March 12 & 13
After a year of planning and re-planning when our accommodation was cancelled due to a mud slide this winter, our family trip to Costa Rica is on. We planned this as trip to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary last year. We were hoping that the pandemic would run its course by now, and in some ways it has. We do these things on a regular basis as a family treat. Very curious what our trip for our 90th anniversary will look like.
Having traveled on American airlines lately, even before the pandemic, there was little service and on some flights only you could get an entertainment package if you had the app and the device to play it on. Air Canada surprisingly still had the individual screens and free movies, etc. Not that that mattered too much for me on this trip. Our flights went through the night, leaving Vancouver at 7:30PM for Edmonton, and then a few hours there before flying to Toronto and then on to San Jose, Costa Rica. Flying at night with a one year old and a four year old is always a good idea. The Edmonton to Toronto leg was rough, for the parents, not the grandparents, but other than that, the kids were great. I found myself too tired to watch TV, so it was a long trip struggling to catch a few short naps. I had to laugh at the security video before each flight which suggests that in the event of a possible crash, to bend over with your head on your knees and grasping your legs. The only way this position would work on a plane is if you cut your head off first and forget about putting your arms around your legs. You would have to also cut you body in half because there is no way to bend over that far.
Little did we know that most of the free world decided that this spring break, Costa Rica was the prefect place for a first trip after the major pandemic. The San Jose airport was jam-packed with people. We stood in a line to go through Customs that we estimated later was at least two hours long, if not longer. Our saving grace was those lovely grandkids. We were directed to go into a new line with other families with children under 6 years old. We bypassed hours of line up. Customs officers here are in no hurry despite the back up. It still took a while for our line. When we approached the officer with a group of seven, I thought it could take a while, but we went through surprisingly fast. And yet, our luggage was still not there for some time. It took about two hours to get out of the airport.
After a short nap we went to the pool. It was too cool for my liking, but our grandson was swimming in no time. The trees in front and around the pool were filled with scores of small parrots. The cacophony of squawking was incredible!
We made it safe and sound and apart from looking forward to the upcoming weeks, we are actually looking forward to bed!
March 14
Yesterday ended at 11PM. I was dead to the world by 11:05. After the complementary breakfast, we picked up our two vehicles, Outlanders, and headed to our VRBO accommodation, 3.5 hours away. With traffic jambs near San Jose, slow trucks, a must do stop a crocodile bridge ( a crossing at the mouth of the Tarcoles River where there are always crocs swimming or sunning, and lunch, we arrived in Uvita 5 hours later. We met the caretaker for the property, who was to lead us to our house, at a grocery store on the highway. He graciously offered to wait while we did a bit of shopping then he got on his ATV and lead us up the steep gravel road going up the mountain above town. We, (my son-in-law drove one vehicle), put our vehicles on 4 wheel drive and motored up the road. It was steep but the ground was solid so we got good traction. After several km., he stopped and told us we should now put our vehicles in 4 wheel drive mode. What! It did get much steeper after that and we carried on high into the jungle. Surprisingly, there were many properties along the way. Eventually we got to our house. It was tucked away into the rainforest and was very, very spacious. We had a great view, and the pool got the gold star Gerry rating for size and water temperature, a difficult standard to achieve. We enjoyed seeing fireflies after dark, swam under the stars and spent the whole night outside. The temperature was perfect! Don't miss Vancouver's rain at all!
It was interesting to see as the world is coming out of the pandemic strict restrictions that here we were still asked to show our vaccine cards in restaurants and everybody wore masks inside every place we went to. No protests or people tring to defy authorities. It felt very safe.
March 15
As warned by many reviews of this place, we woke up about 5:30AM to the sounds of howler monkeys and more bird calls than I have ever heard. This house has only one room with glass windows. All the other windows are open with mesh screens and can be shut off with locking bars. Therefore, the sounds outside can be heard everywhere. It was amazing. I got up at about 7:15 and went looking for birds. They were either gone or those that remained were little birds that flittered around high in the trees. A photographer's nightmare. Bird songs everywhere but no chance to take a picture. My efforts resulted only a Costa Rican squirrel, a purple dragonfly and several kinds of butterflies. Time to hit the pool.
We were spoilt at our last place in Costa Rica, where we seemed to live in a zoo. Toucans, aracaris, and other large birds visited regularly, and a huge variety of other birds and animals passed through every day, including having our own resident sloth. Though tucked further into the jungle, day one seemed to fall short only on the wildlife front. However, we heard so much wildlife from bed at sunrise and howler monkeys were not far away several times. Near sunset, 4 or toucans came by and a variety of birds suddenly moved among the trees and bushes.
We spent the day at home, relaxing by the pool. Very good day.
March 16
My weather app at home showed the forecast for this week being cloudy with lightning showers daily. But, like every other day, it was sunny and hot with temperature in the 33 to 35 degrees range. I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30AM to check out the many bird sounds outside. While I heard many calls that were new to me, the rotten aviary creatures were often small and hidden deep in the jungle foliage. I did see a few larger birds and got silhouettes of them in hopes I could salvage their identity on my laptop later. I saw a few toucans but for the most part it was a bust. I crawled back into bed for another 90 minutes. After a morning dip in the pool we hung around until after lunch to go to a beach recommended to us by Rolondo, the caretaker. We braved the steep gravel road down to the highway and headed 15 km. south to Playa Ventanas. It was a fabulous little cove with palm trees, local eatery booths and two caverns, one a tunnel where waves rushed through and spewed out. It is hard to believe but the ocean water was even warmer than our pool. It also seemed to be the muster station for pelicans gathering to fly north in formation. The grandkids loved playing in the waves and building sand castles and a sand turtle on the beach, in full shade! We may rename this beach. I suggested half moon beach but was told it should be full moon beach after a large wave hit me with my back turned. My shirt crawled up my back and as I tried to pull it down, I discovered that my shorts were almost down to the bottom of my butt. I have now been christened and we will be coming back here again.
We shopped before heading back up the mountain. At dusk four toucans paid their evening visit. We have enjoyed the evenings so much, sitting on the deck sipping our wine and no bugs whatsoever, if you ignore the giant grasshopper that tried to get in our place last night, or the giant moth that attacked my shoulder.
March 17
Today was my grandson's 4th birthday. I know because I heard him and his brother bouncing on his aunt at 7AM and he came bounding in to our bedroom at 8AM to make the announcement while I was on the toilet. Our day was devoted to him and I think he had a great time playing in the pool, opening presents and watching the movie "Wall E" together.. The only disappointment was when we went to our favourite restaurant in Dominical, 10 km. up the highway. We had talked for weeks, no months about how Opa loves mango smoothies and that we were going to the restaurant his dad loves where we will share a mango smoothie. The restaurant no longer makes smoothies. Then the favourite menu item was also gone. New owners, pandemic supply problems, who knows. We got back from Dominical late, meaning that we had to negotiate that rough mountain road in the dark. It actually went better than anticipated. We passed few cars and the headlights allowed you to know cars were coming well in advance. A few stretches of steep hill we still crawled with 4 wheel drive on and the pedal floored but we got up. I even saw all the major potholes.
March 18
After breakfast it was I took my oldest grandson on a bird watching walk. Because I always am looking for and photographing birds, I bought him a folding booklet with photos of the more common birds, animals and insects in Costa Rica. He was excited to go. It was already hot so there was not much to see but he did spot a small bird for me, a gnatcatcher, and was quite please. We of course also engaged in some pretty deep conversations for a four year old. Later, when his mom asked him what the highlights of the day were, the first was the bird watching with Opa. Good kid!
Late in the morning we drove most of the way down the rough, mountain road to where there was a waterfall attraction, Catarata Falls. We walked 10 minutes down a trail to the little river. There were a series of little pools and a waterfall at the end. You could climb up a ladder to the top of the falls, and slide down the falls. It was very high and there was a technique to doing it safely. A tour was there helping people go down while we went in the cool pool below and watched. Joanie and one of my daughters climbed up. The guides learned they were not part of the tour, and though they said they were not allowed to help them for liability reasons, they still gave instructions and everyone came down safely. We spent some time in one of the pools downstream. Afterwards we walked to the end of the trail where we had some drinks and a very late lunch. I had promised my grandson we would share a smoothie together in Costa Rica, because he had focused for months on how Opa loves smoothies and he wanted one too. We had our first mango smoothie together. Then we went through a small butterfly exhibit before heading home. Of course, with this bunch, we could not go home without filling a shopping cart again at the grocery store near by. It was a great day and ended with a visit from some guans, a large bird, at sunset.
March 19
The plan for the day was to go to the local market in Uvita, then visit Playa Hermosa, a beach we used to visit near Dominicalito. We drove around Uvita for a while before Google told us that the market was permanently closed. We went back to Dominical instead and shopped the local vendors near the beach. Today I thought I would try a mango smoothie. My grandson chose a papaya smoothie instead. A mistake. We then headed to Playa Hermosa for a picnic lunch for most of us, (a few sandwiches didn't make it out of the fridge), and beach play. The beach has a sand road just off the highway with parking under the trees. There are a few local vendors there, (I did buy a beach shirt), and there were umbrellas that could be rented. The waves were pretty big. We did have an incident. My two daughters went out to play in the surf and found themselves out a little farther than expected. They could no longer stand and the waves made it difficult to come in. There was a lifeguard who blew his whistle at them to come in and then got on a surf board to go after them. They were tiring and getting worried. However they did manage to get back on their own by swimming between waves. A little scary for all of us. The little ones enjoyed the surf as well and got completely covered in sticky sand. A spouse who will remain unnamed also tried a coco-loco, and very spirited drink served in a coconut.
March 20
Today was a stay at home day. I took my oldest grandson on another birding expedition and we were successful in finding several large guans. He was quite excited, especially taking a pair of binoculars along. He did say he liked to look through the wrong end to see things far away sometimes. I had hoped to avoid driving the 3 km. gravel road but we ended up going out for dinner in Uvita. We ended up in a pizza place we had visited several times before on previous trips. It was very good. We even saw a toucan outside. We got home after dark. I am getting used to driving this steep, winding gravel potholed road now, even in the dark. I was outside on the terrace when I noticed a large cicada sitting on the mesh near the door. I thought I would get a broom and shoosh it away. It got very angry, making loud cicada noises and going beserk, even attacking me. It took a number of attempts before I could finally get it on the ground and sweep it away. Then there was a large grasshopper on the screen. This one too resisted my advances to have it fly away. As we sat down for some drinks and a game of cards, a mouse went scurrying along the edge of the terrace. All in a day's work I guess.
March 21
Today was a special day. We were treated to a visit by a small aricari, a colourful type of toucan, after breakfast. We drove 1.5 hours to Manuel Antonio National Park. We got conned as we arrived despite warnings by the ticket agency. There were official looking people in guide uniforms directing traffic and pointing us to a parking area. I did question whether they worked for the park and they said they did. They claimed this was the closest parking to the gate unless you also hired a guide. We relented since at least our vehicle was protected. When we walked to the gate we knew we were conned. We found the large, half full parking lot near the gate, much closer than we were. I am sure these guys were not park employees and the 8,000 colones we paid was higher than what the park charged. Will know next time to ignore these guys.
It was a very hot day. We did the long walk along the trails looking for wildlife. Of course most of the time we relied on where groups of people who had guides gathered to look at something. The Dutch way to do things. We did find a three-toed sloth, white-tailed deer with fawns, a mother Costa Rican raccoon with babies, squirrel monkeys, white-faced capuchin monkeys, iguanas and some Jesus Christ lizards. (They run upright and appear to run on water). After lunch we spent a few hours at a wonderful beach with nice sand, calm warm water, plenty of shaded areas to sit and a stunning setting. Monkeys hang out here and commonly stole or begged for food until the park banned bringing in any food at all. It was hard to leave at the end of the day but my battle with wildlife continued. I was sitting guarding our belongings while the rest were in the water. A capuchin monkey came and grabbed the edge of our bag and went for a bag. Little did he know it was only diapers. We had a starring standoff before I was able to shoo him away.
It didn’t end there. In the evening we were again visited by a giant grasshopper who got inside. I was greatly entertained watching my daughters try to catch it. They had a garbage can to try and get him in and a blanket to cover it. I swept the giant bug and he did actually end up in the can. I told her it was in, and instead of covering it, she screamed and threw it in the air. Eventually it did attach to a broom and we knocked it off outside. (The next day the grasshopper was back with an even larger body guard.)
March 22
We went back to Ventanas Beach for the afternoon, and I did another bird watching session with my grandson before sunset. I did get chastised by a local parked along the rough road up the mountain for going to fast. It was part way up a steep section and I was doing all of perhaps 20 kph, but of course it was also very dusty. It looked like these people lived along this stretch and appointed themselves traffic police. Without the speed, if you call 20 kph speed, it would be difficult getting to the top of the hill, even in full 4 wheel drive. For the most part an uneventful day but very good, despite the nightly bugs getting bigger. There are now several large grasshoppers, large leaf bugs, the odd cockroach, and assorted other flying objects.
March 23
We babysat the grandkids for the morning as the others went on a whale/dolphin boat cruise in the Ballena Marine Reserve. They had a great time and the grandkids were great. After lunch we were visited by a troupe of howler monkeys. They frolicked and fed in the trees around our house and pool, and entertained us for hours. We left for a while but the monkeys were still there until dark. Even the one year old was excited, pointing up in the trees and telling everyone who would pay attention about the monkeys with squeals and grunts. The evening was busier than usual. My one daughter slept in the open sitting room. A cockroach and several very large grasshoppers managed to get inside, and she refused to go to bed as long as these demons threatened to attack her. One grasshopper was very elusive and we had to wait him out before he came out of his hiding spot. Even then, every time I had him and threw him outside, he would be back inside before I was. I did finally clean the place out of big bugs but the next morning, there was a loud streak when someone went for a paper towel and a large grasshopper was sitting on it. I managed to just pick him up, he was the length of my palm, and take him outside.
March 24
Being the last full day for our kids here, we went back to our favourite beach, Playa Ventanas after the littlest one's morning nap. The grandkids filled every body crevice with sand. We jumped in the waves. The water was not deep because it was a little risky going out too far. When I got home, the pockets of my shorts had a handful of sand in each. We went home to hit the pool and then clean up for a dinner outing. We drove down the mountain for the second time to go to a local restaurant, Don Rogers, which had an amazing view of the water and is a favourite for dining and watching the sunset. It was stunning and the food was good. The service was a little lacking. I ordered a mango smoothie, of course, and they forgot to make it. Even after calling the waiter over to remind him, my drink arrived when I was already half way through my chicken alfredo. We had few incidents with bugs at night because we discovered it was better to leave the front door closed because of holes in the screen door, and not to have the flood lights on.
March 25
Today was pack up day for our kids. The plan was for them to drive to San Jose, a trip of 3.5 to 4 hours where they would stay in a hotel across from the airport and fly home the next morning. We were staying in Uvita and would drive to San Jose the next morning to pick up our friends who were joining us for the next 18 days. That was the plan. Then it was discovered that with all the luggage and two children's seats in the back, there was little space left for the third adult. This had not been an issue because we traveled with two vehicles. I was asked if I would consider driving with them to San Jose and stay there for the night so there would be room in the vehicle. That would mean paying for a night when we already had a paid place to stay. I groaned. The thought of driving to San Jose when we had had planned on a quiet day alone was daunting. I find the drive long at the best of times, but even more I hate such drastic changes in plans without having time to think about them. Since we planned to drive to the airport the next day, my daughter suggested another alternative, that she stay here the night and we would go together to San Jose in the morning. (Our friends were arriving on the same plane that would bring the family to Toronto.) We decided to do that instead. That would be less inconvenient. At least that is what I thought. Of course, there goes any plans of skinny dipping after dinner. 😁
Since Canada had changed its COVID protocol to replace having a PCR test within 72 hours of departure to accepting antigen tests, the kids got tested yesterday and were all negative. Tonight, after a great dinner at a local restaurant, Los Laureles, we discovered that the drive to San Jose did not go well. At this point I don't know the details except there were traffic delays, and the trip ended up taking 6 hours. I confess I was a little happy we did not decide to go along today. My daughter then filled out her required ArrivCan app. She discovered that though the government had changed the requirements to accept antigen tests, the had to be done the day before departure, not 72 hours as applies to PCR tests. Suddenly we had a problem. The app asked if a negative test had been done, but did not require the results to be downloaded. She got a confirmation that she was cleared to come home. However, if she needed to show proof at either San Jose airport or Toronto, it would show the test being done with 48 hours, not 24. After some stressful exchanges between the kids, it was decided that the right thing to do would be to get a second test done at the San Jose airport. It was recommended that an appointment be made for 4 hours prior to flight time to ensure everything was OK. We booked a 9AM appointment. This meant leaving at 5:30AM in order to make sure we arrived on time in case of slow traffic and other delays. Our friends were not arriving until 11:20AM, and with Customs procedures, we were not likely to see them until closer to 1PM. The decision to wait until the next morning did not look so good now.
March 26
At 5AM I woke up to the sound of my alarm and the howl of howler monkeys. We were on the road at 5:30 with an untoasted peanut butter sandwich. It is surprising how many people are out and about at 6 in the morning. Nevertheless, the roads were relatively quiet and I made very good driving time, We arrived at the testing tent at the airport by 8:35. Testing went smoothly and fast by Costa Rican standards, and we were able to help mind our grandkids while their parents got tested. By 9:15 we said goodbye to the family a second time and were off to drive in circles looking for the nearby Walmart to pick up a few grocery items. With Google Maps we eventually found the store. I wonder what goes on there. There were many police officers in flack jackets stationed throughout the parking lot, including a K9 unit. Inside there was often at least one staff member standing at the end of each aisle. We also discovered that this store was no geared to tourists, as very few staff knew any English. Several times staff rattled away to us in Spanish as we looked blankly at them. After finally getting our first coffee of the day we went back to the airport and parked. We discovered that you could not go into the terminal, so everyone had to wait outside for arrivals. COVID protocols were strictly enforced. Everyone wore masks, even though this was outside. There was a waiting area near the exit and we were quickly chastised, I think, since it was in Spanish, because we stood next to some of the tour guides who were waiting to pick up clients. We had to stand on the footprints painted on the second row in order to observe safe distancing. Our friends fared better than we did earlier with Customs, and by 1PM we were on our way back to Uvita for a time of relaxing with a glass of wine and snacks. Despite some of the stress, and the frustration with complying with rules that were being abandoned in a few days, all went well and we were grateful for that.
March 27
We enjoyed a quiet day, just hanging around in the pool. It was another warm day but by late afternoon, darker clouds started appearing. We drove down the mountain to a restaurant we had been to before with the kids for burgers and patacones, a plantain based dish. During dinner it began to rain and lightning. We only heard a few peels of thunder but lots of lightning. It eased up as we made our way back up the mountain to our place. Soon after we got back, it poured. The torrential showers lasted for several hours and soon we lost our power. After sitting around a plate of lit votives, the power went back on, but internet was not restored until the next morning. We were a little concerned what all this rain would do to our road. By 10 o'clock we were all feeling ready for bed. One who will remain unnamed did go to bed for a while. With power on we were able to find our wine bottles and did get to bed by 12:30.
March 28
The morning after the storm the skies were blue and we had a wonderful beach day at Playa Ventana followed by more grocery shopping and a dip in the pool. We had BBQ burgers for dinner. The road was no worse for wear from the rain, in fact it was better because there was little dust.
March 29
This morning at 6AM I woke up to the loud sound of howler monkeys. They sounded like they were just outside our bedroom window, but they were not. In fact, while they were near, we could not see them. I did find a curassow, a large black bird with a strange yellow knob on it’s beak. After a quick breakfast we were off to Hacienda Baru, a wildlife reserve not far from us. It was a hot, humid morning. The weather apps have been telling us every day that we would have clouds and thunder showers and today was no exception. Rain ending around 9AM, except it was sunny. We enjoyed a nice walk and had our 10,000 steps before noon. We found a coati, which an amateur young couple described as an anteater. Come on, learn your wildlife! Then we came upon a troupe of probably 20 or more white-faced capuchin monkeys and they entertained us for some time. Some battles broke out to establish dominance when it came to eating prime leaves. We also found various lizards and iguanas. Surprisingly, we do not see these where we live, perhaps because we live up to high. We enjoyed a mango smoothie half way. Unfortunately, we did not find any sloths. It was good to get back into an air conditioned car and go to nearby Dominican, where we browsed the local wares and had lunch. I was struck by the fact that many of the obscene items we had seen on sale before were not here, or at least less obvious. Gone were the many shirts with the saying Pura f…ing Vida on them and most but not all carvings in the shape of phallic symbols were gone.
We went home to the comfort of our pool and I did scoff at the weather app which predicted rain by 6PM. To embarrass me, it did begin to rain at 6:02. However, after 10 or so drops, it was over. Another fantastic day.
March 30
After a leisurely breakfast and a discussion on the merits of asking my wife Jo to get up at 6 AM from now on, since this would increase my chance of getting good pictures of visiting aricaris, and some morbid picture taking of a dead bat we found in a very peaceful posture in our pool, we headed off to take the advice of the owner's visitor guide which said we could walk to a nice waterfall 10 minutes down the road. It even suggested taking lawn chairs to stay a while. We walked down the road which quickly became a leaf covered trail. The one warning I remember about piles of leaves in Costa Rica is never to step on them, and they may be hiding one of the many snakes that live here. That did not deter me. I followed everyone else so any snake we came across would either be detected by others or have a chance to get away. We did not see any. Good thing too because if we did I would have ??? We ended up at a tiny waterfall and small pool next to Oxygen O2, what appeared to be a posh resort. Not impressive in the least. Perhaps we needed to go up the stream a little but since the entire walk was down hill, and we were all soaking wet from sweat, this was not an option. We returned home to cool off. Then we packed our bags, headed to the grocery store where I should have opened up my own account, and then went for lunch and a visit to nearby Catarata Falls. This was much more impressive than the falls of this morning. We enjoyed cooling in the pond and then we went downstream a little for more cooling in another pond. The forecasted rain did not show up, but it was intermittently cloudy. However, we were well protected from the sun here. Before heading home, we were visited by a howler monkey. Since we had not had enough water for one day, we relaxed at home and in the pool. Another good day.
I should mention that the electronic age has even infiltrated Costa Rican wildlife. Every day we hear but never seem to see, a bird that sounds just like the beep of an electronic item warning you that the battery is about to die. It would be interesting to know what sound this bird made before all this electronic development.
March 31
After enjoying some a peaceful cup of coffee, we headed out to Bagel Time, a local bakery, for breakfast. It was very good. The forecasted clouds and thundershowers were very nice, with lots of sunny periods and dry weather throughout the day. After breakfast we headed out to Playa Lina, AKA Secret Beach, about 13 km. south of Dominical. We were introduced to the beach on previous trips here. The beach is a large sandy strip that goes on as far as the eye can see in both directions and the beach is lined with palm trees. You can park under the trees and enjoy the surf. Within minutes of sitting down we saw a pod of dolphins just behind the breakers. We spent many hours there. We were hoping that our pool would be fixed when we came home. For several days I had complained about something in the water that felt like needles pricking my legs in one area of the pool. After discounting the dreaded fresh water pool jellyfish I was at a loss what was going on. Others had not had anything and thought I was crazy. Then yesterday a few others stood where I noticed it and felt the same thing. We found it was right in front of the pool lights, which were not working but had what looked like corroded covers. Being the highly intelligent creatures we are, we soon concluded that the lights were giving off electrical charges. We also noticed that the past few mornings, the pool was covered in dead flies and yesterday we found a dead bat floating in the pool. Could they all have been electrocuted? Was I next? Google said that electrical shorts in pools can give off charges and could kill a person. Shocking, I know! We informed the care keeper and he sent an electrician today to work on it. All the pool related circuits were turned off and we were concerned that if he or she could not fix it, the pool might be out of commission. Not a pleasant thought in a hot, 35 degree climate. Alas, when we got home the pool pump was working and we did not get zapped in front of the pool lights.
For dinner we went back to Don Rogers, a restaurant with a great view of the whale's tail land formation and the sunset. I foolishly decided I did not need to take my nikon camera with zoom lens, after all, we were just going for dinner and the lens was too large for taking scenic pictures. Two minutes down the road from our driveway we stopped to see a beautiful toucan perched right beside the road, posing. Missed photo op. At the restaurant, which was up a dirt road off the highway, there were white-faced capuchin monkeys in the trees by the parking lot. We were one of the first in the restaurant which was a house with a view deck converted into a seating area for the restaurant. We chose the bar stools facing out over the garden area to the water below and the Balena Marine Park and Whale's Tail, which was mostly submerged except in low tide. There was a tree filled with white egrets. Then there were a few smaller birds, flycatchers, very close to me. One repeatedly flew up to catch insects then sit in my full view. The other danced on the nearest branch of a bush, singing and scoffing at me for not having my camera. Nature can be so cruel. On the dining side, my last experience here was not getting my mango smoothie until my meal was over half done. I thought we were in for more woes this time. I and my friend both ordered mango smoothies. Soon the drinks arrived and I was disappointed. First I thought it was Jo's drink but it was not. It was not coloured right to be a good mango drink, and the taste was a little bland. After a few drinks the waiter came by with two mango smoothies. They had made a mistake and given us papaya smoothies, so they were compliments of the house and we got the real mango smoothie. I guess that's karma. Little did I know that when I get a free second drink Jo gets a second margarita too. Who knew?
