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We weren´t expecting Tamarindo to be all that as according to the guide books it is built-up and very Americanised. So we were very pleasantly surprised when we turned up that afternoon from Tortuguerro to find a large gorgeous palm-fringed beach with white sand and very few people. The town is also very pretty. Yes it is Americanised in a sense that there are a ton of expensive boutiques and souvenir shops, and most of the real estate is owned by Americans, but from what I´d read in the books I was expecting something like Spain with those awful beachfront highrises and loud pumping music all day long...not so...so we stayed 4 nights instead of 3. Each day we enjoyed the spectacular Pacific sunset, sipping the most amazing mango drinks we had ever had (100% pure thick mango juice). In the evenings they added rum to them...yum! We also enjoyed swimming in the sea and lazing in the sun quite a lot. The waves were big and there are a ton of surf shops throughout the town offering surf lessons, but we decided to give that a miss and engage in other activities:
On the first day we went on
a canopy tour as Lorna wanted to zipline through the trees. I have to admit it wasn´t as spectacular as the ziplining in Monteverde and I also felt a bit less sturdy (!), but it was a fun day. Mostly because before the actual ziplining, the Costa Rican guys got us (3 girls) to individually sit on a large can attached by rope between 2 trees and pretend we were riding a bull at a rodeo as they swung it back and forth. It was hilarious and the guys were laughing their arses off at us...not surprisingly cos we did look silly, but it was good fun. For those of you who watch ´Sex and the City´, think back to the episode where Miranda rides that rodeo horse-machine thingy in the bar, then picture Lorna and I. That should keep you amused...
Getting to the zipline was an adventure in itself. The guys got the 3 of us, including themselves, to sit on a single ATV when in actual fact you´re not supposed to carry even one passenger on it as, according to the warning sign, ´this may result in death´. There were 6 of us on this thing
and we went trapsing up and down steep dirt trails through the jungle holding on for dear life! But we made it and that evening celebrated with one of those delightful mango daquiris!
The next day Lorna went on a scuba refresher course as I lay in the sun and swam in the sea. In the evening we took a sunset cruise on a gorgeous yacht. We were told we would definitely see dolphins but we didn´t because I´m cursed and not meant to see them from boats like I´ve always wanted to. But the ride was lovely and we were fed fruit, banana bread and wine. After a large quantity of wine, Lorna and I sat at the front of the boat and sang the Titanic song - we sang it beautifully like two angels (I´m sure that´s what other passengers thought). We wanted to take a ´Kate and Leo´ photo of us but were too embarrassed to ask anyone to take the picture in case they didn´t know what we were doing (we didn´t really know how to explain that Titanic scene in Spanish).
On our last day we went diving off the Catalina Islands which
took about an hour to get to. It was a two-tank dive and after seeing nothing at all after the first dive I was reluctant to do the second, but it ended up being alright (plus it was better than staying on the boat where we were all feeling a bit seasick). I say alright because although the sea life was beautiful and more abundant than in Roatan, the visibility was unbelievably poor. Lorna and I held hands the whole time for fear of losing eachother and it was a bit chaotic with the strong currents we had to battle against, and amateur divers annoyingly clambouring all over us. We saw a bunch of sting rays, morray eels, porcupine fish and even a sea horse! Huge schools of fish would seem to appear out of nowhere and surround us then disappear suddenly - it looked amazing. I think my highlight was seeing black devil rays literally jumping out of the water when we were back on the boat. Had the viz been better, I think I would have loved it. Shame...
Coincidentally our instructor, Jose, used to work in Roatan for Native Sons and knew all of the instructors and
dive masters I´d been diving with! Small world. In the evening we ate yet another fish meal (I´ve been hooked on fish, rice and beans this holiday), had some more of those mango daquiris, played some silly games at our table, then went to bed in preparation for the 5am bus back to San Jose. Yawn!
I had decided I wanted to go back to Roatan at some point during my trip and Lorna was curious to see the island and do some proper diving, so despite the arduous journey we made our way there. We went from Tamarindo to San Jose by local bus which took 5 hours, then flew to El Salvador, then on to San Pedro Sula in Honduras and finally to La Ceiba on the coast - all in one very long day. We arrived late at night in La Ceiba and stayed in a manky hotel (although Lonely Planet says it´s lovely) as it was the only place still open. We consoled ourselves with Oprah on the tele and the excitement of arriving in Roatan the next day...
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