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Tamarindo to San Jose

2009 Southern Skies Fiesta & Tamarindo Coast

March 7, 2009 – Saturday – flying from Tamarindo to San Jose, Costa Rica

We are up early again this morning, and take one last walk down the beach looking for turtles. We find two dead baby turtles, however we also see 32 tracks leading to the sea, so most of them obviously made it early this morning after hatching.

I have an 11:15am flight with Nature Air (no longer operating) from Tamarindo Airport to Pavas Airport in San Jose. My friends are also leaving Hotel Las Tortugas this morning, driving to San Jose using transportation arranged through Swiss Travel. I try to get a ride to the airport, but their driver doesn’t want to cooperate, so I take a taxi instead…another US$30! My flight is delayed until 1pm (taking off about 1:15pm) however this is a direct 45-minute flight to San Jose. I add to my aerial photo coverage of the Costa Rican countryside on the flight, since there are clear skies.

High oblique of urban development in the valley, and cloud-covered Poas volcano

The taxi from the airport to Hotel Casa Roland only costs 2,000 Colones (about $4). The hotel is really funky, with corridors and lobbies all over the place, the rooms are decorated with fine art, folk art and sculpture and antique furniture, and there are ceiling fans throughout the place, including one in my room. It is about 30ºC in my room – a welcome relief from the afternoon heat at Tamarindo, however I still want to cool things down a bit more, so I figure out how the air conditioner works and get the room temperature down to 25ºC. I then have a bit of a siesta and work on my computer afterwards, since the hotel has high speed wireless. It’s sure nice to travel in a country that is so well connected to the Internet.

I have dinner at Paragon Restaurante (now closed), which is recommended by the hotel, and is right across the street. It is a fancy place and they give a 10% discount for hotel guests, but the place is empty except for one couple. I have a glass of Chardonnay wine, a chicken breast with roasted potatoes and vegetables, and an Americano to finish. The total with taxes is US$15.29 after the discount – very reasonable! I leave the servers a couple of US$ as a tip and get out of there. The service is impeccable, the food is excellent, and yet there is nothing Costa Rican about the restaurant, so it doesn’t appeal to me. It’s as if I was in a restaurant back home.

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