We got up early and finished packing and headed for breakfast at around 06.45. I had been aware of a thudding noise sometime overnight and discovered this morning that an all-night party was in progress on the beach not far from the hotel. The hotel is hosting a wedding tomorrow on the beach and are furious with this 'illegal' party. Apparently, the bride and groom didn't get any sleep last night. They are staying at El Castillo, the sister hotel of the Alma, which is closer to the beach than us.
We managed to escape the hotel not long after 07.30 and headed back north up the Costanera Sur or route 34. The road was empty as far as Quepo and then the traffic started picking up. As we passed through Parrita, we realised that they were setting up for the end of a cycle race. The further north we went, the busier it got, but we were still making good time. We finally met the cycle pelaton heading south just north of Jaco on a very hilly part of the route. I'm glad we weren't going south as the traffic was well jammed up.
We knew the ferry times and had faintly been hoping to catch the 11.00 boat with the fall-back option of the 14.00 one. As we arrived in the edge of Puntarena, we realised that we wouldn't make the 11.00 boat. Puntarena is built on a long spit of land pointing out into the Gulf of Nicoya. The remains of a railway line follows the road here. Because is was a long narrow spit of land, the town of Puntarenas seems to go on for ever and we finally reached the ferry terminus just after 11.00. Amazingly, the ferry was still there and we were told to just abandon the car by the side of the road and go and buy a ticket. Two passengers and one car cost 14,000 Colones for the 1 hour and 20 minute crossing. Back in the car we were ushered through to the loading ramp and then told that only the driver could drive on, the passenger would have to walk!
I drove on to a ferry that looked like the Isle of Wight ferry whilst Lynn had to walk on. Once parked, I headed upstairs and found Lynn. The crossing was very smooth and we found a shady seat in the breeze. We didn't see any dolphins or whales, which are regularly seen in these parts but did see lots of pelicans.
On arrival at Paquera Port, we had to go throught the same procedure. I had to drive off and park whilst Lynn had to walk and find me in the car park. We headed off up the only metaled road on the southern Nicolya Peninsular to the town of Paquera. Since this is the only road, it was just a long prosession of cars with the big lorries following us. Traffic in Paquera was chaotic and we stopped long enough to raid the bank and continued on towards Tambor.
We were then treated to a 5 minute long torrential downpour, the first rain we have had during daylight hours. As we were getting low on fuel we continued to the town of Cobano where we filled up the car and had a bite of lunch, half a mini-pizza and half a croque monsieur each - very classy.
We then tried to find the hotel. This proved to be far more difficult that imagined. We found a signpost which took us down a gravel track for a couple of kilometres and then we couldn't find any further signs. We drove right down to the coast and came to a dead end, then decided we'd try at another hotel we'd noticed on the track - they didn't initially know where our hotel was, but eventually gave us directions.
We followed there instructions and ended up on another gravel track and after a few more twists and turns found ourselves in a housing development and eventually found the Vista Hermosa B&B.
We feel like house guests here in a modern house with a swimming pool with the dining room and bar outside on the terrace. It is surrounded by neat gardens and flowering shrubs. Our room is smaller than we've had before, but it is very nice. The owner, Judy, is Canadian and a keen cook!
We had a swim in the pool and I went for a walk down a track to the sea. Later, we sat on the terrace and read and chatted to other guests before having a pre-dinner drink. The dinner menu looked very good and I was especially tempted by the lobster bisque as I had seen Judy cooking the fresh lobster earlier. I can report that it was the best lobster bisque I've ever had and Judy claimed it was the first time she had ever cooked it! Unlike normal lobster bisque, this had huge lumps of lobster meat in it. Our main course was Chicken in sweet chili sauce. The chicken was cooked on the BBQ in the garden. We think we might like the food here.
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