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Published: December 24th 2007
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Tamarindo
Breakfast on the beach Hello again!
Well, I´ve had a fantastic time in Costa Rica, just wish it had been longer! I arrived in San Jose a week ago, flying in after a very early morning start in Havana and managed to make my local flight with only minutes to spare before they closed the gates. I had booked a flight from San Jose to Tamarindo which is on the Pacific Coast and about one hour away by plane. I must admit I was a little nervous to start as the airport for the flight was little more than a shed and the planes were only 12 seats and a single propella.... but it actually ended up being a fantastic flight as we flew pretty low and it was a great chance to see a bit of the landscape in a short amount of time. The runway at Tamarindo was a bit of a laugh as it was a single lane surrounded by grass, farmland and several goats, but it served its purpose! I had booked a small hotel on the beach and had scored a lovely little room that had a great view of the ocean and had sand right up to my front
Tamarindo
View of the beach from the air steps. The first afternoon was spent on the beach which is meant to be a bit of a mecca for surfing, though to be honest it didn´t seem that huge and there weren´t that many surfers. That evening I had a quiet one at the hotel restaurant which also served as a bar with table out under the palm trees on the beach. I had three nights in Tamarindo just to kick back and really enjoyed it! I had heard that it was pretty over-run with tourists, but it really wasn´t that bad, though I think going in low season had something to do with it. The second night I went to see the turtles at Playa Grande which is the next beach to Tamarindo. Part of the reason I chose Tamarindo was because it was turtle season for the Leatherback turtles to come in and lay eggs on the beaches at night. A group of us went across the crocodile infested tributary by boat and then waited on the beach in the dark for a turtle to be spotted by one of the local guides, which luckily for us only took about half an hour. Then we started running
Tamarindo
The little plane up the beach in the dark to get to the turtle in time to watch it start digging. It was the most amazing thing to watch!!!! Just beautiful! The turtle was absolutely huge and had turned around to face the surf as it used it´s back fins to start digging the hole. Apparently the turtle goes into a trance and isn´t aware while it´s digging and laying eggs. We had to stand behind the turtle so as not to startle it, but were literally in arms reach and were able to watch as it laid it´s eggs and then covered them. So amazing!!! We were not able to take any photos or video so you will just have to believe me!!! While I was there I met a lovely couple from Paraguay who will be coming to Sydney to live so I spent a bit of time with them over the next couple of days. The next night we heard that a turtle had actually come up on the beach at Tamarindo which is a bit unusual as they usually avoid that beach because there are too many lights. Unfortunately we also saw the end result of a local fisherman
Tamarindo
Looking back from the beach to my hotel (behind all the palms) who had dug up the eggs that were laid that morning.... apparently turtle eggs are a bit of a delicacy for some people. It was pretty horrid to know that after all that effort, someone does something like that & now it is highly unlikely that any of the eggs that he left will actually hatch. From however many eggs are laid, usually only one turtle eventually survives in the long run.... Anyway, after three wonderfully relaxing nights in Tamarindo I braved the little plane back to San Jose to join the beginning of my next tour group. Again we have a pretty good mix, but this time I´m the only aussie which was a bit of a surprise! But I got lucky with my room mate and have someone likeminded which has been great. We only had one night in San Jose so headed off early on public transport for our trip to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca which is on the Carribbean coast of Costa Rica. The whole trip took about 5 hours and we arrived at a tiny little town overlooking crystal blue beaches and little bars near the beach. The beach at the town actually had black
Tamarindo
Inside my room sand and very little beach area, but the next beaches either side are exactly what you would expect from a Carribbean beach! We also got lucky with the weather and had three days of pretty much full sunshine and beachtime! Happy days! It was a bit of a tourist town, but very laid back and quite a number of expats from various countries running the little restaurants and bars. We had one interesting day there when all the phone lines of Costa Rica were down which meant no internet, no banking and no using cards for shopping. It was quite amazing at the time as no one could call in or out and the whole country was down. It lastest for most of the day and we all knew it was over when you could see everyone on the streets jumping on their phones to call people. Rather amusing!!!! Anyway, am now in Panama but that´s another story, I want to get these pictures up!!! I´ve just found out that the CD drive on this computer today and a lot of my pictures from Costa Rica, particularly in Tamarindo are on it. I have since updated all the missing pictures
Tamarindo
View from my room... the beach is there, just hard to see it! from Tamarindo. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all, am thinking of you!!!!!
Love Jack xoxoxox
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Jo
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Jealousy
I love that little room by the ocean. The view with your breaky in the shot is awesome. Chrissy day was cold ( well for us 22degrees), so was even more jealous of your trip than normal. Loving your stories, keep them coming xxxx