Guanacaste ~ Dia dos

Costa Rica Day 2

Guanacaste

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Costa Rica Day 2

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J.W. Marriott Resort & Spa

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Since Costa Rica is 2 hours ahead of Seattle, we got up pretty early. This is why we are well rested! On back into Tamarindo we go & find some tasty morsels for breakfast. Walters Place is the destination of choice for today. Just down the street from where we ate yesterday, it's on the beach (bonus) & down on the end of the main drag. Again, we are shaken down for a couple of bucks for parking. Okay, point taken. This is the norm. lol.

At this point, we walk in, and we stand there & just look around & try to figure out what to do. Do we seat ourselves or do we wait for someone? Apparently you are just supposed to seat yourself here. The shop owners want you to say, hang out, & relax & just be comfortable. Okay, that's pretty sweet. Especially since in the states, they want you to eat and get out so they can open the table for someone else. At any rate, of course we choose a table on the beach. How could you not? There are only 2-3 other custmers here so it's like eating in our own private beach. Okay, this is cool.

They offer a few options for breakfast, which all include juice & coffee, by the way. I'm super excited to try the coffee because it is Costa Rica after all. Being from Seattle, of course we like to think we are connoisseurs. My husband is more of an expert than myself. Greg in true Greg fashion, orders a traditional Costa Rican breakfast which includes 2 sunny-side up eggs, homemade sausage & gallo pinto. (A delicious mixture of rice & black beans.) It's literally served at every meal. It was super good, as was my ham and cheese omelette con papas fritas y pan tostada. This may sound a little American but A: I said it in Spanish so it sounds more authentic and 2: ham & cheese omelettes really are like a thing down here.

If you're a true foodie, this is probably not a place for you. Don't get me wrong, we love all kinds of food. To us, we are in Costa Rica, eating breakfast on the beach so how bad can any of it be? It's all an experience, right? Coffee wasn't bad. The juice was Tang. Lucky for me, I like Tang; but we did have a good laugh about that one!

There were 2 fire dancers practicing on the beach which was pretty dope, I'm not gonna lie. It totes set the scene. With our bellies full, we drove back to the hotel. We stopped to check out the Beach Club which we had access to via The Marriott Resort we were staying in. It was empty but a pretty cool little spot. Will definitely have to come back and spend some more time here. But for now, we have a game to go watch and seats at the pool bar to secure for said football game.

Success! They had 2 tvs and only one with a satellite connection. The announcers are in Spanish, of course but that's half the fun of it. As the drinks start flowing, the game gets more entertaining for me at least, which is awesome. We meet a couple of others at the bar & get to know the bartender. He realizes we're from Seattle & brings up the painful reminder of last year's Super Bowl embarrassment.

"Why did you throw it?" he says.

And... Greg & I both bury our faces in our hands. How embarrassing.

The day goes on, the drinks are brimming, & the Seahawks are crushing the Vikings! Greg's teaching our bartender about American Football. He says he likes it better than Soccer (or whatever we call soccer, anyway) because it has more contact. He also taught me how to say "You gotta catch that" in Spanish which makes Greg super stoked. (For those of you who don't know, Greg has trained me to say "You gotta catch that" when he yells my name during a football game.)

I know what you're gonna say. We spend most of our first two days at the resort. Now, I just have to note that typically when we travel, we do not waste an entire day at the resort pool but the Seahawks were playing and the tropical drinks were flowing so that's pretty much how that played out. We always usually do 1 pool day and with the game being on, we just did it at the beginning of the trip vs. the end. Plus, that's the most time we spent at the resort all week.

After the game is over, we get ready & head back into Tamarindo for dinner. We ended up driving into Tamarindo everyday this trip. Even if it was headed in the "touristy" direction, it is one cool little surf town. We find a fish restaurant which is what we were both craving. Greg gets some ceviche. Delicioso! A mixture of Mahai Mahi, shrimp, & some other white fish. yummo! For dinner, I ordered lobster tail and it was amazing. Greg had the Mahi Mahi. Also amazing. They also served plantain chips & bottled water. We were too full for dessert but all-in-all, pretty good. Once again, we head back to the hotel early so we can be ready for our surfing lesson in the morning. So stoked for surfing. Wait! The name of the restaurant is Marea Alta! That's what it was called!

Plus, we won so it worked!

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