Playa Tamarindo

We just walked in from another wonderful weekend away. While we didn't end up staying in Playa Grande as planned (for various reasons including car insurancr and a bus) we still managed to get away for the three day weekend to Tamarindo. For Joe going back to Tamarindo seemed to be like visiting and all friend and finding out that it had gotten older (or in this case more developed) over time. To me Tamarindo did not seem nearly as commercialized as the San Jose area in which we live. The rain was a definate presence this weekend but did not spoil our fun at all. We arrived midday Saturday, got some lunch, Joe surfed, and I read. In the evening we tried to watch the sunset but it was too cloudy so we wandered around and explored a bit. We eventually found our way to a truly unique dining experience (unless you are an ancient Roman) . The restaurant was called the Lazy Wave and Joe remembered having gone there before..but it had changed some. There were two dining choices, at a table with chairs or surounding a much shorter table and sitting on one of the beds or bean bag chairs that surounded it. We made the obvious choice and had an excellent dinner while lounging around like the two cats that kept us company. On Saturday we debated between a 25$ cab ride to Playa Grande or a 25 minute walk, partly through crocodile infested waters. We opted for the walk, which may or may not have been the smart choice. We began our walk at low tide and came to the crocodile river mouth. I was a little scared but it didn't seem that deep or that far so we went for it. About 1 minute later I stepped on somethng squishy and wanted to abort the mission. Joe encouraged me and we kept going. Finally we made it to the other side, or so I thought. But it was really just a little break in the river about half way across. There was no turning back now so we kept going through the river which at times was up to my chest, and of course it began to pour rain. Don't worry though, we made it across. In fact, just as wehad made it across Joe pointed out the water taxi further down the river which we could have taken. That realization prompted a multi-verse song (sung to the tune of Comin' Round the Mountain) that goes something like this "We're taking the water taxi back, oh we're taking the water taxi home. We're taking the water taxi so the crocodiles don't attacks me, oh were taking the water taxi home. We're taking the water taxi back, oh we're taking the water taxi home. We're taking the water taxi if we want to make it backsi, oh we're taking the water taxi home" While we sang our new mantra we walked along the beach, which all other beachgoers had appreared to abandon due to bad weather. That didn't stop our walk at all. We had a terrific time walking down the beach, looking at stray dogs and hunting for sea shells. The one unfortunate part of our walk through Playa Grande was the lack of surfable waves in this apparently very consistent surf spot. We didn't end up turning around for about 3 miles when we stopped at the only hotel we saw on the beach (which ended up being the one we had planned to stay at). We got bocas and drinks and casually asked our waitress when the water taxi stopped running. She said that it could be as soon as 45 minutes..so needless to say our 3 mile walk back was at a much faster pace then the walk there. At first when we approached the river (which now that the tide had come up was no longer forgable) there was no water taxi in sight. We got a little nervous but the one other person waiting for a taxi on our side of the river did not seem worried. A few minutes later a man came and picked us up in his multi passenger motor boat, and about 45 seconds later we were across the crocodile river. We had another nice dinner last night at an Italian restaurant on the beach and woke up to catch our bus at 6:30 this morning to make it back. It was another very nice weekend in paradise.