Saturday, 17 May 2014

tamarindo, costa rica


6 May - 14 May, 2014

Hey-oh wally watchers! 


Damo has this blog covered. All over it. 


We just finished up a week, that's right, a full week, in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. 'twas fun. Surf, 4wd, sun, booze, healthy eating, Canadians, villa, and a lack of water probably sum it up. Getting there was a 4 hour bus ride, of which at least 2 hours were offroad with a driver that was certain the best approach for blind corners is to overtake. But hey, we made it. Surprisingly. 

The highlights

  • We hired a car and drove. Back to the wrong (right) side of the road. However, it was an auto, so not really a problem. The problem was more the other drivers. At one point, whilst kath was sitting in traffic, she watched as a guy got out of his poorly parked car, forgot to put the handbrake on, and it rolled quite quickly, in reverse, down the driveway, crashing into the side of the bus that was directly in front of kath. Missed our car by 2 metres. However to be fair, the guy was on the phone. Texting. Or playing snake, it looked like an old Nokia, and let's not be too quick to judge. Snake is tough, especially when it's really long and you're just shy of your high score. For a pb on snake, I would allow my car to smash into a bus. Any day of the week.
  • Our accom was great. Nice villa, great room, air con, and a view that would bring a tear to my eye. Many tears. I uncontrollably cried almost every night the view was so good. 
  • Met some cool people, including a Canadian couple who were super chilled and friendly, introducing us to their cultural diversity. Drinking games. 
  • We took road trips to scoure the lands for hidden surf breaks, usually resulting in off road driving. 
  • Plenty of cooking. Found a supermarket with fresh food. Shut the front gate! I know, it changed our lives. We cooked pretty much every meal. And cooked well! Eggs, avocado, BBQ chicken, coconut rice, fish, baked poached and scrambled eggs. Full Jamie Oliver style. But with boxed wine. Yep, we have stooped to goon. And proud. I'm three drinks short of getting a southern cross tattoo. 
  • We lost water for 2 days straight. It came on for literally 10 minutes after the first day. We filled up every pot, bottle, and container we could find. Made us thankful for plumbing! 
  • After about 7 weeks of surfing basically every day, some days twice, I sold my fire wire surfboard. Sad to see her go. But got a good price after some high quality negotiation and influencing! Thanks Brett for your years of coaching! 

The Summary
Weather: Sunny, rarely a coud in the sky, and warm. Luckily we had air con x 2, car and villa! 
Surf: Ok, nothing spectacular. We surfed 4 different beaches (mostly early, we're talking 6am early)  and found plenty of fun, uncrowded breaks. Not a bad finish to the surfing part of the trip. RIP firewire. 
Food: Cooked a plenty, often with social banter from the Canadians at the villa. Ate out a couple of times, winning burritos at Green Papaya, with chairs that were swings. Woah! 
Beverages: Vodka sodas, beer and classy wine, aka goon. However, we kept it moderate, had early morning surf missions to enjoy! 
People: The owner, Joey, was actually a surfer from California, brought over as part of The Endless Summer 2 film and never left. Totally chilled dude. Plus those crazy Canadians, lots of fun. 
Accommodation: Huge villa, wrap around balcony and air con. Happy days! Was out of town however we were fine with our car. 
Budget: Smack bang right on budget! 
Overall: Our longest stint in one place so far, and it felt good to unpack and stay put. Tamarindo was definitely a tourists town, plenty of gringos, bars and guys selling sun glasses. Not rich in culture, but great for sitting back, beer in hand, in a pool, and enjoying life. 

Until next time friends,

Hasta luego,  

Damo (and Kath)


Not a bad view up here
Entertaining the Canadians

James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, our first and probably last cigarette of the trip
Healthy and delicious! A Horobjowski dinner, when in doubt, eat a rainbow

Directions are easy, just follow the sign


Definately beer o'clock

Gracefully falling

Where did we park our boat?

Front flippin

Single meditation

Group meditation
Our water supply for 2 days, every bottle we could find! 

The most fun way to enjoy a sundowner



We never get bored of the sunset

Secluded dinner spots
Standing on water, holding the sand up


Empanadas, the way to a girl's heart
The chauffeur

2 comments:

  1. Hope you had a lovely birthday, Katherine! Fun reading...Carol S x

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    1. Thanks carol! Hope you had a lovely birthday too! Xx

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