Today was our last full day in Costa Rica. Our flight leaves tomorrow around 2pm, so I’m hoping I have time to swing through the Farmer’s Market quickly in the morning. Our taxi doesn’t come until 10am so we should have a little bit of extra time.

This morning, we picked up a few souvenirs and swam in the pool. This afternoon, I rented another boogie board and we went to the beach. We still didn’t have a lot of waves, but the boards are super fun, and it was a nice way to spend the afternoon. We ate at the food truck park again and got chocolate churros for desert.

Bill managed to get some GoPro pictures this afternoon. It’s fortunate that he likes to take the GoPro. Otherwise, there would be no pictures of this vacation at all! I’m wiped out again. Sunshine and waves take a lot of energy!

We have a travel day ahead of us, the bad part about going somewhere far away. Hopefully it will go okay. So far we’re checked in but I have to visit a kiosk or the ticket counter for my ticket, Emily’s came through the app but it told me I have to get it at the airport. Not sure what that is about.

We have our noise canceling headphones charging, they definitely help! On the way here we were able to use them to watch Aquaman. They don’t blue tooth is you want to listen to the same thing but I have a splitter and we both have a cable.

A piece of advice for anyone traveling to this area, get local money! They will tell you a $20 is worth 10 mil colones. It’s not, today’s rate was more like 37 mil. I thought a couple times my change was less than it should have been and today the taco place Little Lucha Tacos pulled the $20 US for 10 mil and then I had one pf the food carts try it and I paid in Colones. Even if they have prices in Dollars they will give you change in Colones. You do risk having leftover Colones at the end of your trip but you can tip with it.

Today was a pool and beach day. I took the GoPro so that we had some pictures. Emily got a board again and I used my blow up board. I don’t remember if I mentioned that I broke my cheap one the first day in a wipeout. Seems like I did.

We have transportation lined up for the morning to get us to the airport. Our new friend Ivan hooked us up with a guy he know. I think it may be a brother in law or something along those lines. Hit me up if you need his whatsapp.

Remember to get in touch with us if you’d like to tag along Traveling With Emily. We will try to keep our regular schedule if possible but we will have to see. We’re thinking about Grenada or Bonaire coming up and then possibly the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. We want to try and avoid the seaweed if possible. We have learned that the leeward side of the islands is a better option, places like Costa Rica that’s not possible but most the islands it should be. You wouldn’t have to do everything we do and we don’t usually create to early of mornings unless we have to. But vacation time is earlier than home time.

Have a great summer! Thank you for reading and we love your likes and comments!

Be safe!

Hello readers!

We have come to the lame duck point in our vacation. We have done all the things we felt like doing and seen a lot. Now we’re just spending time in the pool and at the beach. It’s not bad. It does have a different vibe now.

Tomorrow we’ll have start packing up our clean laundry and arranging for our trip to the airport on Saturday. outside of that we’ll just hang out at the beach and catch a few waves.

We have no pictures to share, probably should have saved some. Maybe tomorrow we can take a few. Not sure of what yet.

Thanks for reading!

Well, I’ve had three of these little lemon pies in the last 4 days. They are delicious. I think the meringue is toasted marshmallow cream. We found a food truck park near the beach. One of them sells mini-lemon pies. It also has mini-chocolate lava cakes and those are also good. I’ve had some delicious mangos in the last few days too. You can’t get them in the US like they are here.

The last couple of days have been relatively low-key. Yesterday, we took a very expensive ATV tour to the beaches where we stayed last time. It really made me wish we had stayed there again. We’ve had a great vacation here in Tamarindo, but the beaches at Brasilito and Flamingo are huge and empty of people. They feel much more natural. But, that’s okay. We’ve had a chance to explore here and we’ll try a different place next time.

This morning, in the pool, we met a guy who is from Costa Rica but has lived in the US for years. He is buying property here and has, what appear to be very nice, rentable cabins with kitchenettes on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. He says the Caribbean side is great and we need to try it. It takes about 3.5 hours to get from the San Jose airport to any of the beach towns in the Caribbean side, so I’ve kept us on the Pacific side to limit travel time. But, if the water is clear and calmer, it might be worth the extra drive to try out the Caribbean.

I broke my body surfing board a couple of days ago. I got hit by a wave the wrong way and it snapped. Today, I rented one from a surf shop. The board was great and much easier to use, but the water was pretty calm and we didn’t have a lot of waves. I might try again tomorrow. It’s super fun when you catch a wave the right way. The board I rented today was bigger and heavier than the $7 styrofoam one I broke. I almost got smashed in the face by the board when a wave hit me. You really have to respect the power in the water. At least now I know to be more careful with the larger boards.

I’m currently camped out on bean bags again writing this post. There’s a nice breeze and it may rain. I finished a pretty good book yesterday and I’ve gotten samples for a couple of others. It’s been nice to have time to sit and read. There are so many books, but it’s’ hard to find ones that I really like. Amazon does a terrible job recommending books for me. You would think with all the data that gets collected about us that Amazon could send me some good recommendations, but no such luck.

Today we did a private ATV tour with Blue Crab, they are middlemen that just add costs to the trip. We ended up with a company in Brasalito that was across the street from the one we used the last time we were here. That place was closed up though. The road was tore up and they we’re replacing the one lane bridge.

The tour was okay, overpriced. Where is Sketchy Kevin when you need him? This tour took us through the hills surrounding Brasalito and into Playa Flamingo. Playa Flamingo is swanky. It’s a nice beach there. The new marina has a lot of new buildings and it’s really going to be a tourist trap. We didn’t get to do much in the older area. It’s probably a lot of the same. It has more restaurants than Brasalito but it is also a little more party type town.

The tour took us back to the beach in Brasalito at which point Emily stated she wished we’d had stayed in Brasalito this trip. The beach is beautiful and empty. The sand is eases more gently into the surf and the Island where we snorkeled was there. I was surprised we didn’t go back or to somewhere to the north of Brasalito like Playa Flamingo or Portero. As far as getting out and about Brasalito and the little towns to the north are all on the same road for the most part and would be easy to visit with a ATV or Side by side. I think we could manage getting to Brasalito from Tamarindo but there are a few turns and twists that could also take us places we’ve not been.

We did some swimming at Brasalito, we had our snorkeling gear but the visibility was really low. I did see some Jacks swimming when I first got in the water but that was it. It is a nice beach and we enjoyed our time there.

Our time is getting short here. It won’t be long and we’ll be back to Iowa and work. We will have to see what the next couple days holds for us. We will probably just try to relax and enjoy the beach.

Hello readers!

Today was a easy day on vacation. We walked this morning around town and picked up a couple souvenirs. I got a couple magnets for my collection. I also got an inflatable body board. I’m not sure why I continue to collect them. I used to get t-shirts and shot glasses but switched sometime back. I don’t buy as much as I used to and I’m glad about that. Anymore I rather spend the money doing something fun while on vacation.

This afternoon we went down to the beach and spent some time catching waves and floating around before coming back to the hotel and swimming in the pool for a bit. The ocean was beautiful today. There were some big waves but it wasn’t as rough as yesterday.

When we were walking around we checked on getting some wheels to go out on our own. They can be spendy. A side by side runs $150 and up, golf carts start around $85, ATVs for $75 and little motorcycles for $60 for a 24 hour period. They do give multiple day discounts.

We also ran into Sketchy Kevin’s cousin Ronaldo from the good side. Ronaldo gave us some information on tours through Blue Crab Tours https://bluecrabtours.com/ while we were walking around. He did approach us on the street but he has a website and brochures. We’re going to try out his personal ATV tour tomorrow morning. We’re looking at riding up to one of the towns north of her Maybe Brasalito and go to the beach for snorkeling. We also may just do a little reconnaissance for a town that is a mix of Tamarindo and Brasalito. We like having a few more dining options but miss the cheap local sodas and more Latin American feel. Tamarindo is on the touristy side. Everyone speaks English and you really could be in any Latin tourist destination.

I didn’t take a camera down to the beach today so I don’t have any pictures. I’ll take some tomorrow though and have them for my next post.

Today was diving / snorkeling day, it did not go well. Tamarindo Diving was as good as any average shop, the people were very nice and the equipment was used but serviceable. The sea was rough today and I didn’t feel well going out. I did suit up so to speak but my mind wasn’t right so I went snorkeling with Emily. She was the only one signed up for today and they were still willing to take her, I find that to be a definite positive for Tamarindo Diving.

The water clarity here wasn’t the greatest. It’s not as vibrant as the Caribbean. We did get some shots of a turtle. That was the highlight of the day. It was good to go out but it took it’s toll on both of us. We had to take Dramamine and take more on the boat. We are going to find a different activity for tomorrow. Maybe Splash Buggies or maybe just take the boards to the beach.

We had dinner at a Food Truck Garden, Emily picked the better truck. Mine was okay for a burger but I was expecting better. Her fish and chips were good. We also got dessert, chocolate lava cake and lemon meringue pie that we split.

Bill and I went snorkeling and got sea sick today, so it was a mixed day. I’m sitting in a bean bag by the pool right now and I still feel like I’m swaying back and forth on the water.

We got picked up at 6:45 this morning and headed out around 7am. It was a two dive trip and I tagged along as a snorkeler. The water was pretty rough. I was fine for the first half of the trip but was feeling a little nauseous by the end of the first dive site. I also got smashed by a wave and almost lost my top and my snorkel gear. I was busy looking at some fish swimming around a submerged rock and didn’t see the wave until it hit me. It can be dangerous because the rocks and waves can create a washing machine effect that’s hard to get out of. I don’t remember being on the water when there were waves crashing in the middle of the ocean. Bill and I took a bunch of Dramamine but even that didn’t completely prevent the nausea. If we hadn’t had Dramamine, both of us would have been wishing for death. We came back to our apartment and slept for a couple of hours. Between the sea sickness and the Dramamine, we were wiped out.

The water was reasonably clear though and we did have a turtle try to surface right beside us so that was neat. There were big schools of jacks, which are a variety of silver fish. We saw some parrot fish and a variety of other fish too. We had planned to do a second snorkel day tomorrow but neither of us feel like we can do another day. We will find another activity.

One of the women doing a dive had just gotten her certification. On her second dive, her equipment malfunctioned and she ran out of air. She swallowed a bunch of water and choked. Her dive master had to give her his back up regulator and they did an emergency surface. She said she was lucky that the dive master was close by. She had tried to clear her regulator and try the backup regulator before the dive master came to help. That’s why I snorkel instead of diving. She took it really well though.

Yesterday, Bill and I bought body surfing boards. Those are super fun and we’ll probably do that again tomorrow. Bill is interested in ATVs so we might schedule that too.

I tried out the local Falafel bar. I’m generally really disappointed with falafels I get. The Israeli’s make the best ones, but the ones here are pretty good. It’s a restaurant with a Mediterranean menu and they have a bunch of stuff that looks good. The girls who work there are from Argentina.

Tonight, we got food at the food truck court. The food was fine but dessert was delicious! We shared a small chocolate lava cake and a lemon pie with meringue. The lemon pie was particularly good.

I’m still pretty tired and planning to go to bed early. Bill is working on pictures from the GoPro.

We got to spend time at the beach this morning! The water is cool but it wasn’t bad. There are some bigger waves here. After we went back to the apartment for lunch we went and procured us a couple of boogie boards! They are cheap ones, about US $7. Mine is still usable but it has a break in the styrofoam from when I got a beat down from a big wave. We had to try them out after we got them. We had fun!

After the tide started rising the current got strong so we came back to Ten North and swam for a short time before getting cleaned up and debating what we wanted for dinner. There are plenty of places to choose. We went to a BBQ place, the beef ribs I had were good and massive, I brought half back to the apartment, the beans were okay and the fries weren’t very crispy.

El cheapo camera is no longer going to be available for in the water usage. When I opened it up to get the memory card out part of the hinge broke. I have to say I got my money out of it. The camera still works and the case may be fixable to use it on land but I don’t think it would seal enough for going into the water.

We’ve decided that Tamarindo isn’t a bad place. It was not as crowded on the beach today as we expected. We’ll have to see what the rest of the week looks like though.

Tamarindo is probably a good spot for first time travelers that want a lot of options for eating and drinking. There’s also a lot of shopping but, a lot of the souvenir shops have basically the same stuff, occasionally you will find something different.

If you think about traveling and don’t want to go to an all inclusive place Tamarindo would be a good option, most people we’ve come in contact with speak English, you can walk to about anywhere you need to and there are a lot of rental places for golf carts and atvs. There’s also a bicycle rental place. It has enough of a Latin America feel to it but bordering on excessive touristy. Emily and I think we need to try some other areas in the future to try and balance someplace like here and Brasalito, which is about eight and a half miles from here. We may try Portero next year. Costa Rica is a good choice around May compared to the Caribbean, there’s no sargassum here to speak of.

Tomorrow is diving / snorkeling day!! I have two days booked, I’m debating adding another. So far the Tamarindo Diving Center has been very good. They responded promptly to my emails and they held a reservation since January. They said they would for a year. They are picking us up in the morning at 6:45. There will be two dives in the Catalina Islands. It will be a 40 minute boat trip out. I have dived there before the last time I was in Costa Rica. They are volcanic rock formations. I’m looking forward to doing some scuba diving.

Hopefully I will get some good shots diving tomorrow, I will have the GoPro so if there’s something to see I should be able to get it!

Thank you for reading!

They have a street market here in Tamarindo that happens right next to our hotel. There are all kinds of vendors, fruits and vegetables, smoked meats, ready to eat food, arts and crafts. There also was a lot of “hippie” products like incense, patchouli and other essential oils, happy brownies and little pipes that the gal selling then offered to fill it up for me if I purchased one, she didn’t say with what though and I didn’t ask. I’m not sure what the laws are here currently. There’s a lot of times it smells like someone is smoking the Devil’s Lettuce when we’re out walking.

I do have some pictures from our adventure yesterday that I took from the waterproof camera. Al the adventure pictures yesterday were from Ivan’s phone.

A couple interesting things in our apartment .

We went out this afternoon and did some looking at the shops here. We were hoping to find something unique, but we didn’t find anything that we wanted. I did pick up some cheap sunglasses for wearing here. I always forget to bring the ones from home.

After we got back we swam for a while in the pool. I don’t think any of the hotels or resorts run their shimmers during the day. There were a fair number of leaves and bugs floating in the pool.

After swimming we went to a pizza place that’s pretty close to where we are staying. It has excellent pizza. https://www.facebook.com/PizzeriaLaBaula?mibextid=LQQJ4d I may have to go again.

While we were walking around town we did visit the beach, it was less crowded than expected. It was high tide and one of the entrances we went down, the water had come right up to the edge of where the restaurants were and we could not get on the beach without getting wet. Tomorrow we are going down to get in the water. The waves here are bigger so it may be pretty fun.

Readers feel free to contact us about questions or if you want to join us sometime, we are getting pretty good at getting around different places and finding interesting things to do. You’re welcome to tag along and join us or go off and do your own thing. We’re fairly active on our trips but we do stay at places where you can also take it easy. It’s not resort life lining up for meals and limited options, we can get you out and see some new things, find less crowded places to relax.