First day in Arenal
Apr. 5th, 2012 06:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowanfYesterday after breakfast I asked about hot springs. Hearing about the four choices from the expensive Tabacon and The Springs ($75 entry fee) to Baldi ($45 all day with one meal) or Ecotermales ($34 for 4 hours). I knew it was between the last two. Baldi has 21 pools and is very popular. The desk clerk said Ecotermales is small and quiet (6-7 pools). That sounded great to me, so I booked for the the 10-1 session there. I think I was the only non-Tico there. It was a series of pools and waterfalls set in the jungle with deck chairs for lounging alongside. I alternated between soaking, walking down trails thru the woods and lounging reading a mystery on my iphone. Very decadent.
I got back and uploaded my pictures and decided to check out the chocolateria I had seen from the taxi. Headed there I realizes I had found the "really good" restaurant the desk clerk had tried to send me to the night before. So I decided to have lunch. I keep forgetting that the pace of being served food here is really slow. Or maybe ther are some cultural signals I am missing. But I find the long pauses between courses and the general length of the exercise frustrating. I ordered a Caesar salad because it was the first place I had been that offered a simple salad. But the waiter evidently heard seafood salad as he brought me a giant plate of mariscos. It looked amazing and I was starving by then so I ate it. The seafood I have eaten so far has been amazing. But an hour later my main course still hadn't come. And really I was full from the mariscos. I had a Skype call at 3pm with David, so I flagged down the waiter and asked for my bill and to have it as take-away. I never did make it to the chocolate shop.
After my call, I tried to figure out what to do next. My last night here is Thursday and I don't need to be in Samara until Sunday. But it is Easter weekend. Perhaps not the best time to look for a hotel near the beach. I thought I might go to Nicoya, an inland town, but the hotel situation seems fairly limited. So I decided to rent a car on Friday. I am not looking forward to driving but with no destination it seems most flexible. I may be without wifi for a few days. I ended up walking to each of the local car renters as neither were answering their phones. One had an open sign and a locked door; the other was open. Thus Alamo is renting me a car. I wandered in and out of souvenir shops on my return to the hotel. The painted oz carts of my youth are not a big motif these days, it is all tropical animals and painted masks. A lot of the motifs look generic tropical and some look like rip-offs of Hawaii tourism. I didn't really want to buy anything, but it was depressing.
I ate my now cold but quite tasty crab stuffed snook, skyped with Kurt and Russell and went to bed at a reasonable hour. Which is good as the first deliveries at the super mercado next door are between 4 and 4:30 and that is close enough to morning that it wakes me. So I did my daily reading and played words and gardens until breakfast at 7. I am going to need a siesta, I think.
I got back and uploaded my pictures and decided to check out the chocolateria I had seen from the taxi. Headed there I realizes I had found the "really good" restaurant the desk clerk had tried to send me to the night before. So I decided to have lunch. I keep forgetting that the pace of being served food here is really slow. Or maybe ther are some cultural signals I am missing. But I find the long pauses between courses and the general length of the exercise frustrating. I ordered a Caesar salad because it was the first place I had been that offered a simple salad. But the waiter evidently heard seafood salad as he brought me a giant plate of mariscos. It looked amazing and I was starving by then so I ate it. The seafood I have eaten so far has been amazing. But an hour later my main course still hadn't come. And really I was full from the mariscos. I had a Skype call at 3pm with David, so I flagged down the waiter and asked for my bill and to have it as take-away. I never did make it to the chocolate shop.
After my call, I tried to figure out what to do next. My last night here is Thursday and I don't need to be in Samara until Sunday. But it is Easter weekend. Perhaps not the best time to look for a hotel near the beach. I thought I might go to Nicoya, an inland town, but the hotel situation seems fairly limited. So I decided to rent a car on Friday. I am not looking forward to driving but with no destination it seems most flexible. I may be without wifi for a few days. I ended up walking to each of the local car renters as neither were answering their phones. One had an open sign and a locked door; the other was open. Thus Alamo is renting me a car. I wandered in and out of souvenir shops on my return to the hotel. The painted oz carts of my youth are not a big motif these days, it is all tropical animals and painted masks. A lot of the motifs look generic tropical and some look like rip-offs of Hawaii tourism. I didn't really want to buy anything, but it was depressing.
I ate my now cold but quite tasty crab stuffed snook, skyped with Kurt and Russell and went to bed at a reasonable hour. Which is good as the first deliveries at the super mercado next door are between 4 and 4:30 and that is close enough to morning that it wakes me. So I did my daily reading and played words and gardens until breakfast at 7. I am going to need a siesta, I think.
