Friday, January 27
Thus far my Costa Rican excursion is sponsored by the letter E for Easy. After two nights in Liberia I caught a local bus for around $2.60 to the beach side tourist magnet of Tamarindo. The town packed with overpriced shops, restaurants, and hotels isn’t anything overly special in my opinion but it’s easy to get to. The real attraction is a very appealing long crescent shaped beach that’s allows for good swimming, surfing, and sunbathing.
While waiting for the local bus to Tamarindo I noticed very few Gringos (white foreigners). I did meet one British backpacker waiting for the bus to Nic-ar-ag-u-a that started in Panama City and is on an 8 week blitz through Central America in route to Mexico City via buses. I also met Greg from Canada who on a whim bought a last minute cheap ticket to Liberia for a two week break from short days and cold wet Vancouver winter weather.
Greg has backpacked around Southeast Asia so we swapped travel stories on the 2 ½ hour bus ride to Tamarindo. When we arrived in Playa Tamarindo I had no idea where I was going to stay. Greg was already booked into a place that had been recommended so I wandered around with him until we found his hotel. I figured there would be other cheap accommodations in the area. For the first night he was bumped up to a large bungalow type room with several beds. For a few extra bucks the manager said I could stay as well so I chipped in for a night and we shared the place. The rest of the day was spent beach side swimming and drinking beers.
The next morning, after a run on the beach, I set off to find my own accommodation as Greg was due to move into a smaller single. After a couple of hours of wandering around town investigating options I settled on a nice small clean family run hotel with an inviting atmosphere. Although my Spanish is very basic I was able to negotiate a $40 room down to $30 which is pretty good for a tourist town that’s got to be about as expensive as Costa Rica gets.
Greg and I hung out all day and did a nice job of doing pretty much nothing except beach side lounging, beer drinking, and swimming. I think it’s a really good idea to focus on feeling good about doing nothing sometimes. I know I can be pretty driven with work, assorted goals, etc, and temporarily lose myself within a narrow focus. I suppose it’s necessary to do that at times but while wrapped up in excessive busyness I often put off dealing with other issues of importance because my priorities are elsewhere. For anyone who’s frequently busy, doing nothing can allow for a chance to check in and reassess one’s life direction etc.
Saturday, January 28
By 9pm last night I was worn out from a day of sun, swimming, and drinking beer so I called it a day. My room, situated next to an open air hall and roadside restaurant is a little noisy but I had no problem falling asleep and slept well.
When I arose this morning I surrendered to the Costa Rica “Pura Vida” way after a morning run on some back roads. I allowed myself to be at a loss for any sensible reason to plan anything. I joined Canadians Mark and Lindsay for the complimentary hotel breakfast. We sat in a courtyard eating fruit and drinking coffee. I quizzed them on their current bike journey around Cost Rica and Nicaragua and chatted with Lindsay who bar tends in a small Canadian town somewhere near Montreal. This went on for awhile. I booked another night in the same room, glanced at my Lonely Planet Guide and thought it might be cool to go to further down the coast to Samara tomorrow. I didn’t give it much thought how I’d get there.
I departed from the grounds of my accommodation around noon. As if it were planned, which it certainly wasn’t, I met up with Greg just as he was exiting his hotel. We decided to walk over to a cheaper hotel that the Canadians were moving to. I was curious to see what a $25 room looked like in Tamarindo. We arrived, as if we had planned a time and specific location to meet, but hadn’t, and met right up with the Canadians. It was there that I was introduced to a nice French couple and their 4 year old who have a rental car and are head to Samara tomorrow. I asked if I could hitch a ride with them and they replied, “Sure”, in a, “Of Course”, kind of way. After visiting awhile Greg and I went on to a local Soda joint for a huge plate of food at the cost of 2,500 colones ($5) and returned to the hotel where the French and Canadians were residing.
As if planned, but of course it wasn’t, I joined the French and Canadians for an afternoon on the beach. The water is divine, the waves are clean, and the 90 degree sun is nonstop. For the evening I have no plans but I suspect I’ll round up a cheap dinner somewhere.....
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