Where everybody knows your name

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After a couple of days in La Fortuna, it became obvious that the volcano was not going to show itself, so I decided to head for the beach. I hadn´t heard many good things about Tamarindo but it is a beach, and it is (roughly) on the way to Nicaragua, so I decided to head there for a couple of days and try to do some surfing. I arrived in Tamarindo after a 6.5 hour bus ride, exhausted and hot. I was wearing jeans and sneakers, and of course a huge black backpack. To say I stood out at this beach town was an understatement. I was standing on the side of the main street, looking confused, when I heard a voice from beside me, in accented english... "why don´t you come inside, take off your backpack, have a beer and decide where to stay". This was Joe from El Salvador. He worked for the restaurant and had a gift - he could look at someone and determine the best thing to say to that person to get them to come into the restaurant - and I did go in, or around to the back where they had tables just off the beach. This would become my hangout for the next 3 days, now part of a group of travelers who had originally been coaxed in by Joe but continued to come back.

On my second day there I took a surf lesson and then surfed for a couple of hours. It was great fun and I had planned to go the next day on my own, but when I arrived at the beach the water was basically flat, no waves today. So I spent the rest of the day on the beach just relaxing. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a short attention span, and after 3 days I´d had enough of Tamarindo, and decided it was time to head north to Nicaragua.

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Photos

Surfing in Tamarindo
Me with my surf board - ok, in truth that long board strapped ot the top of the car was the one I used.

Beach scene at Tamarindo
I spent a lot of time just lounging at the beach

Surfers at the main beach at Tamarindo
There are many beaches close to Tamarindo with excellent waves, but Playa Tamarindo seemed to be perfect for beginners

Extreme Unicycle
What do you do in Tamarindo if there are no waves? Apparently a little extreme unicycling.

Playa Tamarindo
The main drag along the beach at Tamarindo