I figured it was time to continue this story – On our fourth day we met up with our tour group from Collette. I liked our guide, Greivin, immediately! Great sense of humor and incredibly knowledgeable…which I guess if you’re going to guide a tour is a good thing.
Once everyone and their luggage was loaded up and sorted out, our amazing driver, Manrique, hit the road to Tamarindo. The drive was long but the sites were beautiful. Plantain, coffee, pineapple (oh boy, Greivin does NOT like the pineapple fields!!) fields were everywhere. Plantain trees had blue bags over the bundles – apparently this helps them ripen. Who knew?
When we finally arrived in Tamarindo, it was HOT! About 97F and dry…which I thought was odd for a beach town but whatever. We loved it there! Once we were settled in our hotel room, the Wyndham Esplendor Tamarindo, which had unparalleled views, Chris and I grabbed a shuttle down to the town. Once in town, we just wandered until we decided it was time for lunch. We stopped in a great little spot called Longboards (which if you don’t know refers to surfboards). Good food, cold beer (Bavaria Gold…OMG Good) and super friendly staff. We talked quite a bit with our server, Kim, who moved to Tamarindo three years ago from Las Vegas. She said she lives pretty simply and absolutely loves it! After lunch we walked a bit more through the town – lots of shops, restaurants, and people.
While walking along, a man sitting on a bulkhead asked if we wanted various types of drugs…Seriously. Dude. No. Other than that one very brief moment, it was fantastic! The heat, food, people watching, walking around in the heat, all of it. Once back to the hotel, we decided to book a snorkel tour for the next day out of Playa Flamingo.
As you may have figured out, we love snorkeling. Once we got out in the water, the snorkeling wasn’t the best we’d ever done due to weather. It had been very windy so the water wasn’t as clear as we’d normally love. Oh well – we were still out and in the water! Couple of cool sightings: a sea snake, puffer fish and eels! Also a manta – always super neat to see. All in all it was a great day!
Stay tuned for Costa Rica Part 3 – thanks for sticking with me folks!
