More on Grand Papagayo

I probably haven't done justice in my past post about the resort and particularly the beach so I'll expand here. First thing first.....the front desk staff here should get in sync with the rest of the resort staff....they are disorganized and don't actually leave a good first impression upon arrival. Getting beyond that, the restaurant, bar and activities staff are fantastic. With the resort situated on a cliff, they have transportation trucks that will drive you around the resort if you want. The resort grounds are pretty large so there can be a lot of walking (or riding the transport trucks) if your building is located far from the main lobby and restaurants like our building was. We had an ocean view room and I must say it had one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in away from home. The room was very spacious with lots of storage space, a little sitting area inside and on our balcony. There was even a drying rack built into the balcony wall. Bottled water, a couple sodas and beer are provided daily to your mini fridge. They recommend bottled water for consumption, but tap water is OK for brushing your teeth. I drank some tap water and nothing bad happened. With the constant heat, AC is a must and that didn't help me getting over a cold I must have caught at Christmas; the darn thing stuck around all week and Z ended up with it too.

We were in building 14 which is situated atop one of the highest points of the property and farthest away from the lobby and restaurants. This gave us plenty of walking opportunities and plenty of hill training. The resort houses roughly a couple hundred guests and so you run into the same people quite frequently. The other guests were a mix of mostly Canadian, some American and European; a lot of couples and some bigger family groups. It's certainly a different atmosphere being adults only and being a non-smoking resort is awesome, though some guests don't seem to understand that. The resort's Wi-Fi is pretty spotty, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because it forces you to relax, interact with people, and take in the incredible beauty of the surroundings.

The grounds themselves are full of wild life because the resort is situated in a mountainous jungle. We've seen plenty of different bird species including the yellow-throated euphonia, storks, and the very beautiful white-throated magpie jay. 

There is a family of monkeys living in the trees on site; they move around and you'll never know where you'll see them. One day we saw about 10 monkeys enjoying their tree leaf dinner just down the hill from our building. Your typical tropical geckos, brightly coloured butterflies and other little critters are in abundance as well.

Our beach provides a great place for sun bathing and pure relaxation. There are trees that line the back of the beach area and these provide some great shade from the sun. The sand as I mentioned is very compact due to the tide movements and at high tide the beach is covered completely. The sand is fine grey with black volcanic streaks to it. It extends with a gentle slope into the ocean. The ocean does not get deep too quickly particularly during low tide which is when we spent all our time there. There are some volcanic rocks on the ocean floor and these provide great snorkelling areas. We've seen a vast variety of different fish here and probably would say it's one of the best places to see so many different types. On snorkel day 2 the water was a little more choppy due to the winds but the morning still provided excellent snorkelling and good visibility. We didn't venture out too far due to the chop but still got to see a lot....it's a magnificent aquarium down there with thousands of fish and limited amounts of coral. We got to see puffer fish, needle-nose fish, rainbow fish, black and purple fish, a bright blue and yellow fish, yellow with black zebra strips fish and unfortunately for Z a jelly. As we were making our way out of the water Z unluckily got stung by an unseen jelly on the inside of his arm. :( I didn't know until we got out of the water and he said something stung him...the beach staff weren't around so he had to run to the pool snack bar and get some vinegar to treat it. Thankfully the jellies here aren't lethal, just a pain in the butt, or arm in Z's case. The area looked pretty nasty when he showed it to me...the spots swell up and kinda looked like really badly infected mosquito bites. Seems as though there is always something that causes some extra "excitement" on our trips that involve either a minor illness or injury of some sort. And if that wasn't enough, I've been very lucky to have gone through life this far without being stung by a bee and in fact was boasting about it recently....but my luck ran out here...I was sitting on the beach and felt something on the back of my arm. I started to swat at it and I either aggravated the bee or pressed it into my arm and it stung me....my first bee sting. Thank goodness they had vinegar at the beach which Z applied and it bought the swelling down pretty quick. That will teach me about boasting.

When the tide is out you can go for a walk on the exposed rock and volcanic rock beds to the left of the resort...you can walk quite a distance but be sure to know when the tide is coming in or you'll be in trouble because there is no dry land for you to get back. The afternoon also brings in the trade winds and there are occasional fierce wind burst that will blow anything away that isn't either heavy or tied down....I had my hat blown off a few times and had to go chasing after it.

The food at the resort has been good with a good variety of choices each meal at the buffet and pool snack bar. Generally the dinners were themed while breakfast and lunch was a mix of Costa Rican and North American dishes. The resort hasn't mastered dessert though (maybe a job waits for me here). Not necessarily a bad thing because we have been over indulging on food and beverages without even hitting the dessert table. Coffee on the other hand is absolutely delightful!! My first sip put me in coffee heaven....SO amazingly great tasting! I even enjoyed a couple cups of black coffee in our room. Can't wait to make Costa Rican coffee back home! We've enjoyed some really fantastically sweet tasting pineapple And some not so sweet cantaloupe. The papaya is definitely some of the best I've had and the watermelon has been hit and miss. I can't get enough of the staple rice and beans...I could eat this every day. We tried two of the a la carte restaurants...The Oriental and The Italian. We enjoyed The Italian the best but I have to say they did make a good Kung Pao Chicken.

We stayed here over New Years which is a big deal down here. The resort went all out to put on a New Years Eve gala event. All hands on deck that day and into the evening celebration. They had all guests sign up for a buffet dinner sitting. The dinner had a large spread of food. They served roasted pork, fish, turkey, chicken and beef as the meat options plus a bunch of different sides and salads. And for once they actually had a couple desserts which tasted good. During the day they converted the pool deck into the evening entertainment area by setting up tables and chairs (dressed with chairs covers and bows). They brought in a live band and had some clown performers, a couple were on stilts doing some crazy tricks like hand stands, while a couple others were fire juggling. They had a large dance floor set up with the countdown clock. The staff were very attentive and ensured all guests were taken care of with drinks. They handed out Happy New Year hats to the men and headbands to the ladies along with noise makers. Shortly before the strike of midnight they handed out glasses of champagne. There is also a tradition in Costa Rica which entails eating 12 grapes in the last 12 seconds of the year to receive good lick for the upcoming year, so we all received a bag of twelve grapes. They didn't actually make us try and eat all the grapes thankfully. Z timed me eating one of the very large grapes in my bag and it took me 15 seconds just to eat the one. The outdoor party lasted until 1am and then continued on in the disco. Earlier on New Years after we returned to our room after spending the day at the beach, we discovered a pleasant surprise in our room. We returned to find a bottle of rum, a beautiful hand painted wood plaque and a card wishing us a Happy New Year. What a lovely touch!