Third stop: Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica

We left La Fortuna heading for the ocean! We took a very twisty, turn-y, rocky, sometimes scary, slow-going trek out to the Nicoya Peninsula. I think it took us 5-5.5 hrs. We ate snacks on the road and also had our first run in (and only, thank goodness!) with the Costa Rican police. We were out in the middle of no where... lots of fields, very small towns here & there. We were ready to be at our next stop. The road was finally smooth (not golf ball size gravel) and we were making some time. Unfortunately the police had to be right there on the side of the road waiting for us. So we got pulled over. Told we were going 93 km (shown on the little radar gun). For those who don't know the conversion (I don't!) that would be about 57 mph. The highest speed limit on any Costa Rican road is 80 km (50 mph)... so incredibly slow. Sometimes it is good to go that slow because the road conditions are so poor... but sometimes you want to make up for those horrible road conditions when you have a nice road... but you can't. Or you're not suppose to. And you might get stopped like we did. So he tells us what the max speed limit is. He asks us where we are from and if this is our first time in Costa Rica. Then he walks over to his car to talk to the other police guy that was standing there. Mike then stashes some money from his wallet in the cup holder and I'm looking for our rental car documents (which he asked for but never looked at). A bit later he comes back with this spread sheet to show us. He asks us again if we'd ever been in Costa Rica (no!). Then he proceeds to tell us all the fines/fees for each of the columns (I don't even know what the heck each item was!) and then says "and that totals $700 US dollars" (or $700 & some change, can't remember exactly). I was like thinking- OMG! And I said, "we don't have that much." Mike says I said it panicked but I didn't think I sounded that way... I think I just sounded astounded. ;o) Then Mike said something about us not having that much & the police again asked if we'd ever been to Costa Rica. Again our answer was no. So then he says, ok, how much do you have? Mike opens his wallet & pulls out the equivalent to $65 US and tells him that is all we have. He says something about okay, he will take that for our ticket but we must not speed again, ya, ya, ya. Whatever. So we leave that whole ordeal with it confirmed that yeah, the police are as the travel books say- a bit crooked. And I spend the rest of our time in the car paranoid about having to pay off more police... watching Mike's speed, hassling him about it, and warning him of every police I see (and some I don't see). Fun times. :)

So with that out of the way, we continue on to the Nicoya Peninsula. We arrive a little while later at our next hotel, Tango Mar . We are greeted in the lobby with some yummy fresh juice drinks with the Costa Rican liquor- Guaro Cacique which is made from sugar cane. It was delish and perfect for the warm tropical climate to which we had just arrived. We were provided cold wet towels too which was really nice. :) We met the owner, Hilde, who is Belgian. We ended up seeing her everywhere during our stay... she is highly involved in the running of the hotel and it was always very pleasant to chat with her.

Here is the view from our balcony. LOVE LOVE LOVE seeing views like this throughout the day. :)

And here is our room (after we put stuff here & there!).

We were past the time for lunch so we had some more snacks to tide us over 'til dinner and headed off to the beach. Mike definitely was not wanting to play on the beach (he is not so into the hot weather or the sun) so he headed over to the shade and the hammocks after we checked out the ocean together.

Here is the view down the beach when we are in front of our hotel.

And the view down the other way. 

This is the main building at Tango Mar... where the restaurant we ate breakfast and dinner in is located along with the lobby and spa services. The hammocks Mike enjoyed a lot are in this picture as well.

And here is where our hotel was... it was on the 2nd floor, 3rd balcony over from the right. This hotel also has little bungalows on the property.

Here are the kids getting into the water for the first time:



The tide is super strong here on the Nicoya Peninsula so we didn't ever really do any swimming. Just walking in and holding tight onto the kids hands. :) They liked to run in and out of the waves which was fine as long as they didn't go far into them. They did get knocked down a few times before it was all said and done but they were both troopers about it.

Various pictures of the beach... the top left picture is a hermit crab. We enjoyed finding them in the sand and the kids eventually worked up enough nerve to hold them. :)

More beach pictures (and hermit crab). The second top picture is Bella carrying a coconut she found. She filled it with water (it was just the shell) and she is walking, struggling to carry the weight. (She is doing the same thing in the bottom picture too.) Mike has "Dad" written in front of him but it won't show up in the collage. :(

Another thing we loved doing here is finding lizards and taking their picture. Then trying to get close and scaring them away. :)

Here is Bella in the pool (this is the middle pool) and the view from the pool. No pics of Jackson this time... he is in the room getting a much needed nap. We had been at lunch and he started nodding off while eating. Then when he finished eating Mike picked him up to take him to the room for his nap. (naps were few and far between on this trip and Jackson is a solid 2 hr napper! Not to mention late nights and early mornings. They played a toll on him.) Jackson got very angry to have to go to the room for a nap and threw a huge fit... screaming VERY loudly in the restaurant, hitting Mike as he carried him off, and then biting his shirt!! He gets angered to the extreme when he is tired! So anyway, Bella spent time in the pool while he was napping and I read pool side.

Me on the beach.

 Here is the little lunch spot which is right by the pools.

And this was one of my favorite meals on the trip. It is a cold fish ceviche salad (so fish "cooked" in lemon juice) with plantain chips. The ceviche was perfect for lunch on a hot day, very refreshing. The plantain was made with mashed plantain formed into a patty & then fried. So it was crisp on the outside but a little soft in the middle. I have never had anything like it and it was very yummy!

Breakfast was included in the hotel cost at this resort and it was served buffet style with loads of tropical fresh fruit, cheese, breads, eggs, meats, yogurt, gallo pinto, and a few other dishes that were changed different each day. 

The lunch selections were similar to what you'd see in a cafe.

Dinners were served on the balcony outside at the main restaurant with the ocean directly across. It was always dark when we ate (it gets dark around 6pm as I mentioned in an earlier post) and so you couldn't see the water or beach but you could hear the crashing waves. Lots of seafood choices were on the menu as you might guess and Mike and I enjoyed the dishes we had. They did have resort price tags (on the high side) but we survived. :) 

This is the pool right next to the lunch area. There were 3 pools that were on 3 levels but right next to one another. Jackson is on the steps & Bella is climbing out. 

They have a little trail back behind the main hotel lobby/restaurant area that leads up to an overlook. I'm not really sure we made it to the overlook area... we made it to a clearing that we decided was going to be the overlook (it was really hot!). On the way there, they had a little hanging bridge which the kids liked. And here is also the view from the "overlook". 

We stayed 2 nights at Tango Mar and enjoyed the sun, the beach, the pools, and the food. When we left we decided to go a different route back taking the ferry... the hotel staff said that it was a quicker way to go than the route we took on our way here. More on that next time!