Skip to main content

To Villas Nicolas II

December 28, 2009

We breakfasted, got ready, checked out, and headed for Manuel Antonio in the BeGhetto. The drive was not so bad this time as the weather was beautiful and the scenery was lovely. Though the crazy drivers were still out, and in abundance, when you reached the paved road. (And the dogs were plentiful on the unpaved roads!)



lots of twists and turns

Lake Arenal in the background

along the eastern coast

We arrived at the hotel and dropped off our stuff in the room (#2), then we were going to drop off the rental car. One thing we realized at Villa Nicolas is that the specific room they put you in makes all the difference. We stayed in a type 3 room again, but this "ocean/jungle view" was far more jungle than ocean, and the room itself couldn't hold a candle to the one we had on the first trip. Again, these villas are all owned by different people and, thus, decorated differently, and this one to us was lacking. It was decorated poorly and the fixtures and appliances were pretty ghetto. That all being said, I still like this place and still would recommend it, but I'd ask for a different room, and I'd go during the low season.

tacky florescent light in the step-up bedroom, c'mon!

they love the towel art

The pictures actually make it look pretty nice. (And really, it wasn't that bad.)




the patio is nice, but, again, not much of an ocean view

 ocean view, courtesy of a ZOOM lens

So Nick is upset about the room. I'm upset about Nick being upset about the room. The mood is one of disappointment and hope that the trip is going to get better fast. On our way to the Adobe office, I see a cat on top of an abandoned building and would like to get a picture. So I'm setting up the camera, and I get a damn FEE error again - this happened in Monteverde - so I gotta take off the lens and put it back. We drive past because I'm throwing a temper tantrum, frustratingly putting the camera back in the bag. But the cat beckons, and we stop. I trudge over the rocky road to get to the right spot and take the picture, after more frustration with the autofocus. (Sigh.) Got it.



Then I cooled off a bit...


(FYI - We didn't have to get gas the entire way. It was $42 for a fill-up at the office, bringing the rental car bill to $426 for 3 full days. Sorry, that's too much for that crappy car.)


When we got back to the hotel, we sat outside by the pool. It was nice to relax outside as the sun set...

symbiotic

it's the same cat from last time! drinking pool water...


And with the sun setting, that means...

bats!

Back in our room, I made spaghetti. We had bought a can of Prego, garlic, salt, ground beef, pasta and cheese at the grocery store down the street, and I had packed a small container of olive oil. The water took FOREVER to boil on that stove. It was good though.

* * *

Villas Nicolas from the previous trip

next post >> Damas Island Mangrove Boat Tour
previous post << Adventures in the Treetops!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chiropterophily: Bat Pollination

I see you! Geoffroy's tailless bat (Anoura Geoffroyi) - photo by Nathan Muchhala Ever since coming across this word, I can't stop saying it: chiropterophily. Chiropterophily, or pollination of plants by bats, is very common in the tropics. Hundreds of tropical plant species are exclusively or at least partly pollinated by nectar-feeding bats. Many tropical flowers are night-blooming, specializing in attracting bats. Bat-flowers are typically white, cream, or pale green in color, making them easier to see in the dark. They usually have a musky, fermented odor - like that of the bat - or sometimes a fruity odor. They have a large, sturdy, open shape with long, bushy anthers so that the bat's head and chest get coated in pollen when it visits. In return for the bat pollinating the flower, the flower provides the nectar that these high-energy flying mammals need.* Tube-lipped nectar bat (Anoura fistulata) - photo by Nathan Muchhala Nectivorous bats have both good eyesight an...
1 comment
Read more

Eyeshine in Nocturnal Animals

Peters' Epauletted Fruit Bat (Epomophorus crypturus), Kruger National Park - photo by Peet van Schalkwyk Have you ever noticed how under certain lighting conditions some animal's eyes seem to glow? Animals that are nocturnal hunters - and a few of them that are not - have something called eyeshine . Eyeshine is the light that we see reflected back from the animal's tapetum lucidum (a membrane behind the animal's retina). Light enters the eye, passes through the retina, strikes the reflective membrane, and is reflected back through the eye toward the light source. This phenomenon makes the most of what little light there is at night for these nocturnal creatures. a moth with pink eyeshine Humans can display the red-eye effect in flash photography, but we do not have a tapetum lucidum , and thus, do not have eyeshine. Eyeshine is best observed by wearing a head lamp or holding a flashlight at eye level against your temple because the light is reflected right back into ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Leaving Bosque del Cabo

January 4, 2010 We woke right before dawn. The howler monkeys were especially vocal this morning (or perhaps we just slept through the loud parts the previous mornings). We got ready then had a super quick breakfast of granola and fruit. The staff packed us some sandwiches for later. I selected avocado; Nick selected the pb&j deluxe. Eric drove us to the small, regional airport in Puerto Jiménez. It was a quiet ride; we were sad to go. We were fortunate to be able to stay 6 days; but even in this amount of time, we didn't do everything we wished to, like hike down to the beaches, hike to the waterfalls and the take the zipline tour. As we continued down the road, we passed the signpost to Lapa Rios, the lodge we had stayed at the previous year. Which was better? I hate to make such comparisons, as each of these places holds a special place in our hearts. Lapa Rios was the climactic end to our very first trip to Costa Rica. It was during the rainy seaso...
1 comment
Read more