Mohawks and Macaws

The room may be just ok but at least the bed is pretty comfortable and I slept like a a rock. The large oceanfront balcony was a perfect place to enjoy our first cups of morning coffee and tea before heading down to see what the breakfast was all about. It seems as though almost every resort in Costa Rica includes breakfast, which is convenient. Convenience does not always equate to enjoyable, however. The restaurant and view were gorgeous; the food was terrible. I was happy to see an omelette station but sad to see that the mushrooms were obviously from a can. And no matter how hard I tried, even speaking Spanish, there was no getting only egg whites for my omelette. I choked down breakfast, still feeling disgruntled.

Upon check-in last night we had been provided a map showing all the features of the large and sprawling property; a lookout point, the golf course, the stables, the pools, and a waterfall. Everything was just five minutes we were told. It was already blazing hot after breakfast but we decided to walk down and check out the waterfall, the little trail we were shown would take us to the top of the waterfall and from there we could get down to the base and another beach. Since it was only five minutes away we didn’t bring anything with us, thinking if we liked the spot we’d come back and get water, towels, etc. I think they must have meant five minutes by car and we sweated away down the road. A loud ruckus on the ‘forest’ floor caught our attention and it looked like a Mohawk was running around in circles. The Mohawk ran up a tree and revealed itself to be a large white iguana, postering at us to move along from his territory.

A little trail off the road led us to to the top of said waterfall. But there wasn’t really much water flowing. So there wasn’t much of a fall. And it was hot. And we didn’t even have water with us. So that lasted about two minutes before we trekked back to the resort to take a dip in the pool.

The resort is eerily quiet. It’s a small resort of 46 rooms but we were pretty sure there were only three or four other couples staying there. Aside from two couples in lounge chairs we had the place to ourselves. There was no energy. We lazed around poolside for a couple hours before refreshing ourselves with showers to head out and explore. Really, we wanted to find some lunch since I did NOT want to eat more subpar food at this resort and we needed to head back to the nearest town, 45 minutes away, to see if we could find a cooler for the fresh fish we were hoping to catch the following day and snacks to take on the boat.

Tango Mar is situated adjacent to Tambor, home to the closest marina to where we were staying. Based on Google maps telling us there was a soda with good reviews at the marina we thought that might be a good place to find some lunch. The marina was less than inviting and we got stares from the locals as we drove down the dirt road. No restaurant was left. Based on the other abandoned properties we’d seen in the area last night and this morning I think COVID hit this region very hard. It’s already a lesser known destination in a pretty rural and remote part of the country and many restaurants and small resorts sat vacant. The little marina felt seedy and we turned back to the main road with haste.

Our bellies would not have to remain empty for long as we came across little Soda Esmeralda, situated by two Mini Supers in a tiny little row of a town. They spoke no English (we wouldn’t expect them to when we’re in their country!) and did not have a menu but we could get by enough to order “dos Casado con pollo.” Brandon had a good feeling about this place as soon as we saw the grandma working the kitchen and her food was delicious. His favorite beans of the trip and definitely in my top two.

With our bellies happy, we continued on to the bustling Paquera, about five blocks of town. We went to the ferry landing to make sure we knew where we were going tomorrow when we meet our fishing guide, found where we could buy a little cooler, and picked up such necessities as water, protein drinks, snacks, and fried chicken to take with us tomorrow. The fishing guide had said that he would supply a “little lunch” but we had no idea what that meant so we definitely wanted to be prepared with some food. We are eaters.

Passing by Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Curu, the wildlife refuge, I squealed with delight as two macaws flew past and above us! With their bright red color and long tails they were immediately identifiable. My first wild macaw sighting! Perfectly in sync, the macaw couple stayed shoulder to shoulder as they flew.

Sunset was quickly upon us when we returned to the resort and a stroll on the beach was in order to enjoy the beauty of the skies as the sun disappeared behind the hills on the other side of the peninsula. When we left for dinner, we found a huge bonfire blazing on the beach.

Thankfully, we had seen a soda, El Chile, just a few minutes from the resort so it was easy to get good food without having to go too far. The large open-air soda, they seem to all be open air, also had great cell reception which was amazing to find. The resort cell service and wifi are both questionable at best and I was legitimately concerned as to how we were going to be able to get our video COVID testing done at the end of the week. We both had the rice with shrimp and calamari; while not as good as the first shrimp rice I had this one wasn’t bad. And now I want to hone in on making Costa Rican fried rice at home.

Back at the resort we desperately tried to get the internet to work to see if we could find other accommodations for our last two nights but in the end we’ve decided to just give up and stay where we were. The resort is truly gorgeous and it’s very well maintained; I don’t hate it, it just wasn’t what I thought it would be. The night has come to an early end in preparation for our alarms to go off at 5am tomorrow.