Woohoo! It was the morning of the much awaited "Spice tour" at the "Villa Vanilla", a privately owned spice farm 10 km from Quepos. Adya and I had tentatively decided to do a small girls' outing when the trip was in the planning stages. While a spa day seemed intuitive, neither of us are "spa creatures". When I read about this tour in the Villa Tranquilas tour options, I knew this was the perfect "girls outing" for us, "culinary creatures" and it did not disappoint! We were ready at the scheduled pick up time of 8.30pm outside Maria, the Villa manager's office not realizing that "Tico time" can be off by 10 to 40 minutes! We still hung out with Maria as there was no point going back to whatever was cooking with the dads and the kids! Giselle at the Villa Vanilla started the tour with what goes into growing Vanilla beans, a tedious time consuming process that totally justifies the steep price of this delicate spice married to "Cacao" which we the chocoholics know as the fruit that gives the cocoa! The white meat encasing the cocoa beans tastes nothing like chocolate, was deliciously tart. A few workers were manually scraping off the bark of a particular tree that yields pure cinnamon. Walking through the beautiful farm, we could appreciate the bountiful flora of this place with orchids that completely altered our very limited idea of orchids, heliconia so exquisite that they appear fake, vanilla vines wrapping around trees with mountains in the back drop on a crisp and sunny Costa Rican morning. Our fellow travelers were culinary enthusiasts just like us, their enthusiasm echoing in the "wows" of their voices and the blissful expressions on their faces. The walk through the stunning farm ended in a gazebo like hideout overlooking stunning mountain vistas and believe it or not, it happened to be our "kitchen-cum-dining area"; the paradise for our taste buds when Giselle presented us with 4-5 delicious little treats made by the local pastry chef using home grown ingredients, most of which we learnt about on the tour. Flavors were bursting from every bite of the smooth and just perfectly tart cheese cake, cinnamon tea was had a tad bit of the sweet aroma from the cinnamon and the 'cocoa nibs' in the mildly sweet cookie left an indelible and insatiable mark on the taste buds!
All seven of us set sail on the "Planet Dolphin" catamaran in the afternoon. The weather could not have been more perfect; the fresh breeze from the vast and endless Pacific ocean was refreshing for some of us. However, others could not agree on this so much especially after the effects of the anti-emetic started waning off. Parishi thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the excursion including snorkeling in the ocean with Chinmay, jumping into the ocean from the water slide, but was toast towards the end during the jaw-dropping dolphin sighting in the ocean. Back at the villa, we decided to order in Pizza; the fresh fruit and pasta salad on the ship were more like a snack.
All seven of us set sail on the "Planet Dolphin" catamaran in the afternoon. The weather could not have been more perfect; the fresh breeze from the vast and endless Pacific ocean was refreshing for some of us. However, others could not agree on this so much especially after the effects of the anti-emetic started waning off. Parishi thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the excursion including snorkeling in the ocean with Chinmay, jumping into the ocean from the water slide, but was toast towards the end during the jaw-dropping dolphin sighting in the ocean. Back at the villa, we decided to order in Pizza; the fresh fruit and pasta salad on the ship were more like a snack.
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| NATURE'S MARVEL- HELICONIA |
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| PARISHI-CHINMAY SNORKELING |
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