As I prepare to record my memories from our trip to Costa Rica, the images which replay most vividly in my mind are those from the road. We drove around in a little white SUV for countless hours in the 5 days we spent in Costa Rica. Even though I am normally not a road-trip-loving type of gal, the time we spent driving is one my fondest memories. The first morning we landed in San Jose and had to drive 4 hours to get to Tamarindo. The drive flew by and we covered some fantastic terrain including countryside and little towns.
Another reason that the ride was so enjoyable other than the beautiful scenery is the fact that many of the locals
sell the most delicious fruit I have ever tasted at little stands on the side of the road. The bananas were especially delicious. They were warmed
from the sun, perfectly ripe and sweeter than I ever knew a banana could be. I spent so much time in the passenger seat of that SUV with a big ol' knife we bought to cut open all the fruit including papaya, mangoes and watermelon. We made a lot of our meals out of fruit at the hotels and hostels we stayed at as well which helped cut down on money and time spent eating out. I feel much more fulfilled while traveling spending my limited amount of time somewhere exploring rather than sitting in restaurants for every meal.
Tamarindo is a crazy, busy little surf city swarming with tourists. It was my second time in Tamarindo and Dave's first. I went last year to a week long surf camp which you can read about in the post I wrote on it HERE. The city seemed like a completely different place this time around since we were staying in the touristy area near the beach and not a tent alone in the jungle like I did last year.
By the time we arrived the sun had already set. There is always a slight
feeling of panic when you still don’t know exactly where you are sleeping when
the sun has already gone down. However, with so many hostels and hotels in
Tamarindo, we knew something would be available. We searched for a vacancy for
a private room in a hostel and lucked out at the second youth hostel a block
from the beach that we inquired at.
We were delighted to receive the only empty
room in the place which was a bigger one with two beds. It was such lovely room
with loads of character and 4 large windows, 3 of which opened to its only
little balcony.
The hostel even had a beautiful hang out area that was open and airy on the second floor. If you ever visit Tamarindo and are the type of traveler that stays in hostels, check out a private room at the "Tamarindo Hostel Resort". It was clean, in an excellent location and the people at the front desk were extremely helpful and friendly. Unfortunately I can't vouch for the shared rooms since I never got a glimpse of them but the rest of the hostel was great.
We went for a walk before dinner to explore a little bit and decide where we wanted to eat. There are restaurants everywhere in Tamarindo with a wide variety of cuisine since it is such a popular travel
destination. Oddly enough the one we ended up at our first evening was an Italian restaurant. Who would have thought we would be eating Italian food after traveling all the way to Costa Rica?! After our delicious dinner we passed out quickly. Long days of traveling certainly are exhausting.
The next day we went to a little café for coffee and spent a couple hours at the beach surfing. The waves which were appropriate for the
level Dave and I are at with our surfing. However, the waves were extremely crowded by
surf instructors and newbies who didn’t have a lot of control over their boards
but we still had a great time out in the ocean. Tamarindo’s beach is as
gorgeous as it is crowded. There are lovely mountains in the distance which
makes the scenery more interesting when out in the water and the sunsets are
some of the craziest, brightest ones I have ever witnessed.
After surfing we went to a supermarket to get fruit to eat on the beach during sunset which, like all the sunsets in Tamarindo, blew me away.
We decided to stay another night in Tamarindo instead of our original
plan to go to a much more remote and quiet area 40 minutes away. We got lucky
once again with the same room in the hostel being available our second night
there. We went to bed early and I woke up so refreshed and with so much energy so I decided
to go for a run on the beach which was amazing. The tide was so far out and the beach was still empty. It seemed like a completely different beach compared to the one we had surfed at the day before.
Afterwards, we laid out in the sand before heading to
lunch at a cool restaurant near the water. I love how open and airy all the restaurants in Costa Rica are.
That afternoon, we had planned on going zip lining but the
driver was an hour late and then left without us which we soon realized ended
up being a HUGE blessing in disguise. The roads leading to our next destination
would have been a complete nightmare if we drove on them in the
dark. If ziplining would have worked out, we would have been driving in darkness and I cannot even imagine how awful it would have been! Dave decided to drive a more scenic route with roads that ended up being so incredibly bumpy and remote it was unbelievable. We had
to drive extremely slow so that we wouldn’t ruin the rental car.
It made for a
wild experience, trusting our GPS fully when it told us to turn
down some streets that looked more like private driveways or dead ends. We had a sweet little surprise from the ride when a random goat farm off the side of the road showed up. I love little surprises like this that you can't plan while traveling. The random pit stop was so unexpected and fun with a beautiful, flower filled entrance that seemed to pop up out of nowhere after driving down the empty dirt roads for so long. We bought the most amazing goat yogurt there and hung out on the farm for a bit.
I am so excited to share what we discovered the following days in Costa Rica. The next city we stayed in couldn't have been much different than the business of Tamarindo.