New Year's on the Beach (that sounds like the name of a good drink)

For the past few years, I have generally spent my New Year's in the Colorado Rocky's skiing.  But skiing at this time of year is not always that great.  The snow can be poor.  The weather can be really cold.  Plus its overly crowded, which with Arctic cold weather and bad snow doesn't make it all that worthwhile.

So this year, the decision was made to head to warmer latitudes and go surfing instead of skiing.

Tamarindo

What follows is a short recap of trip.  You can click on photo above to see all pics from the week.

My friend Seth and I flew a red eye direct from Denver to San Jose (about 5 hour flight), arriving Saturday morning (post Christmas), then drove to Tamarindo on the Pacific coast.  With traffic it was about 4 1/2 hour drive.



Lots o Traffic on drive.

We arrived in Tamarindo in the afternoon and found our home for the next week.

Fio flew from Boston, by way of Miami, landing in Liberia, about an hour east of Tamarindo.  He would arrive Saturday night along with the first of many creatures.



The grasshopper was 4 inches long.  Huge.

So by the end of the week, we had grasshoppers, lizards, spiders, scorpions and raccoons visit our casa.  Most of those stayed outside, but a lizard, spider and couple scorpions found their way inside.

Sunday.

Tamarindo is pretty much an American hot spot.  The nickname is Tamagringo.  During this holiday week it was pretty crowded, between the Americans and Costa Ricans from San Jose who had come to the beach for the holidays.



Main Drag in Tamarindo in the morning when all is calm.



Tamarindo at night, when all is chaos.

Our routine for the week was set that first day.  Got up.  Had breakfast.  Walked the 1/2 mile to town.  Rented surfboards.  Surfed a few hours.  Had lunch.  Took siesta on beach.  Walked home.  Chilled out for a little while.  Cleaned up.  Went out for dinner.  Then some drinks. 

The days would have highs of 90.  In the sun after a little while that would get to be too much.  But in the ocean it was fine.  In the shade it was tolerable.  Once the sun went down it was 75 and with the relatively low humidity it was perfect to be outside eating dinner.  Or walking about.



Playa Tamarindo. 

Monday.

Repeated Sunday. 



Another day of fun in the sun.

Tuesday.

Got adventurous.  Drove 40 mins to Playa Avenallas.  Unfortunately, due to not knowing if I would have a safe place to keep camera, no pictures from here.  Which is really too bad, as this beach amazing.  Other than a couple of shacks, there was nothing here.  But the surf was great.  And there was one really cool restaurant on the beach.  Lola's (named after their pet pig Lolita, which has her pen nearby.  She is one fat pig.) 

Tuesday evening was New Year's Eve night.  Tons of people were on the beach back in Tamarindo.  Fireworks were shot off at midnight.   Along with the official fireworks, there was plenty of non-sanctioned fireworks.  That got a bit dicey at times.  Tons of people in the streets afterwards.

Wednesday.

Slow start to New Year's Day.  We were going to see a Monkey Park, but that was closed.  Ended up at Playa Grande.  A little more developed than Playa Avenallas, but no where near as built up as Tamarindo.  More surfing.



Lounging in the shade at Playa Grande



Loads of surfers.



Fio trying to look all buff and stuff for the ladies.

Had lunch at a roadside soda on the way back.

Thursday.

Broke up the routine by taking a road trip to the Rincon de la Vieja National Park.  The plan was to potentially hike up the volcano located in the park.  However, the trail was closed.  The only frustrating thing about that was, its been closed for 2 years, and no guide book or any website I went to mentioned that.  I mean an occasional closure is one thing, but to be closed 2 years seems semi-permanent and worth mentioning.

But the trip was worth it.  We ended up hiking about 8 to 9 miles.  There is a 2 mile loop from the ranger station that goes by a number of geologic indicators of volcanic activity.



Hot mud pits



Bubblin crude



Sulfur vents from the ground

After this loop, there are a two waterfalls that one can hike to.  The best of these is La Cangreja Waterfall.  It is about 3 miles out to the waterfall from the ranger station.  After hiking a couple of hours in the heat, being able to jump in the pool at the base of the waterfall was a godsend. 



Can't do this in Colorado, in the freezing cold mountain streams and lakes.



Seth enjoys a refreshing swim.



Fio takes in the cool spray.

This was a fun hike.  Not to treacherous other than the bee/wasp hive we stumbled upon in the middle of the trail.  (Both Fio and I got stung a couple of times.  However, after a few minutes the sting went away and there was no lingering dull pain.)  Saw a bunch of cool stuff.

Friday

Back on the beach one last time in Tamarindo.  I'll admit now I never really was able stand up on the surfboard.  On this day I did come close.  But in the end it didn't matter.  Getting thrashed around in the warm ocean for a few hours everyday was alot of fun. 



Sunset on the last night in Tamarindo.



Enjoying some beers and fine cigars.  Not bad living.

Saturday.

Got up and messed around in town a little Saturday morning.  Then Seth and I headed back to San Jose.  Our flight out Sunday morning was a 7 AM, so got a hotel in San Jose Saturday night.  Found out the Walmart in San Jose has an excellent liquor selection. 

Sunday. 

Flew home.  Left 90 degree, sunny days on the beach, to come back to 4 degrees, gray skies and snow.  Welcome home.

Random Thoughts.

Costa Rica was great.  It is a relatively stable country with pretty good infrastructure, except we did have the water go out for one afternoon.  But the water is safe to drink.  I wasn't necessarily surprised to see alot of people on bikes, but was surprised to see alot of road bikers.



Felt like I was back home in Boulder.

We did have an issue with someone breaking the triangle window on the rear passenger door of the rental car the first night (didn't think to pull it inside the gate.)  Nothing was in the car, so no real harm done.  Petty crime seems to be a bit of an issue, but if you are careful it's not that big a thing.  We never really left anything of value on the beach when we surfed.

Roads were in good condition, but congested in many areas.  Had to be aware of anything that might be on the roads, horses, mopeds, trucks, bikes, chickens, people walking, and the ever present Reductors.



Warning : Speed Bump or Small Hill ahead.

The food was great.  With many Americans having moved to Tamarindo, there are really great restaurants.   Generally, we had seafood, but on a couple occasions some fine steak.  If you visit, highly recommend Dragonfly, Patagonia and the Bamboo Sushi Club.



Stumbled upon Dragonfly the first night.  Fantastic meal in a great setting.

Nightlife in Tamarindo was a little odd.  There seemed to be a couple of really cool bars, but no one was there.  Everyone ended up at Sharky's (a mix of Tim's and a sports bar).  That place could get old quickly.  Then there was the Crazy Monkey Bar (as seen on Wild On E).  Definitely the hot spot in town. 



Sharkey's or Tim's.  Not sure there is a difference expect for the weather.

All in all a great trip.  First real RnR trip I have done in awhile.  Most of my trips revolve around some race or epic hiking.  I did get in a couple of runs in during this week, but the idea was more to enjoy warm weather, get a tan, and have lots of drinks with fruit and alcohol in them.

And to enjoy the views.  I leave you with at least one gratuitous bikini pic.