Surf, sun, and read…

So we are settling into our daily habits here… ummm… get up, surf, rest/read/paint, dinner somewhere, sleep, and start over… we’ve also ventured quite a bit around town to see what the area was like; to the south, Playa Langosta is just south of Tamarindo and is a pretty beach but forget getting in the water there… rough rough surf and rocky outcrops everywhere… Playa Langosta also seems the more exclusive alternative to Tamarindo… again, plenty of condos just inland from the beach, either built or in construction, but all very fancy, gated, and guarded (and no messing with security guards… since the police is almost non-existent, security guards come armed with shotguns… ☺)

Tamarindo bay panoramic

Inland from our place in Tamarindo, we saw mostly just more construction… it looks like the town is attempting to double its size by the beginning of next year… construction goes on everywhere and real estate agents make up about 50% of the stores in the town… the restaurants, like the hotels, tend to be owned by foreigners so the culinary variety is impressive: French, Italian, Chinese, sushi, Cuban, Mexican, Pizza Hut, Burger King (no McD!)…. You name it… even Costa Rican restaurants! Those are not on the main drive though…

Let’s see some other things we’ve learned about Tamarindo… your regular pests seem virtually non-existent here… haven’t seen a pigeon or a rat and only two small roaches in the entire town!... there’s hardly a stray cat either… the usual criters here are BIG lizards (“iguanas”), semi-stray dogs, dragonflies, and lots of birds (pelicans, egrets and hummingbirds are the most common…) and mosquitoes. Also, pelicans like to keep you company and fish while you surf, and sometimes, eagle rays do also… since the water is usually cloudy, you only see them if they jump out of the water!

For a change of pace, we had our first escapade by car a couple of days ago, to visit areas south of here, and to look for a place to stay a bit more secluded and quiet… You only need to be a few miles away from Tamarindo to already feel like your in the countryside: lots of pastures and forests and a few houses along the road, some people on horses. Lots of macademia nut plantations also (owned by Mauna Loa… in case you thought your chocolate covered macadamias were grown in Hawaii….).
We went to two coastal areas “Playa Avellana” and “Playa Negra”, both with very little development… Playa Negra was really pretty, very wild, very rocky… the surf was ummm… scary… big barrels ready to crush you on the rocks (and yes, there were surfers)… but the water was so blue, and so clear… so it’s looking like that’s where we’ll be in a couple of weeks.

Playa Negra surfer