Pacific Coast - Tarcoles


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Published: July 27th 2012
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A Mummy went a Mowing

Just as the day was breaking – large amounts of snoring was heard by Eleanor – which she likened to the sound of a large lawn mower... need I say more?

Paid for the Holiday Inn in San Jose and then the car was delivered by a nice guy from National Rent a Car. Decided to take the GPS as the app on the iPad was rubbish. Nice car big 4x4 Toyota Prado – which easily took all our luggage and passengers. Not as nice as the Tank though J

GPS directed out of San Jose – via a few back streets and then on a 60km road to almost our destination. Stopped off for some shoppingin a place called Ortina – at a biggish supermarket and then looked over the Tarcoles bridge at the crocodiles. They looked hungry and were surprisingly big!

As the house was not ready until after 2 we went past the house and to the nearby beach. Found a great little bar and had lunch overlooking the beach.

Drove back to the house and it was still being cleaned so we went for a walk on
Not the PoolNot the PoolNot the Pool

Tarcoles Bridge
the beach. Hot hot hot. Met Tony a Danish ex-pat partner of Patri who looks after the house. Important info he passed on which will come in later – he gave us 2 sets of keys and said best to hide one set in the garden as the back door can blow shut... we did think it a little odd but hey each to their own. Eventually everyone left and not surprisingly we were all in the pool before you could say "Tom Daley".

Great birds and animals on hand – Scarlett Macaws, Igunas, giant frogs...and more frogs and did I say frogs...

Tried hard to get the Internet to work but failed – inluding seting the router back to its factory settings which might have been a mistake thinking about it....particularly as its asking for a default gateway setting... which I could probably find if I had an Internet connection – Catch 22 or what.

The sun set we walked along the road in the dark to Chepes bar and had a great couple of beers and smallish burger/fish (depending upon your tastes). The beer was cold – and came with ice – unusual but in
Poison Dart Tree FrogPoison Dart Tree FrogPoison Dart Tree Frog

look carefully
30 degree heat was great.

Tomorrow, swim, sort out the internet and do something as Eleanor would say!

Listen and Learn - 26th July 2012

So what did Tony tell us – hide keys outside. Hmmm.. back door shut and we were locked out for breakfast at least we had some food. Found Ramon in Tarcoles and he had front door keys so we managed to get back in – we’ll be more careful in the future. Lock the back door open was Christophers very sensible suggestion so thats what I do every time we open the door.

Internet was still not working which is never good when you want to talk to people at home and upload pictures and Travelblogs.

Each of these houses seems to have a “dog” which visits eats and then sits on the porch (or in our case on the table) and barks if anyone it doesn’t know turns up. Ours is called Sammi and I think is blind in one eye – but it’s a happy dog… wags when you talk to it even though it’s English isn’t that great….

We decided a visit to the Pacific Rain Forest which is actually a dryish forest.... the Parka National Carara. With us being locked out it was hotter by the time we arrived than I think everyone would have liked - @ 30C – which doesnt sound that hot but add in 100% humidity and it’s as sweaty as Hell... well it felt like it.

Parked up in the car park and the Rangers sent us up to the ticket office $10 each – not bad for entry. We paid in Colones – 25,000. It was only 200 metres to the ticket office but it was uphill and I was panting and sweating like you wouldn’t believe by the time Matthew and I got there. Good job this walk in the rain forest is only 2km or less..... back to the car park. Individual guide for $50 – nope we’ll find our own Poison dart frogs...

Nice walk through the jungle but it was hot – reminded me of the red fort experiences in India – no not another Red Fort wheres the pool...

Got some good pictures and the sounds and smells have to be seen and heard to experience in real life. Never been so pleased to get back in a working car with excellent air conditioning. Back to the house and into the pool – I think my body temperature dropped by about 5 degrees almost instantly. Swam in amongst a rain shower – at one point I stopped and looked down the garden and counted 6 different types of butterflies!

So after a great cooling down session we needed Internet (no no I meant we needed food...). So we went looking for a restaurant with WiFi! This involved lurking in the car park to see if we could pick up their WiFi – Outback Jacks was the first and weirdest place we’ve eaten so far. Great atmosphere – a little empty at this time of year but hey thats good for us. We asked if they had Internet and he actually told us where the Router was so we sat at a table close too it. Then out came the Android phone, the 2 iPads, the laptop and the netbook – my god what a hi-tech family... Facebook updated, emails answered – just wasn’t quite in a position to update the Travelblog.. that’ll be tomorrow.

After Outback Jacks we headed towards Jaco and did some shopping in a brand new supermarket which seemed aimed at the American market. Got some nice Ice-cream.. Then back home for more swimming and a few games of Uno and a long discussion with the Costa Rican ISP about what was wrong with the Router setup... they will phone us back within 48 hours. Very very hot and humid in the house. As the kitchen, dining area, lounge doesnt have air conditioning we moved the kitchen table into the very large master bedroom which does have and eat there. Lots on the news about the Olympics – we’ll catch it as we can.

Tomorrow is another day….


Additional photos below
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6th May 2014

We stayed there, too!
I somehow came across this post and immediately got excited when I started reading about Sammi the dog and Ramon...because we stayed in that house, as well! Thanks for bringing back memories of such a great place (and of Chepe's!).
7th July 2014

Costa Rica was great
Shame they didnt get further in the football!

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