Tuesday, November 22- arrival in Playa Potrero

Nice partly sunny morning. Up at 6:30 and out for breakfast aroind 7. Eggs and bacon for Ron, fruits and toast for me. We are ready and waiting for our shuttle and it arrives on time, 8 am. We are happy, in a way, because we are the first to be picked up. We sit up front to make sure we have more leg room for Ron and that he doesn't get motion sickness. The bad thing is our luggage is under everyone else's and often we are the last to get dropped off. We'll see how it works out this time. We are told that it's a 4-5 hour drive. Well, by the time all 16 passengers have been picked up it is 8:45 but at least we are headed in the right direction.

One last shot of Arenal Volcano before breakfast.

The drive takes us out and around Arenal lake where we arrived a three days ago. The road is very windy and of course up and down.

A shot taken from the van window. 

After two hours we stop for a 20 minute break. They have great desserts and we can't resist. Ron gets a huge Maccadamia brownie cookie and I choose the banana, coconut bread/cake. These flowers were in the courtyard.

There were four Tourists from Quebec on the bus and we chatted a fair bit with them. Richard took this picture of us with Arenal lake in the background.

The rest of the drive was a not quite torture, but what a long day. We drop off one passenger at the Liberia airport. Then a five minute pee break. We start seeing signs for the beach area. Some say 34-

37 km. we think, wow, we'll be there shortly. How quickly we forget that the roads zigzag a lot and

are not always paved. The worse part here is that there is not a common road that leads to all of the beaches and we all have different destinations. We luck out in that we are the second group to be let off. The driver has to reach for our luggage way, way under all of the others. It is now 2:30 pm, 6 and a half after we left. Our condo complex is gated and the person who was supposed to meet us is not there. The security guard find a number and calls the office. Dive minutes later we are walking through the door to our place. It looks great and it have a washer and dryer. I have been washing clothes by hand these last three weeks. Everything we own is thrown in for good measure. I will take pictures of our place tomorrow.

Our common pool. Looks good from the second storey.

Ron saw this Iguana during our second rest stop.

We are quick to go out to pick up some groceries. There is one store in town so I can imagine the prices. There is a fruit and vegetable market so we will our produce there. It's weird that the owners of the store are French. Communication will be a lot easier for us. The market was funny. We'll be back and we'll take pictures next time. The produce doesn't necessarily look too fresh so we have to pick and choose. Ron talks to an English speaking customer and he says that you never know how much anything cost as it changes every time he goes in. The guy is great. I was going to buy a bit of ginger and he goes behind the counter and pulls out curcumin. Perfect. We take it. As we finish he says that the baby bananas are really good and tosses in a half dozen of them. They are almost beyond ripe so we just smile and say thanks. Two bags full cost $10 US. 

We get back to our rental, put things away and go for a walk on the beach. It is already 4:15 and the sun will be down in another hour. 

People fishing at the beach. 

Horseback riding on the beach. 

A Great Egret waiting for the fishermen to pull in their catch so that he can steal it.

Sun going down at around 5:45.

We sit at this bar watching the evening melt away. It's beautiful. 

Last colour with the clouds.

We then walk to a different place for supper. I order a veggie burger and home fries. I am so excited to have veggies. It comes with roasted Portobello mushroom, eggplant, zucchini, and peppers. 

Ron orders shrimp and rice. His veggies are home fries, weird. 

Ron's dish 

My meal.

We return with enough time to get a few loads of wash done before bedtime. We are holding our breath to see what Hurricane Otto will bring. It is starting on the Carribean coast and will be devastating . They are presently evacuating people in certain areas. The Storm will travel across the country and affect us on Thursday into Friday. Hopefully it will lose most of it's punch before it reaches us. Fingers crossed. Good night.