportation.
In our reservation confirmation, they indicated that we should exit the building with our luggage and look for a sign with my name. I should have taken a picture of the craziness just outside of the doors. Tons of “taxi” people trying to get us to go with them. My advice is to not make any eye contact at all and just keep moving! I spotted my name, and made sure the person had Memorable Costa Rica on her shirt, which it did. She gathered the 14 of us together and told us to just keep walking behind her and do not stop to talk to anyone. Multiple people tried to get us to go with them, even when they saw us following her. They were barricaded off for the most part, but leaning over the barricade.
Our bus pulled up, and they loaded our luggage for us through the back side window.
Once onboard, she welcomed us, gave us all a hat, and told us about the snacks and drinks that were available to us. She also had two little Costa Rica informational books for the 2 kids that were with us! This was a nice surprise, as I had no idea what to expect! She exited the bus and left us with our official tour guide, Alfredo.
Besides these snacks, there was a cooler filled with bottled water, beer and soda. It was a pleasant surprise and we were all thankful after a long flight!
The drive from the airport to our resort was about 3 and a half hours. We stopped part way through for a bathroom break and our group wanted to buy some beer to keep in the room. There was also a souvenir store there. It seemed to be a popular spot since there were other tour buses there.
This view was just across the street! Such a beautiful country!
Our tour guide’s name was Alfredo. He stayed with us for the entire drive. Our driver was Jennings or Jenkins?? Alfredo was AMAZING! He told us so many facts and details about Costa Rica, from the vegetation to the food to tours and so much more! He did explain that the first part of the drive was pretty flat and easy, and the second part would be windy and hilly. My family was personally prepared for this because I had read about the crazy roads. We had taken Bonine already.
Alfredo was not kidding! After this stop, we resumed driving and it was super windy, and super hilly…up, down, and fast! Some people started not feeling great and we did have one victim. They did have sick bags on the bus for us, so that should have been our first clue! Ha! Our driver seemed to slow down some after this incident.
We arrived at our hotel around 4:45 p.m. Hotel Arenal Manoa is in a serene and secluded location surrounded by breathtaking views of Arenal Volcano. It has four different types of suites, a hot spring pool and a regular pool. There are three different restaurants as well, one that served complimentary breakfast each day.
Everyone needed to show their passport to check into the hotel. The staff at the front desk was super nice, friendly and informative. They let us know about two happy hours that happened every day. 4-5 p.m. at one location on property, and 5-6 p.m. at another.
She confirmed the rooms with me, noting that two of the rooms had recent high school graduates and one room had a birthday. That would be important later! I only conveyed this information one time to my contact with Memorable Costa Rica, Melany. I took a photo of the map at the front desk. There was a QR code for the wi-fi and the restaurant menus and tours.
Each building pictured, houses two suites, each with their own private patio.
They loaded all of our luggage into a van and transported us to our rooms. That is one thing that I loved about the resort. If you needed a ride anywhere within the resort, you could call and they would send someone.
We arrived to our rooms, and before we even got into our rooms, we saw our first sloth! The drivers ushered us over and they had binoculars with them in the van.
We were staying in a Junior Suite. The suite featured two queen beds, air conditioning, complimentary wi-fi, flat screen tv, safe, mini-fridge, and a private furnished terrace. It was very clean and spacious.
Immediately upon opening the door, we found this little treat for my daughter!
There wasn’t anywhere to put our luggage really, and there wasn’t really any storage. So we put one suitcase on the chair, and other on the small table.
One important note, you can’t flush toilet paper in Costa Rica, in most places! This hotel included. So all toilet paper went into the trash can. Their systems just can’t handle it. I was dreading this, but it actually was fine. They emptied the trash can each day.
The bathroom was huge!
The view from our room was AMAZING! Every room in this resort had a volcano view. Here the volcano is covered with clouds. Later in the week we could finally see the entire thing!
It was my father in law’s birthday during this part of our stay. This was waiting for him in his room!
Such a nice surprise!
The grounds all around the resort were BEAUTIFUL! This was just outside of our room.
The entrance to the spa:
The walk over the bridge to the restaurant:
We were really hungry, so we decided to check out La Saca, one of the sit down restaurants, right on property. I think dinner hours were just starting, because we were the only ones there!
This restaurant is open air, and ala carte off of a menu for lunch and dinner. The scenery is amazing!
Let’s have a quick talk about water…
They will ask if you want still or sparkling water. Still water is bottled water. If you want tap water, you have to ask for tap water. There is a charge for bottled water. After this trip (and several others to various countries), I will say to go with the bottled water if possible! The tap water here in the La Fortuna area was good, but once we got to Tamarindo…not so good! The bottled water is worth it, trust me!
Here is the dinner menu:
My youngest daughter ordered the chicken fingers and fries. She liked this!
My oldest daughter ordered the Tagliatelle with cilantro and basil pesto. She loved this!
I ordered the Rib eye. It was delicious! The chimichurri was reallllllly good, and I loved the vegetables!
My husband ordered the Albardado seaweed tuna. He liked this!
Because the restaurant was open air, it was humid. Just keep that in mind! It also can be slightly buggy. So wear your bug spray, and I travel with a mini handheld fan always, sooooooooo…
We finished dinner, then met up with some of our group. They had gone to happy hour and then to the pizza restaurant on property. The pizza place has all outdoor seating. We got a kick out of the little lizards coming out onto the tv screen to try and find bugs!
We were super tired, so headed back to our room to get a good night’s sleep. Costa Rica is a two hour time difference for us. We also knew we had to get up early and figure out our excursions since we didn’t have anything booked yet!
Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures 