We started our dinner by ordering two rounds of Green Monsters, a specialty cocktail made with cacique, the local liquor, and a bold green liqueur (and what a fantastic name, right?).
Arenas’ chef prides himself on using the garden’s ingredients in many of his daily dishes, and for what the staff can’t grow themselves (such as the grass-fed beef or the sea bass), they buy locally-sourced from farms and fishermen. Like its commitment to beach sustainability, Flamingo is also dedicated to land sustainability, growing an abundance of its own fruits, vegetables, and herbs right on location at the resort’s organic farm. Costa Rica tends to have that kind of effect-the tranquil, contemplative effect-on people.Īfter we sat for some time, we walked the few feet back to the resort and decided to have a late-night cocktail and dinner at Arenas, the resort’s Spanish-style hacienda beachside restaurant, which is open until 9:00 most nights.
We talked about our honeymoon so far, about our dreams to come back to Costa Rica, about our excitement for the catamaran cruise we’d be taking the next day. Not knowing any of this, though, we still sat in the sand, awed by the organic fireworks show happening all around us. The residents of Playa Flamingo are incredibly proud of their commitment to their beaches and to the long-term sustainability of their land, plants, and animals, and as it would seem, the Margaritaville Beach Resort Playa Flamingo is most certainly a part of this commitment. In order to combat the harsh effects of tourists on the ecology of its beaches, a number of Costa Rica’s preeminent organizations (such as Costa Rica Tourism, the National Water and Sewer Service, the Ministry of Public Heath, the Environmental Ministry, and the National Tourism Chamber), joined Blue Flag’s efforts to create a inter-institutional program that would require eligible areas to meet at least 90% of its minimum requirements by the end of each year.Īmong other criteria, the program tracks aspects such as microbiological quality of the ocean’s water, the quality of coastal sanitation (i.e., the lack of garbage, the availability of garbage and recycling receptacles, the way run-off water and industrial waste is treated, etc.), and the kinds of environmental education programs that are offered in the local school systems. The program itself was created in 2002 in response to the fear of beach pollution as a consequence of irresponsible tourism. Plus, Playa Flamingo is a special beach: not only does it proudly hold the designation as one of Costa Rica’s Blue Flag beaches, it is protected and conserved by the staff at the Margaritaville Beach Resort Playa Flamingo and has the softest powdery sands I’ve ever put my feet in.Īs we would later learn, the Blue Flag Ecological Program is an extremely coveted designation. After a few days of adventure travel and organic farming, we were more than ready to spend some time in the sand on our beach towels, snorkeling with the sea turtles, and swimming in the ocean. We’d spent the first few nights with TAM Travel at the base of the Arenal Volcano, the next one in Monteverde, and we’d just arrived at the Flamingo Beach Resort, where we’d be staying for the next two nights. We sat down cross-legged in the cool sand and simply watched the magnificence of nature.Īnd so began part three of our Costa Rican honeymoon. But then, the storm became a kind of fireworks in the sky, a brilliant symphony of white flashes, lighting up cloud formations, highlighting the coastline, illuminating the twinkling lights across the ocean and along the coast.
This is the kind of view we saw as we kicked off our shoes, stretched our legs from the 4-hour drive from the Monteverde cloud forests, and walked in the cool sand along the Margaritaville Beach Resort Playa Flamingo.Īnd then, as we walked, the lightning storm began.įirst, it was little more than quick flashes of light breaking up the dark sky flecked with starlight. This Pacific beach sky is literally covered in stars, a lot like the star patterns I’m used to seeing up in northern Idaho, where there aren’t a lot of lights and where there’s almost nothing obstructing the view.
And never any stars.īut not this Pacific Coast. Nights walking up and down the Del Mar beaches in northern San Diego, evening strolls along the boardwalk in Santa Barbara, dimly-lit drives up the coast to Carmel-by-the-Sea….they are all simply covered in coastal fog, that defining atmosphere of the West coast beaches.
#Hoteles en playa flamingo costa rica full#
We arrived at Playa Flamingo to a beach full of stars.įor us, the Pacific Ocean beaches have never had stars-at least visible ones, that is.
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