Playa Tambor

It has been a week since our last post here and a busy week it has been. On Monday the 9th we drove to Puntarenas and took the ferry across the Gulf of Nicoya to the Nicoyan Peninsula. Then drove 20 Kilometers to Playa Tambor and the Barcelo Hotel. The Barcelo is a family resort hotel with an all inclusive plan that includes everything except purchases at the gift shop and gambling. It is on the beach - a pretty beach, but not really special. Has several large and connected swimming pools and lots of bars (alcoholic beverages are included in the all inclusive plan), and two dining locations - a buffet style restaurant and a snack bar. The best thing about it was the beds and the air conditioning. Costa Rica is not known for its comfortable beds so it was a treat to sleep in comfort for three nights.

We drove back Thursday so it was a full four day trip. It is only 90 kilometers, but with the ferry and the maximum speed limit of 50 MPH it takes 3 hours. For us it was 6 hours because we got to the ferry at noon to catch the one o'clock ferry and found that only one ferry was running so there would be no boat until 3:00 o'clock.

Friday and Saturday we scouted around for things to do when Laura and Neil are here at the end of the month. They'll only be here for four days so we have to make every minute count. They have been to a resort on the Pacific coast but we want to show them the real Costa Rica. So far we have two Costa Rican restaurants, Zoo Ave (a zoo where many of the animals are not in cages), Escazu and Multi Plaza. Escazu is sometimes called Little America 'cause of all the expats living there. It has several American restaurants (Tony Roma's, TGI Friday's, McDonald's, Outback...) and the Multi Plaza - a huge mall. In Escazu you see typical Costa Rica and transplanted America side by side.

About time for church so I'll get some pictures uploaded and close this post.


The ferry boat. The ride took about 90 minutes. There was an air conditioned area and some deck seating for the more adventurous.








An island in the middle of the Gulf. Looks like about 5 acres. We thought it would make a wonderful homesite. We later learned that the beaches literally disappeared at high tide.






The Barcelo at Playa Tambor. Kathy will probably posty more pictures, but this is typical - the pools.







There were Iguanas everywhere. I think you can see one in this picture. One morning I came out of the room and saw nine of them just lounging on the lawn.









Wrangler Kathy. We went for a ride on the beach.








Isla King on the ferry ride. Isla's parents and big brother were vacationing at Playa Tambor as well.







More of the hotel and pools.










Kathy on the beach.








A larger ferry boat on the way home. It had a lower deck for cars. I had to park so close to the bulkhead that I couldn't open the driver's side door. I had trouble folding myself into the little car under normal conditions. Getting out of the passenger's side was interesting. I'm too old for this stuff.