Advertisement
Published: November 10th 2008
Playa Tamarindo!
these pictures dont do justice of how goregous this beach really is!Yeah Playa Tamarindo!! I just returned from one of the most relaxing weekends at one of the most pristine and goregous beaches in Costa Rica. Sounds like paradise right? Yep, it sure was, but believe it or not I found myself calling it my “American” weekend! Complete with 5 star hotels, A/C Shopping Strip Malls with fancy boutiques, fast food chains and high rise condos, Tamarindo looks more American. Yet, walking down the muddy dirt road, with dirty shoes and shorts, after the afternoon downpour of rain I quickly remembered I was still in CR.
Gotta love public transportation... here is the scenario on Friday: leave school at 12noon, take a bus to Alajuela after waiting for ½ hour, catch the next bus to San Jose - thankfully which leave every 15 minutes, buy tickets for Tamarindo - $6, leave at 3:30pm and finally.... arrive at 10pm! Yikes! Yes that would be 6.5 hours later. In the dark, we hop off the bus, so excited to be on land and try to find a place to sleep for the night. Needless to say, your options are really, really limited at 10 at night but we find the ultimate backpackers hostel.
I think it is actually a good thing we arrive at night so I can’t see what the places we stay actually look like until the next morning. And let me tell you I probably wouldn’t have stayed there. Complete with 2 beds, a fan, and a lock these rooms were bare, and cheap. I can’t wait till I can come back to CR and be able to say in the nice hotels... hopefully some day! 😊
Anyways, we all got up early - 7am early - because the beach was calling our names. After a quick breakfast stop at “Bakery in Paris” we headed to the beach! The water was cool and the sun was scorching hot making for the perfect combination to get a great tan. Us 5 girls were in heaven! I even got the chance to gather a bunch of shells - I have so many interesting ones in every shade! Before getting too settled we decided to find a different hotel for the next night. Not that we didn’t love Coral Reef Backpackers Hostel, we were willing to pay a little bit more money for some more well needed luxuries or should I
Coral Reef Backpackers Hostel
the cheapest place in town... say necessities. We stumbled upon other Cabinas really close to the beach. At first glance we didn’t even see them tucked away behind this restaurant. But soon we were in paradise! For $3 more than what we paid the first night for a total of $13 per person, we stayed in brand new rooms complete with a soft bed, Air conditioning, a private bathroom, and cable TV! And let me tell you, they were nice and a bargain. After celebrating the air conditioning for a few moments, the sun and sand were calling our names. For the reminder of the day, we found ourselves listening to the waves crash against the sand and getting a tan! Soon the afternoon had passed and so did the sun, a quick but strong afternoon downpour only lasted an hour but cool the air and night fell. Brunos Italian Restaurant on the 4th floor provided a gorgeous view of the sunset and delicious food for dinner! TCBY frozen yogurt also satisfied and continued our American-ness this weekend. Regardless, they were both delicious. TCBY is possibly one of the my favorite ice cream shops ever!
On Sunday morning, we were up early to enjoy
some more of the beach before we had to leave. Once again, a gorgeous day and hot sun made it oh so hard to leave. Although, the bus left at 1pm and very unwanting we all packed up and headed on the bus, but not before enjoying some delicious Subway sandwiches. This time the ride was only 6 hours!
This week is finally my last week taking Spanish classes! I am pretty excited to start my volunteer work at my school next week! And Danny comes on Thursday which I am SO excited about! And the weather is turning into summer, aka the drier season. Note I didn´t say, dry season, I have learned there really isn´t a true dry season. It is also windy here which means summer is coming. And the sun is goregous to!
Have a great week friends!
Love,
Courtney
Advertisement
Tot: 0.084s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0479s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Katherine
non-member comment
wow
WG, I have been missing out on this CR adventure haha....... I just sat down and read through your whole trip....... and I am SOOOOO happy you are having such an amazing time. keep enjoying every second!! and have fun w/ the boy! : )