Black Sand

Well, it was bucketing this morning already by breakfast time, so it was bedlam. 1500 people squashed into the breakfast restaurant and lobby area. It may be big, but by the time you have the noise of the downpour on the roof, and the noise of everybody trying to talk above the rain, it was rather deafening. The award for the most futile job of the day was awarded to the garden maintenance crew who were all armed with squeegees, and were constantly trying to sweep the water from the rain and the water from people's shoes back out onto the garden.

Spent an hour or two hassling with tour operators and concierges trying to come up with things to do in the rain. Most people who come to an all-inclusive resort like this don't leave the property, and those who do generally take an organised tour, so we were trying to do something a little different to the usual offerings because we have our own car. Every time we started asking about things to do, we got the standard tour operator spiel about their bus tour package. Eventually the concierge was helpful, when he turned up, with sage advice like the national parks are closed on Mondays as its the monkeys day off, and that most of the parks will be closed today even though its not Monday, as the rain will have made the tracks impassible.

Eventually decided to take the car for an outing around the nearby coastline after lunch, when the rain was rumoured to be easing off. And after trying out the jacuzzi in the room, and the lunchtime buffet, that's the way it turned out. We ended up heading for Tamarindo, which was about 20km around the coast. Think Byron Bay - hippies, surfboard hire, beachwear shops, fast food and fast drink to consume on the beach.

Mind you the hired GPS didn't exactly cover itself in glory. It first tried to get us to drive along the beach, on the sand, even though it was high tide, as it seemed to have this idea that it was a designated road. When we declined, it repeatedly nagged us for the next 3km to do a u-turn and get with the program. At one stage it directed us into the car park of the large Westin Hotel. There must have been a back exit to the hotel somewhere that would save you 10 metres. However in fairness, it saved our bacon one one occasion. We came across a flooded river crossing, so it directed us up the driveway of the local zip line operator's property, past reception, around past the stables and out to the road again through their back gate. Don't know exactly what they thought about their driveway being designated as a preferred highway for rental cars, but it worked for us.

The beaches here are black sand beaches because of all the nearby volcanoes. However, they are still nice to walk on, even if your feet look grotty when you finish. Half of the beach seemed to end up in our jacuzzi. Hmm. I wonder whose feet they would be? The good thing about the beaches, though, is that they are all public beaches so you can walk along them for ages, rather than private beaches which seem to be the norm in larger countries to the north. I was even offered a massage as I walked along the beach, twice. How thoughtful was that!

Tonight was our night at the Asian restaurant. Lovely meal of typical Japanese dishes, followed by typical Japanese deserts of chocolate cake, chocolate mousse and cheesecake. Tonight's show is 'Tropical Latino'. Peter Allen must be in town.