Takin’ It Easy In Tamarindo

After dropping Cyndie off at the Liberia airport yesterday morning [Wed.], Jason & I drove back to the condo to pack up our bags for the last move in Tamarindo. Luckily, we had our rental car for another two hours so we were able to move our belongings and food quite easily to our new place, which is situated up a big hill. We were able to check in early to our studio, thanks to the owner, Kurt. He showed us to our room, complete with surf stickers on the fridge and a futon for a couch, giving the apartment a dorm room feel. But nonetheless, it was clean and the back door opens to a pool– plus, for $30 a night you can’t complain.

A quick minute later we were out the door to drop off our rental car, followed by an hour or two at Cafe Tico, our favorite spot in town [besides the beach, of course!]. The coffee is delish [some of the best we’ve had in CR!] and the gossip is rich at this gringo-filled coffee shop– its sometimes hard to concentrate on my book at this place because its so interesting to hear the expats who hang out there talk about the town and CR in general.

The rest of the afternoon we spent walking on the beach, watching large crabs ebb & flow with the incoming tide, and reflecting on what we’d like life beyond these travels to look like. We talked about what we’ve learned and what we’ve achieved– simple, low-impact living; clear, creative thinking; reading our hearts out– and how we can carry those [and many other] things over into life in DC. We vowed to not work this last week and only minimally spend time online so we can fully enjoy just being here.

By the time the sun was setting we had filled our daily quota of vitamin D, and I did a few laps in the pool while Jason read in the hammock. We began making dinner, only to find that the only utensil to cut up the veggies for our curry and limes for our cocktails was a butter knife, further adding to the visiting-my-brother-in-college ambiance. We persisted, though, and drank those cocktails while laughing about our wide diversity of accommodations over the last two months– staying everywhere from an organic farm to island “glamping” with an outhouse; from a luxury condo to a dorm-type studio like this.

Working for that drink!

Today was a similar, laid-back day like yesterday. We grabbed our morning coffee and read at Cafe Tico, meeting a couple from Seattle before we left who are touring through CR and El Salvador for a couple weeks for coffee trade conferences. We spent some time shopping around for a rental car for our last three days in the country, and also for surf lessons. We were successful in both, finding last minute low-season deals, and scheduled a surf lesson for tomorrow morning [FUN!]. We grabbed lunch later on from an abuela selling typical food– rice, beans, plantain, cabbage salad, and chicken– from the back of her truck. It was the ultimate local street food, homemade and a little risky, and so delicious as we ate it while digging our toes into the sand on the beach.

A friendly visitor.

We went for a run tonight, which felt so good, just in time for the sunset. We came back sweating and jumped into the pool for a couple laps before showering and settling in for the night. The weather here is hot during the afternoons, but the evenings are absolutely perfect. We have two more nights before we head to the valley outside San Jose for the remaining days before our flight. I can’t believe our trip is coming to a close, but it makes these last few days at the beach that much sweeter as we soak in all the sun and salty ocean air we can get.