This morning started early, as Demian picked me up at 6:30 am. We headed towards Caldora, where we had to top at Marco Julio Tensio's shop for Demian to get an Oyster tank fixed. We will then be taking the tank to Tamarindo Beach, for a new resturant that will be selling Oysters from Product C's Oyster Farm. We were at Marco's place for 2 1/2 hours, not becausee it took that long to fix the oyster tank, but because this is the Costa Rican way. Sit an talk awhile, work awhile, smoke a cigarette for awhile, work awhile. We finally left at 9:30 am for a 4 1/2 hour drive. I really enjoyed talking with Demian about everything from cooking to business to my children to his girlfriend.
Demian had told me since we were going to the beach, we would be staying at a place one step up from a shack. Not a problem, it's the beach right? We pulled into a resort, and Demian drove up to the security building. I asked him where we were, and he said that he had lied to me, that we were actually staying at a friend of his house. There really is no way to say it other than, it was by far the most beautiful place I have ever seen, much less stayed in. I had my own suite, which led out to an infinity pool.
Demian and I sat by the pool to relax for an hour, and then we headed for one of 5 beaches we visited while on our road trip. Costa Rica's beaches vary from beach to beach. Depending on the amount of volcanic ash in the sand, will tell what color the sand is. I saw almost black sand, and I saw almost blonde sand.
Demian had not been to this beach for 10 years, so it was neat to see the excitement and then shock at how much the area around the beach had changed. We stayed at that beach just a few minutes and then we headed to Playa Grande so that Demian could surf. He is really good. I had difficulty keeping track of him out in the water, due to the waves breaking so far away from shore. We stayed at the beach until the sun set, and I was able to photograph the sun setting at different settings. We left the beach and at the truck we both changed into clothes for dinner. It reminded me a lot of my camping days, when we would open the doors and change in between. We went to a local restaurant, on the beach and had a wonderful dinner of whole Pargo, deep fried. A young woman brought a bowl filled with essence of lime, hibiscus flowers and beach almond leaves in ice water, for us to wash our hands in. The lady then dried our hands for us with a towel she had brought along with her to our table. After our dinner, she returned to our table with a small wooden bowl with two minature discs, over which she poured boiling water from a tea pot. They were "magical" towels that once wet, the disks transformed into hand towels.
The next morning we left the Resort at 7 am for Playa Avellanas. The trip to the beach was rather short, but really bumpy. When we arrived at the beach, Demian introduced me to the owner of the beachside restaurant Lola's. We stayed there until 12:00 pm and then headed to Tamarindo Beach, to install the oyster tank that we had brought with us on the trip. When we arrived, Demian introduced me to Candace, the owner of the restaurant. He told me it would take an hour to an hour and a half to get the tank in, and if I wanted to, I could walk around town and explore. It was a neat beach town, but very touristy. Souvenirs everywhere, which I of course had to contribute my part to the local economy in order to bring something back for my family. Before we lefft the beach, Demian said that there was someone that wanted to say hello to me, so we headed over to a parking garage, that led to a high rise. As we got off the elevator, a door at the end of the hall opened, and out walked Norman, one of the owners of Product C. I was able to meet Norman's wife, and his two children, and of course the nanny. We had a wonderful time getting to know each other, and I had the opportunity to share my experience here in Costa Rica. That evening on the way back to the Resort, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few things to cook back at the house.
Lest you think that all I did was sit on the beach, play in the water, read my book and eat like a queen, I will tell you that this was also a working trip. Lessons were learned about the Oyster Farm that Product C owns, which provides Oysters to both Product C restaurants, wholesale and retail, and now a new resturant that will be opening soon in Tamarindo Beach; the salt mine that Product C gets all thier salt for both restaurants; and the Fishing Company that Product C gets all of it's fresh caught fish from.
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