Good Friends, Gourmet Food and Golf!

Tico chefs

What a whirlwind of activity, travel and parties the last two weeks have been for us! It’s hard to know where to start on our various adventures. There was Francis and Brian’s excellent backyard party mentioned in my last post. We enjoyed dancing to the live music and nibbling on our friend Marcial’s delicious Italian sausages, grilled to perfection by a couple of happy Ticos, plus chicken, veggies, beer and wine. Lots and lots of wine! We met so many of our Santa Eulalia neighbors and several hours into the event, Daniel, my publisher from The Costa Rica News (TCRN), joined us at the festivities. After the music ended and we were satiated with food and wine, Daniel and Layne and I returned to our house for another hour of convivial chat. Oh, and more wine.

Earlier this week we joined a crowd of expats at Mark and Nancy’s lovely home in Guacimo where we enjoyed more good food and wine and made lots of new friends. Then last night we taxied into Atenas with Marcial and his lovely wife Sadie to Colinas del Sol for a wine tasting party featuring the excellent imports of our friends Shannon and Rolando along with delicious appetizers from the restaurant and Marcial’s great sausages again. We saw so many friends there, including our dear former landlords Odie and Eduardo and our former upstairs neighbor Linda. It was a festive evening!

But the high point of recent days was undoubtedly our visit to Hacienda Pinilla, a stunning 4500-acre beach resort and residential community near Tamarindo in Guanacaste province on the Pacific Coast. If you think the place looks nice on their website, you should see it in person. The long-time owner, a North American from Georgia, has developed the property with a commitment to keeping as much of the land and beaches natural and environmentally pristine as possible. They plant thousands of trees each year, preserve acres and acres of the land in its original condition and in many ways, encourage ecological practices in the hotel, the restaurants and in the building practices used in new construction.

The Beach Club

Our bedroom 

Recycling at La Posada Hotel, Hacienda Pinilla

A mention of golf in my column in The Costa Rica News some months ago led to our visit. Their charming young sales director Cynthia apparently read my article, then contacted me and offered a complimentary stay so that we could experience their golf course and other amenities first-hand. How’s that for a stroke of good fortune?

Putting on the 15th hole

And speaking of strokes, I think the Adams Golf clubs that Hacienda Pinilla loaned us for our round took at least a stroke per hole off my game. I was hitting them long and straight. Although I prefer my own Cobra driver (which is, unfortunately, in a bag in Portland, Oregon, at the moment), I really liked the hybrid 5-iron for fairways shots. Over and over, I turned to that club for distance and accuracy. I was also pretty wowed by the putter, which helped me get a par three from a lie just off the green probably seven yards from the cup. Between the broad open fairways and smooth true greens of Hacienda Pinilla and those Adams clubs, I almost felt like a “real” golfer. And when we came to the spectacular oceanside 15th hole, we could imagine what it’s like to play Pebble Beach.

After golf we returned to our big, comfortable suite and were delighted to find a bottle of champagne and birthday greetings for Layne, courtesy of Cynthia, since Saturday the 10th was his big day. Later that evening we enjoyed sipping the bubbly as we gazed up at a full moon above. So romantic!

Then there was the food. Oh. My. Goodness. Gourmet hardly tells the tale. As usual when faced with a huge selection of appetizing options, making the decision of what to eat at each meal was the hard part. Although a tough choice, I’d say my favorite was the Herb-crusted Tuna with Ginger-Basil Aioli that I had at lunch at the Beach Club the first day. It was just delicious. Layne took the chef’s recommendation, Garlic Sea Bass, also excellent. We both so enjoyed the Fried Calamari appetizer with its delicate batter and spicy dip that we had it again the second day.

The Conchal Hotel pool 

Simon and Hilda

When we reluctantly left Hacienda Pinilla, we drove north about forty-five minutes to the tiny beach town of Brasilito and spent the night at the Conchal Hotel, a charming little boutique lodge just a short walk from funky Playa Brasilito, Run by a delightfully low-key couple, Simon and Hilda, it was the perfect place to unwind and relax after the busy two days at the resort. And while we thought the food was good at Hacienda Pinilla, we were simply amazed at the fabulous fare at the Conchal’s cozy Papaya Restaurant. Chef Hilda serves a marvelous array of gourmet seafood and vegetarian dishes. Our one night there was not nearly enough to enjoy all the area offers; we certainly hope to go back soon for a longer visit.

So now we’re home and trying to settle back into our routine, with the feria tomorrow morning, the organic market on Saturday and my TCRN column due next week. But we made enough memories in the last week to sustain us for a while. Pura Vida!

Tico Kids' Parade and Jazz in the Jungle

It’s 2:30 p.m. and the rain is pouring down, accompanied by flashes of lightning and loud thunderclaps uncomfortably close by. The computers are unplugged to protect against surges and the lights flicker now and then, but so far so good. In all likelihood, the storm cell will pass over and within an hour or so, the skies will clear. Such is life in the tropics.

We’ve had a busy few days, what with Independence Day celebrations last week and a Sunday afternoon luncheon in a trendy jungle hideaway with a jazz band over the weekend. My volunteer work with the Partido Verde Ecologista (Green Ecological Party) has also picked up steam, so all in all I’ve had little time for blogging lately. Still, I much prefer to be busy than bored so I’m not complaining, especially when the activities are so much fun.

On Independence Day last Thursday, Layne and I hadn’t planned to go into town for the parade but as we started out on our morning walk, we realized we’d probably hit downtown just about parade time. And sure enough, as we approached the Parque Central (Central Park), the youth groups, including drum and xylophone corps, twirlers and marching flag troupes, were circling past the Municipal Building where dignitaries sat. The entire parade is made up of children, it seems, all decked out in the red, blue and white of the Costa Rican flag. I was so pleased to see one large group of children carrying environmentally-oriented signs stating the value of medicinal plants, environmental education, “a tree for a child” and other messages regarding ecology. This year’s crowd was much larger than last year, with layers of people standing six or eight deep along the sidewalks, craning their necks to see the colorful procession. We wandered along and ended up on an elevated sidewalk with a good view alongside our good friend and beautician Mariana.

We watched and took photos for a few minutes before hiking on to our destination, a small Tico neighborhood on the backside of the cemetery. We had looked at a house for rent there recently and thought there might be others in the vicinity. Indeed, one newer Tico house tempted us as the price for a 2 bedroom, 1 bath was only about $300 per month. Once again, it was the kitchen that was inadequate for my spoiled Gringo tastes, but clearly you can find bargains if you look around.

That afternoon we taxied up the hill with Mariana for an Independence Day dance party at a lovely resort and event space called Roma Vista. Our friend Marcial, the sausage maker, was there grilling his fine meats and other Ticos were on hand with picadillo, a typical Costa Rican dish of well-seasoned potato hash folded into a tortilla.

Our festive table!

Although the rains kept the faint-hearted away, there was still a respectable crowd of about 200 people who braved the weather and enjoyed the festivities. We sat with our friend Melanie, who runs an excellent restaurant in Atenas, the Balcon Café (Balcony Café), and her husband and a couple of her Tica wait staff. Plus, we made new friends of Dennis and Suzanne, a charming couple from the States who have settled here in Atenas. It was a suitable way to celebrate Costa Rica’s 190th birthday.

Sunday morning found us heading up the hill once more, this time with our friends Sally and Leonard to take in some live music at Vista del Valle, a spectacular resort and restaurant between Grecia and Naranjo. A colorful Gringo friend named Joe is the drummer for an accomplished jazz band that plays at Vista del Valle the third Sunday of each month. Sitting there enjoying the beautiful mountain views, relishing the lively music, savoring good food and laughing with friends -- Sally said it best: “This is why we live in Costa Rica!”