Blogs from Tamarindo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 4

We left Liberia to get to Playa Tamarindo early on Friday Oct. 30. We arrived by bus and settled in at La Bottella de Leche (The Milk Bottle) Hostel, a cow-themed establishment. Friendly and chaotic it was packed to the brim that weekend for reasons that had nothing to do with the wildlife or surf. More on that later. Our guidebooks warned us that Playa Tamarindo was overdeveloped and commericalized. Well, it was a bit odd in that none of the roads were paved, but there were several tall, luxury hotels, bars, and pricey restaurants. Still, the beach was very beautiful. It was great to get a view of the Pacific, as we hadn´t seen it since leaving Washington state. Our main interest in coming to Playa Tamarindo was to view the leatherback turtles nesting in ... read more

Costa Rica is probably the most outwardly "touristy" country I have visited so far on this trip. There are people everywhere and, as I am briefly with my folks again, we're enjoying the amenities provided for proper tourists who can afford to splurge. There is something to this lifestyle. People have short breaks and they want to relax. I get it. They want to be spoiled. I am just not at the point in my life right now where this is my cup of tea, or glass of fruity cocktail, so to speak. My attitude towards travel budgeting is to spend as little money as possible while taking in the culture and being safe. The hotel we are now at would not fit into this budgeting. It is a stunning "eco resort" in Playa Tamarindo on ... read more

We had been in Costa Rica for almost a week, with everyday filled with some sort of activity, adventure, or random act of stupidity. Steve had left town early on Thursday morning, and I believe this is really when our trip came to an end. Being that we were in Costa Rica in September, we had just hit the beginning of the rainy season. We already got soaked on the atvs the previous day, and the rain just did not stop. All day Thursday, it was nothing but terrential downpour. We couldn't go in the pool or ocean, or even lay out by the beach. Thankfully, a beachside bar at the resort and some British tourists provided the days entertainment. We chatted about all sorts of interesting topics like how cool Robbie Williams really is, and ... read more

Claiming that he only had so many vacation days to take in September, our boy Steve had to leave Costa Rica a couple of days earlier than the rest of us. Given the experience we had at Carlos' restaurant the night before, we decided we would try to step it up a bit to give Steve a proper departure. This way the day we went on the atvs, so before we went to dinner, we went into town to pick up a few gifts and have a couple of drinks. This is when I discovered Rock Ice, the Costa Rican knock off of Corona. After finishing the bottle, I decided that I would stick with Imperial. We got back to the hotel and cleaned up, and then headed into town to a restaurant with a great ... read more

We spend the rest of the week going surfing and lounging around the hotel. This truly is a vacation even for me. And yes I needed a vacation from traveling. It's been a while since I last surfed and I'm not very good at controlling the surf board. It's a good thing the beach is not very crowded or I would probably hit someone if they were in the water in front of me. Kitt (Adam's brother) comes down from Nicaragua to go surfing with us. He's a much better surfer than we are. I guess surfing for 6 years makes a difference. On most of our surfing expeditions, Cisco is busy taking pictures on the beach and getting sun burned. Actually, we all get sunburned, but mine wasn't as bad as everyone one else. I'm ... read more