Guanacaste

After activity filled days we were off for relaxation.  We spent five nights at the Casa Conde Del Mar in Gaunacaste.  Situated on Panama Beach in the northwest part of Costa Rica 30 minutes from Liberia this is a small all inclusive of 40 rooms set on one of the most pristine beaches of the country.  The rooms are pretty basic but we did not see the superior rooms.  The grounds were beautifully kept with howler monkeys paying a visit one afternoon, iqunanas everywhere, a skunk and armadillo wandering around and birds and butterflies aplenty.  The unusual thing was the lack of guests. We were there in low season but one day there were as few as nine including us seven.  Having said that never have I seen better service.  There was more staff than guests and they went out of their way for you.  We almost always had one of the pools to ourselves with a bartender which the kids thought was great.  In the evening the sports bar with the pool table was our private club.  They used what’s app so you could communicate with the staff at anytime or order food all day long. The kids loved this and Isaac particularly loved ordering buffalo wings and fries to the pool or room.  On our last night they did a special buffet for us and wanted to cook everything we liked. They even presented me with an incredible pulpo (octopus) and the table with a wonderful prawn plate.  The ocean water was the temperature of a warm bath with gentle waves and a beautiful Sandy bottom.  Great swimming and also a wonderful place to watch the spectacular sunsets before heading up for cocktails.

All good things do come to an end and with great memories we headed back to San Jose for our flights home.  We went on this trip knowing it was rainy season but really the spurts of rain we had in no way dampened our trip in anyway.  For myself I feel truly blessed that I have got to spend this time and share these memories with my family.

We passed several little stands set up along the road on our way to Gaunacaste

Seemed funny to see a stand selling cacti in a tropical country where there are cacti everywhere 

Charming cabins set on beautifully maintained grounds

As there were so few people at the resort this was our own private pool

Kayla worked at perfecting her headstands which will be a very valuable skill I am sure

Alanna chose to pose for the camera

Kayla got more artistic

Not a competition but is somewhat when you are sisters

Beautiful beach with wonderful warm water

Beautiful sunsets each evening before dinner

Howler monkeys visit the resort to entertain the guests

These so ugly that they are kind of cute iguanas were everywhere and would even hop up on chairs and tables to see if there was any left over food

Armadillo wandering the property 

These colourful land crabs were quite abundant and sometimes could be found on the bottom of the pool if they had made a wrong turn. We rescued more than one

Buffalo wings and fries was a favourite of Isaac’s especially 

Isaac trying his hand at pool

We also had the pool bar to ourselves each evening so the kids and Brad had a lot of fun with pool

Alanna even found a sloth on the beach

They prepared this magnificent octopus for us for our farewell dinner which would have fed 50

Another magnificent farewell sunset. What a stunning place to visit and what a welcome we received from such warm friendly people