Watadayintamarindo

What a day in Tamarindo!

We just had a glorious day in Tamarindo Beach, Costa Rica. Last time we blogged you got the impression times were "tough"; things have improved! Let's do this all backwards. And maybe upside down.

We just got done surfing some incredible waves on the beach at sunset. Emily has been teaching me how to surf without making spastic ungainly movements. Before that we took a two person kayak out to an island in the bay and watched critters in tidepools and the waves crashing on the rocks. There were shells piled high, almost a wall of white that was blindingly bright. We had the little island all to ourselves to explore until the tide began taking it away and it was time to move on. On a sad note, we saw a pelican who looked like he was on his last legs. He would hold his head up high until we turned around, and then he would slump to the ground, almost as though he was too proud to let us see that he was dying. He did that a number of times, it was almost eerie. We then took our kayak through some surf in the bay which was exciting as the waves come in and turn in all sorts of crazy directions. Only one kayak capsize, though, and we were very glad the camera was safely back at home. We even managed to recover most of the little "treasures" we had found on the island, well, Emily had found I should say.

Yesterday was our beach tour. I think we saw four or five beaches along the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, some of them relatively remote and some of them INCREDIBLY developed. There was a peninsula with jaw-dropping hotels and homes built into the sides of the cliff overlooking water on both sides. Costa Rica is astonishingly built up compared to the rest of Central America that we've seen. And expensive!

Before the beach tour, we spent the night in Playa Coco. Not our favorite place, it reminded us of San Juan del Sur. Something about the cheezy touristy overbuilt syndrome that's a little repulsive after seeing so much natural beauty.

I'm sure at this point you're wondering how we're getting around... we rented a car in San Jose! It's been killer having our own wheels, making our own schedule. A few days on the road makes us shudder to think what it would have cost us to be at the mercy of tours and shuttle buses here- everything has a price tag, even seeing waterfalls or parks. Much of the $$$ goes to preserve the natural habitat, but it's nice to see waterfalls for free back home in the Gorge.

Getting to each place has been pretty hilarious in our tiny four cylinder 4x4. The little Hyundai something or other has done a fine job though, as I'm pretty sure updated maps might show a few new roads that we forged.

Before Playa Coco we were in La Fortuna and Volcan Arenal - yes, another volcano. Fortuna wasn't much to blog about, but Volcan Arenal... We hemmed and hawed about staying at a nice resort that had an amazing view of the volcano. They had hugely discounted rates for low season, but we weren't sure. They told us you could see the volcano erupting at night, that was a big draw.

Sure enough, we opened the curtains to see the volcano before going to bed, and caught a view of glowing rocks and boulders hurtling down the sides of the volcano! We've seen a few volcanos on this trip, but that was really sweet. We hiked close to the volcano the next day and could see and hear the flaming boulders rolling down the mountain. Cool.

Before that we were in San Jose, which is a really nice city. We enjoyed the cosmopolitan atmosphere, ate some really nice meals and washed all of our clothes. We hate to be snooty, but there is something delectable about all the amenities in a major city. Like dryers. Like hot water. Like good restaurants.

So here's some more big news - our trip is about to take a turn. We decided that we're almost done with Central America, and we're really close to a major airport... so we booked flights to Argentina, South America. Somewhat whimsical, but we've been talking about it for a while now and figured - why not!? We've got the time, we're interested in continuing our Spanish education, and we're intensely curious about South America. We'll arrive in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Tuesday morning and see what happens!