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| Costa Rica Honeymoon, Fall 2000: Tamarindo, Day 10
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Wednesday, November 1, 2000: Our last day in Tamarindo
We had to get gas for the car this morning, which was an event in itself. You have to buy gasoline at a roadside stand, where they literally siphon it out of barrels and then pour it into your car with a funnel (talk about full-service). It's really pricy, about $4 a gallon. Yikes! We then did a little exploring in our shiny (well, it's now dusty) red 4-Runner, and Dave scared me nearly to death by stopping to pick up three hitchhikers trying to get into town. (No, mom, I've never in my life picked up a hitchhiker!) It rather freaked me out, but Dave told me I need to learn to lighten up. I don't know, picking up three somewhat large, scruffy men who don't speak English when you don't speak Spanish, and you have plenty of cash and an expensive camera in the car, doesn't seem like that smart a thing to me...but maybe I'm just being overcautious (Dave thinks so). Anyway, it turned out they weren't axe murderers, so we're here to tell you about it. We went out for a late-afternoon surf, hoping to catch the tail end of the right tide, and had the best time so far! We caught some really excellent waves...Dave was doing great, and has quite possibly surpassed me in surfing skill. (That's the LAST time I teach him anything!) We even rode one wave together, almost all the way to the beach (and no, I didn't leap off like an idiot this time). It was fantastic.
After our epic surf session, we cleaned up (annoying fact of life: no matter how often I wash it, my hair never feels really clean...must be hard water or something) and went back to Stella's for another excellent meal...then headed back to the hotel to, sadly, pack up our things and get ready for the next leg of our trip. We'd miss Tamarindo, but I think we were ready for a change; a week here was just about perfect, but we were getting a little antsy. Next up: Tabacon Hot Springs, the Arenal volcano, a jungle hike, horeseback riding, and a canopy tour. Woo hoo! |
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This morning, we set the alarm for surfing...but opted to sleep in instead. What are vacations for, if not for sleeping in? We had breakfast at our hotel, then played in the pool a bit, inventing games with a football and a basketball. Real kid stuff...but oh so fun.
We met a surfer named Jim (we'd actually seen him a few times already, but had only nodded to each other) who gave Dave a few pointers...he was a very, very good longboarder with an almost effortless style. He moved here with his family recently and is planning to stay six months or a year, "until the money runs out." His wife is a psychiatrist for the state prison system in Maine, and he has two little girls, aged 8 and 6, who they home-school. Their m.o. is to have the wife work for a while, while Jim plays Mr. Mom; they save up their money, and when Mrs. Jim gets sick of working, they pack up and travel somewhere. They've also lived in Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. Jim was once a minor league pro golfer, but said he's not well-suited for holding a steady job, so the whole arrangements works great for him. (Dave asked if he could use that excuse with me. I said not a chance.)