Impromptu Road Trip!

Yesterday - Saturday - we decided to drive to Puntarenas for a seafood lunch. We left around 1030.

Here are the routes we took going to the coast and returning. We drove route 1 going (dark blue) and route 27 (grey) returning. Route 1 is the northern section of the Pan-American Highway, also known as the Inter-American Highway in Central America.

Route 1 is prone to slow movement and backups due to semi trucks coming from Nicaragua going to the region of the San José capital, plus there are lots of hills and twists and turns. I prefer route 27.

The drive to the Pacific takes you from the cooler mountain areas to the considerably warmer and more humid coast and you can feel the temperature changing as you drop further down from the mountains.

Our restaurant of choice was the Isla Coco’s Bar and Grill at the tip of Puntarenas and just across from the ferry that goes to Paquera or Naranjo on the Nicoya Peninsula. This was our first time at this restaurant and it did not disappoint. I had a craving for clams.

And we got them! Grilled clams - lots and lots of them. This was advertised as an appetizer but it took two of us to finish them up. They were delicious. The bread was so good and perfect for sopping up the very tasteful garlic broth they were swimming in.

Every customer is served a small bowl of seafood soup gratis. Mine had a shrimp and a crab claw in it. Lance’s was a shrimp and a mussel which he graciously gave to me ‘cause I love ‘em.

For refreshments, Lance ordered cold beer (Imperial) and I had the limonada hierbabuena, which is lemonade with fresh herbs. This is one of my favourites.

Our eyes were bigger then our stomachs because we could not make much of a dent in our main dishes and we ended up taking most of it home (para llevar = take out/take away).

My choice - the garlic prawns with roasted vegetables and mashed potato:

Lance’s order - grilled salmon, roasted potatoes and vegetables and grilled pineapple:

I highly recommend this restaurant. Service was fast and efficient. As for Covid, masks, hand washing stations, and distance seating was prescribed and we were seated outside.

Some photos of the restaurant:

The ferry to the Nicoya Peninsula as seen from the restaurant:

It was so nice to get away even for a few hours - especially to this place. The Covid restrictions can make one feel isolated. It’s not a long drive at all from our house. As I said to Lance - “So, you told me it was 1 degree Celsius (33.8F) this morning in Vancouver and raining”. Not anywhere near so in Costa Rica!

(Click on photographs to enlarge).

Costa Rica - Where the Real Movers and Shakers Live

By now, the whole world must know about the powerful 7.6 earthquake that occurred this morning in Costa Rica. It's epicenter was beneath the Nicoya Peninsula and we live about 70 miles away. We have been minding a house in Picaflora while our friends are away and that is where I was when the quake hit.

Lance was at our house in Vista Atenas, one ridge over from the Picaflora ridge. He said he got out of the house in 3 seconds and the vehicle we are using was bouncing up and down. No damage to the house or property except for a fallen ornament.

As for me, I was in a lounge chair by the pool, keeping out of the way of the two housekeepers. It was the noise that first got my attention - a loud rumbling - then I saw the water in the pool was sloshing back and forth and over the sides. The ground was shaking and the doors in the house were rattling.

I, foolishly, ran into the house to check on Genny. She was under the bathroom counter making that mew mew mew sound that tells me she is frightened and stressed. I patted her until the shaking stopped. Cleo, the resident cat, was already outside and she turned up shortly seemingly unaffected.

The housekeepers had more sense than me - they immediately went outside and waited in the laneway.

Phone service was completely unavailable, probably because of heavy usage. There have been no aftershocks.

It's rather unnerving, although not unexpected of course. We were always waiting for "The Big One" to happen in Vancouver, B.C., and one day it will.

Not sure how much damage was done near the epicenter - will keep following the news reports. Hope people are okay.

Thanks to April for the great blog title!

Tortuga Island

This past Saturday, we went on a tour to Tortuga Island. This tour is offered by Varso Travel in conjunction with Gloria and Paul Yeatman of Retire For Less in Costa Rica.

For the very reasonable price of $64 each, an air conditioned shuttle bus picked us up in Atenas at 0700 and drove us to Puntarenas where our boat was waiting to depart at 0800. I think there were about 30 total in our group, which included Ticos, with 19 coming from Atenas. Without the shuttle bus, the price is $54 each but it was so nice not to have to drive oneself to and from Puntarenas.

Tortuga Island lies on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, in front of the Curu Wildlife Refuge and is a tropical island paradise with white sand beaches.

Our bilingual crew were great - very knowledgeable and safety conscious. We were provided with information about each of the different islands we passed, the bird and sea life we were seeing. A thrill for all was seeing pods of dolphins close by the boat, leaping out of the water and playing in the boat's wake.

Snorkeling was included with all equipment provided. The sea this day was calm and the water crystal clear. We could see multi-colored tropical fish swimming everywhere. I wish now I had tried the snorkeling but figured the ocean was no place to start - a swimming pool would be better for a first try and I want to get my own equipment. One of our crew dived and brought up different sea creatures for us to touch and look at. Of course, everything was put carefully back into the ocean.

Motored on to Tortuga Island - a stunningly beautiful setting with white sands, palm trees and turquoise waters. Our crew started preparing fruit appetizers and lunch on the beach. Water, sodas and iced tea are included. We had several hours to swim or explore the island. We were asked not to take anything - no shells, no coral - and to leave nothing behind.

We left around 3:00 pm, I think - nobody was really keeping track of the time. All too soon, our boat trip was over and we landed at the dock in Puntarenas, where our shuttle bus was waiting for the hour long drive to Atenas.

I highly recommend this tour - we had a wonderful time and I think that was the farthest south in Costa Rica that we have been so far.

Beach towel

Snorkeling 

I've never seen a starfish like this one

Swam here - so beautiful. That 4 master in the background is for hire.

Lunch - rice, salad, BBQ chicken and tortillas. Fresh fruit was served for appetizers.