H2 Tuesday and Golf Wednesday

Well, we did go to the beach and snorkel a bit (Matthew and I), it was very tiring, and the fish not that numerous. Matthew tried some shelling as he had much more energy than I. Later, I tried to talk Mom into walking down to Brasilito, but she wasn´t interested. KM&M and I did, found a cool open air bar just off the beach and had a cerveca (Imperial, Pilsen & Bohemia). Then walked back through town and visited the little souvenir shops. Walked back to the hotel, it was very hot. Once back on familiar territory, we cleaned up and set off to our dinner reservation at Finestra (Italian). Once more, food was good. Seems like a long procession from one meal to the next. Everyone was tired, so it was off to bed (after a night cap at Astrea). Up early this morning with a Costa Rican breakfast for five delivered by Room Service. Time lines were good and we tee´d off at 7:15 am. Golf is a very difficult game, and that´s all I´m gonna say about that. (everyone else played pretty good, in fact Karen scored better than me, along with everyone else in our fivesome) Got around a bit quicker today, but it was still very hot and tiring. Had lunch at Hoya 19, and back to the room to clean up. Now I´m in the internet cafe sipping a beer and posting this. Mom has an early flight home tomorrow, in fact she starts with her transfer to Liberia airport at 03:30. I´ll see her off from the hotel and then we get ready for a National Park excursion that departs at 06:00.

Tuesday at the beach & pool

Our dinner reservation was at Gabi International restaurant last night, and it was very good. We had a great dinner and carried out our plan for an early night. This morning, I went exploring down to the end of Playa Brasilito. I think it is about 2 miles long. The little hamlet of Brasilito warrants some further exploration, so perhaps this afternoon(it is at the near end of this beach. I think Mom will find the walking better, the beach is not as steep as Playa Conchal and the footing is better. Karen and the boys had their breakfast, and Mom and I went later. We sat in the Azul restaurant which is air conditioned and we were the only ones in there. Luis brought lots of good Costa Rican coffee, the coffee is really good here. We had a nice breakfast. I think today will be a melancholy day as this is the 10th anniversary of Dad´s passing. Mom and I talked a bit about it, in typical fashion, she was very stoic. Trying to get a head start on finding out about the timing for transfers, so I´ve asked at the Family Consierge and they are looking into it for me. Matthew wants to swim in the ocean today, so perhaps we´ll go snorkelling at the rocky point.

Costa Rica Day 2

Since posting yesterday, we had a very nice dinner at the Mexican restaurant, with Luigi Bosca Malbec (we´ve come to like this wine since BA and can get it easily in YYC). Just to round things out, a couple of Caipariñas to make it a wrap. This morning we got an early start on the golf course. We played as a fivesome, and we barely saw anyone else on the course. It was hot, but the golf course was good, and everyone had a few good shots. Matthew scored particularly well, he is hitting the ball! We were all exhasted from the heat, but we managed to rinse off the sweat and sun screen, grab a bite and of for a walk along the Playa Conchal. This is truly a beautiful crescent shaped beach, fairly steep, but unbelievable shells (thus the name). Mom struggled a bit in the shell fragments and unlevel footing so she went back to the pool. I think she is fading a bit and needs a day to relax. We will be off for dinner soon and we´ll get an early to bed tonight I think. The hotel and ammenities are as nice as we´ve found as far as the all inclusives go. Food is good, the local beer (Imperial) is passable, and the rooms are spacious and comfortable. I will try to line up a trip to the National Park with Javier (Cindy and Brian´s recommended tour guide) for tomorrow.

Mucho Bravo Bette!

Well, here we are in Costa Rica. We left Calgary in a spring blizzard yesterday, and had no problems with flights from Calgary to Liberia. The plane was laden with revellers for upcoming nuptuals to be held at Playa Coco. It was not a quiet flight. We arrived in Liberia which is a very small airport, and hustled through customs (there was a long but moving line up). After getting bags, the Swill Travel rep's wisked us outside to a waiting van. No time to look around to see if Mom had been stranded. Jimmy took the four of us in a van with no other passengers on a 50 minute transfer to the Paradisus. The highway was good with fresh black top most of the way. Arrived at the hotel and approached the check in counter. Stephanie could not find us on the docket, and had no knowledge of any other Woofter's having checked in. I got a little agitated. In the end, they advised that the hotel was overbooked and that Mrs. Woofter was awaiting our arrival at the "Condos" where we would spend the night and check in to the all inclusive next day. It was in no way clear what was up, but they corralled us into a van and took us for a drive down a dark and tortuous route. Just as we were leaving, Marvin came up to us asking if we had any "relatives" in the Condo's? We said no, I was thinking that you had to be a guest of an owner. Marvin insisted that we give him a name, and I said Woofter, to no appreciable recognition, but then Karen said "Bette", and Marvin's eyes lit up and he said "oh yes Bette, I looked after her today, we will take you there right away!. We arrived at the condo's to find Mom very relaxed but concerned about how we would find her. In the end it worked out. The condo was a huge three bedroom place overlooking the golf course. We ordered a couple of burgers from room service as we had no idea where we were within the compound. Everyone was quite tired from the travel day so off to bed.

This morning, we got up and found our way to the Beach Club for breakfast with Brian Dick and Cindy Anderson. Had a wonderful breakfast and got loads of information on what to do while here for a week. After breakfast, K&M went back to the condo to rescue Grandma, and M& I went up to the lobby to find out what was up with our reservation. I managed to negotiate an upgrade for inconvenience of having to move, so we wound up in the Family Consierge catagory. Nevertheless, we had to wait a long time to get access to our rooms and sat in the extreme head by the pool. Once we were in our rooms, M&M laid down for a siesta, K has a touch of tourista, I am bloging, and Mom has donned her pool gear and out taking control of the place.

All for now, will try to blog daily, we'll see how that goes. Tee time at 07:20 tomorrow.