Final four days in Costa Rica and we are still in Manuel Antonio since we just couldn’t get up the energy to trek over to the Nicoya Peninsula. The heat, humidity and mellow vibes taking their respective tolls. That and I am developing a nice tan and the pools at El Mono Azul make it easy to lounge about after a day at the beach. Going to be hard to shift gears in a few days when we get to Peru and actually have to do something other than just eat, sleep and repeat. God help us when we get back to the US, lol.
We tried another restaurant or two and finally found one we really liked, La Hacienda, which prepares good, well-flavored meals for the usual 8000 or so colones per main. We have had a couple of other recommendations, Tango La Guacha which is an Argentine grill down the street and Bambu Jam – a bar/restaurant with live music every night. Haven’t tried either yet and probably won’t at this point. We also tried the fried chicken down at Senor Pollo and it was muy delicioso – an un-KFC FC experience.
We also upgraded our living accommodations to a large room with AC (makes all the difference) and a kitchenette (yay) so now I can make our meals and Darcie gets a break from listening to me gripe and moan about the high prices for mediocre meals. The extra cost of the room is more than made up for by the huge savings realized by preparing our own meals.
We immediately headed into Quepos to the supermarket and bought a delish steak, a large piece of tuna and a pile of local fruits etc. The following day we discovered that there was a farmer’s market so we headed back in and bought more veggies and fruits and fish (red snapper or pargo as it is locally known).
We were able to buy fresh hearts of palm and pejibayes (prounounced peh-he-bah-yays) which are the fruits from the same palm from which hearts of palm come from. Darcie is a huge fan of both of these products. The fruits taste a bit like chestnuts and butternut squash, have a slightly waxy/chalky texture, are a rich orange color and are delicious and best eaten raw although soup is an option. The hearts are prepared in one of two ways typically: 1) if they small in diameter sprinkle them with salt and lime juice and let them sit for a bit then devour or 2) if they are the diameter of your thumb or more, parboil in salty water for 10 minutes more or less and then salt and lime them and devour.
I have been swimming in the ocean every day, a couple of hours of swimming/bobbing, which is really wonderful. Would love to do this back home but the water is just too chilly or maybe I am just too much of a wuss.
Finally, we have taken a couple of surfing lessons and have both actually managed to stand up after only an hour and a half of paddling about and getting coached. We have had two, one-hour lessons, one yesterday (Friday) and one today and have had a good giggle each time. We will probably rent boards tomorrow and fiddle around again for a while until fatigue and the sun take their respective tolls. The water is so lovely and warm that it is easy to get in and try surfing – I have always been pretty resistant to the idea in Northern CA due to the chilliness of the water. Might finally have to let Marc talk me into going with him once we get back…
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