I froze all night while I slept. I was suprised how much cooler it was up in the jungle/woods. This was the only time during the trip when I had to turn off the fans and grab blankets.
I didn't mention that I saw an enormous amount of iguanas at this hotel. Very cool. We would have to watch where we stepped because a 2-foot iguana would just be sitting there in the middle of the walkway. We heard a howler monkey during the middle of the night that I swear was on the porch. This was the first time we really heard one and knew what it was. I don't know what I thought they would sound like, but not like this. They sounded like dying lions. Painful roars. They would be so loud, too. Most of the time we heard them when the sun was rising, but sometimes at night, also.
We had breakfast at Blue Jay. Breakfast was simple but good. Included in the hotel price. Actually, everyplace we stayed, except Milarepa, included breakfast. One other girl was down there and we talked to her for a while. She comes to Malpais for three weeks every winter so she was giving us her favorite places. She had great things to say about the surf shop Corduroy, that I already mentioned. When she was here in January she asked them to make her a custom surfboard and she picked it up this trip. I think she said it cost $600, which seemed good for the intricate paint job they had done. In addition, to telling us that Buenos Aires and Tropico Latino were good, she told us about a restaurant down the road that we had to try.
LUNCH at SODE de PIEDRAS MAR
I LOVED THIS PLACE. This was the place that the chic at Blue Jay Lodge recommended. It is a little restaurant literally on a rocky beach, feet from the water. We went at high tide and the water came crashing over the rocks. There is a little break in the rocks so when a wave came in it would blast through the rocks. All locals and us. Cheap good food. Amazing location. Right near the entrance way up to Casa Chameleon. Maybe a mile down the road from Blue Jay? We sat here for quite a while just relaxing and staring at the water.
TUANIS
Someone else posted about this place. Very cool surf chic shop. I went there to sign up for surf lessons with Lore for Friday. I ended up buying a cheap sarong here because we didn't take any beach towells with us. Blue Jay had given us plenty of extras, but at Milarepa we had nothing to use on the sand. I bought a sarong and laid on it on the sand.
MILAREPA
After lunch we checked in to Milarepa. It is a couple miles down the road. Right next to Florblanca. One suggesstion. Josh said that because of how steep the driveway is, we wouldn't have made it to the parking lot without a high clearance car.
The place was full (all 4 villas) the whole time we were there. Our villa number one was the furthest from the beach and opened towards the restauarant/bar which had it's good and bad. I didn't feel like we could leave the wall to the bedroom open, because everyone at the restaurant could see us. The good part was that on the last night they had live music and we could hear it on our porch perfectly.
I have mixed feelings about this place. My husband loved the villa. It was gorgeous. The bed was be far the most comfortable bed we had. I just didn't feel like it was as warm. We felt a little out of our league here. It was obviousl everyone else had money here. A musician was staying here and we felt a little ignored. Which is fine with us, but felt guilty not eating at the restaurant...
I think we would have preferred staying somewhere with more of a local flare? However, the restaurant manager was super nice and they are doing some cool things on the grounds. The outdoor showers are very inventive and unobtrusive.
They did have the cutest 3 month old pit bull puppy here. Everywhere we stayed, the animals seemed drawn to us. The puppy would never leave me alone. Whenever we were on the grounds, he was right at my heals.
BUENOS AIRES drinks
We decided to head up to Buenos Aires for dinner and to watch the sunset. I must say that the views up here were as amazing as everyone had told us. The sunsets were so different than what we have seen before. The sun is so clear and defined as it sets. We had drinks here . They told us that the kitchen didn't open until 5:40. It seemed like a random time to us, but it might be that they don't open until sunset - about the same time. The menu was a little pricier than other places so we decided to explore another restaurant. We like to try as many places as possible!
AL CHILE VIOLA
We like trying as many different places as possible so we moved on to this place that was recommended on here. Very romantic. I thought it had a middle eastern feel. Apparently Wendesdays are their big night with live music. We heard it was packed the night before. They have pizza nights on Sundays, too.
I had great lasagne. The menu said meat or veggie, but I didn't get a choice. I think they make one or the other each night and then warm it up. My husband had raviolli but the gorgonzola sauce was a bit rich. Pretty good, though. They have about half a dozen sauces that you can pick from. The salmon sauce sounded tastey, too.
More expensive here but a nice atmosphere. We saw several groups come in, look at the menu and leave.
MILAREPA DESSERT
We got back to Milarepa and had to go get our keys back from them. Our plumbing did not work the whole time. We had them fix it twice and it still wasn't right. Josh had to climb int he bushes to shut off the water to make the shower stop. They never even apologized to us for the inconvenience.
When we were grabbing our keys they asked us if we wanted to have dinner. Josh told them we already had eaten. He came back to the room and look puzzled. It told me that he thought that one of the guests was a pro snowboarder - the owner of Holden. We decided to go have dessert! We get down there and Josh kept trying to get my attention. I was embarrassed because there were only 2 other tables of people and I thought he was going to make a seen. Josh says that once he saw the guy without his shirt he realized it was Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers. He never talked to him because he didn't want to call him Flea and he couldn't remember his first name. I have no idea what this guy looks like, but Josh says he is 100% sure. I went to bed happy that I wouldn't have to be wearing my Holden shirt around for the next two days.
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