My alarm woke me up at 6am as planned, but I was not ready to get up. I probably could have slept another 2 hrs easy. I felt foggy and not normal. Not bad, just not normal. So I hopped in the shower again, my hair was a sticky mess after sweating during the night. Then I laid down on the hard cold tile floor to stretch my sore back. The feather bed didn’t help it much. Too soft I think. Anyway, pretty soon it was time to head down to the main Mansita Restaurant for the breakfast meeting. It was already warm and very humid out. Just showered and already I was getting sticky.
I wasn’t first to arrive at the table but I wasn’t last either. There were 8 of us total. We chatted a bit then went to the buffet for breakfast, the assortment of which was quite spectacular in the array of how many different items there were. Truly something for everybody. I had some bacon and scrambled eggs, rice & beans, watermelon, a couple sweet rolls, orange juice, and ultimately after my presention, some coffee. I was a little nervous going into this, maybe anticipation is a better word, but I didn’t need coffee to make it stand out more. So I waited until it was over, which really made it taste better any way.
Another invited gentleman, an “economist” by trade, and his 3rd time doing this, gave his presentation first, on the economic outlook for the US in general and more specifically for the aluminum industry as it relates to our hosting company that invited us. He was very professional and had handouts that we could follow along with. He ran about 30 minutes and after a few questions, Keith needed to take a brief break and said I could take the stage when he got back. So I refilled my OJ and gathered some final thoughts. I had prepared 4 pages of notes to talk about, sort of in order but not really wanting to read them outright. But in starting out, I didn’t even follow the order and pretty soon I found myself lost in my own thoughts and it felt like maybe I wasn’t making any sense. So I stopped myself and apologized and reorganized and kept going. Not sure but when I was done Keith said we went about a half hour over what he had expected. I don’t know if I was more than 15-20 minutes but might have been. Afterwards, I didn’t feel so good about my presentation but a couple people said they appreciated the info and that I did fine.
At that, we dispersed for the day and more or less went our separate ways. First I grabbed some coffee which tasted very good despite it being so warm and humid. Then after dropping off my material back in the room, I took a walk around the resort with 3 different cameras and down to the beach as well. There are a number of different lizards on the property from geckos to iguanas in different sizes and I got some pics and videos. They would run away fairly fast if you got too close.
Then I found a lounge chair by the pool(hundreds to choose from) and sat and enjoyed the area for about 30 minutes before I got too warm. Wendy went to the spa to get her nails done. About 2pm we walked down to the Azur Grill by the pool and had lunch.
Wendy had a seafood ceviche, and a mixed Seafood grill that had a variety of seafood, mashed taters, mixed veggies. I had a beet salad and shared her ceviche. And a beer and a bottle of water. and then the bill came. Sheesh. $83. Whoa. Well, I guess that’s about right considering they have a huge facility and staff to support so no wonder the prices are so high. Anyway, we finished eating at 330 and it was time to meet up with the group that was going into the town of Tamarindo at 4pm for dinner. The van would take us at 4 and pick us back up at 10, so we would have plenty of time to shop/walk/drink/eat/converse. We filled a 13 passenger van and had a windy road drive for about 15 miles.
YouTube Video-Shuttle to Tamarindo(80 sec.)
The town is a real tourist trap, and we walked around briefly getting hounded by peddlers of all kinds of knick knacks. Wendy bought a couple t-shirts at one store, and we also bought some packaged coffee and a cute hanging wood humming bird at another shop. Wendy and I then walked the crowded beach a little ways before heading to the Hotel La Palapa on the beach, where we had 7pm group dinner reservations. Since it was only 510 we had a long time to wait but we decided to go there to hang out in the bar and wait for the sunset.
As we walked up on the beach side, one of the waiters asked us the name of the person in the group (Maria) that made the reservations, and he then showed us to a table for 16 RIGHT on the beach facing the sunset. So instead of the bar we just sat at the big table. There were tons of people on the beach and in the water. Lots were surfing. The hard wooden chairs at the restaurant were mitigated by the 2 for 1 $7 all day happy hour drinks, and they brought you TWO DRINKS right up front for your $7. It wasn’t long before a few others from the group started showing up.
YouTube Video-Sunset on the Beach(22 sec.)
The sunset was marvelous and we got a few pics, and continued to be hounded by peddlers walking the beach. They all must work for the same outfit, they were all selling the same things. One right after another. Old, young, inbetween. Sell Sell Sell. No thank you No thank you No thank you.
Our entire group had shown up by or shortly after dark, which was near 6pm, and we started ordering food about 630-645. Great food, great conversation. Wendy & I both ordered a large shrimp cocktail and a greek salad. I then ordered a second round of drinks and Wendy had one of them. While we ate, some fire dancers performed in the dark for about 20 minutes. Got some good pics and videos.
YouTube Video-Firedancers(37 sec.)
After eating, I had to get up and stretch so I walked in my bare feet down to the gentle surf and waded in to the warm water. Got hit by a large enough wave coming in the dark that the bottom of my shorts got soaked above the knees. Oh well. A little uncomfortable but no harm done. Our van back to the hotel wasn’t scheduled to be there until 10pm but we were done with coffee and dessert about 830 so Maria called the hotel to see if the van could come early. We were back at the hotel by 10. They welcomed us back with fruit juice and cold towels. What a wonderful day.