As many of you know Leslie packed up and headed to Costa Rica in February to immerse herself in Spanish. As soon as she announced she was going I told Ryan we needed to go visit during Spring Break. I figured right away he’d tell me “NO” but shockingly he agreed. My amazing parents said that they would watch the kiddos for us and we headed out on our first vacation sans kids in 7 years.
To get to Tamarindo you can fly to one of two airports in Costa Rica. We opted for San Jose, the capital, and then took a tiny little 10 person plane to Tamarindo. We departed Sunday a.m. boarding our 9:10 a.m. flight out of Houston on time and ready to go. It had been raining earlier in the morning so things in the take off line got a little backed up. After 45 min on the ground waiting in line to take off, it was our turn. However that is when the fuel pump stopped working and we turned back around to head to the gate. So we sat on the place for 2.5 hours before we took off. A LONG time past our scheduled departure time. We built in 3 hours between flights because in Costa Rica our small plane to Tamarindo took off from a different airport than we arrived at. It was a 20 min drive to the other airport but we figured with customs, etc. we would give ourselves 3 hours. Well, because of the plane mishap, we arrived 20 minutes after our flight left for Tamarindo….the last flight to Tamarindo for the day. So there we were, hotel-less, at the small airport in Pavas. The nice Nature Air worker called Casa Roland and asked if they had rooms. We lucked out and they did, however we did NOT know where Casa Roland was or what kind of establishment it was. Thankfully we had a clean room, small but clean, and in a decent little neighborhood. We were greeted by a miniature poodle with a terrible overbite. We were thrilled to discover it had breakfast included as it was more of a B&B.
Our flight the next morning wasn’t until 11, so we went out Sunday night for dinner in Pavas. I had the most amazing guacamole ever. We decided to walk back to Casa Roland instead of pay the taxi another outrageous fare. Ryan “knew” where we were going, and only took one wrong turn, which made me freak out that we were going to be slain in a strange city, and I started speed walking and thankfully happened to walk right into the hotel. Amen. The next a.m. I was pleasantly surprised to find a small gym in our hotel for my workout, followed by a lovely breakfast while watching the Costa Rican version of the food channel. I did find it odd that the chef was showing people how to make guacamole, because a) that seemed easy enough and b) it was simply mashing avocados and squeezing a lime and I felt most Costa Ricans are born knowing how to make guacamole.
Casa Roland. I stood in the corner of the room and Ryan stood on our “balcony”, either way I was happy it was a nice, clean and friendly hotel, because we were not hopeful when we left the airport that afternoon.
The airport was about 1.5km away from the hotel and when we got dropped off there we decided it was silly to pay such a high cab fare to go back in the a.m. So I slapped on my duffle bag like a backpack and we hiked to the airport. It wasn’t too bad, but the hill, plus Leslie’s 5 lbs of care package items (and my luggage) made for a good workout.
visual relief of said hill.
We arrived in Tamarindo and were thrilled when Leslie was there to meet us. This is the plane we arrived on.
the Tamarindo airport.
After arriving, we checked in the hotel and hit the beach. It was beautiful in the water, and of course the views are amazing. Leslie gave us the scoop on school and her friends etc.
Leslie and me on our first night in Tamarindo. She is SUPER tan…and looks amazing! Costa Rica is doing wonders for her.
watching the sunset, everyone comes out on the beach nightly to watch.
After the beach and before the sunset we walked back to our hotel to shower and came upon some Howler monkeys. These monkeys are so cool. They howl and can be heard for 3 miles. They are amazing, and we just stood there watching them eat and jump from tree to tree for a while. One mommy monkey was carrying her little baby on her back. So sweet!
Sunset
After sunset we headed to dinner, and after we were done the neighboring restaurant was having a fire show. Since all the restaurants connect to the beach, we just sat in the sand and watched the show. Crazy and amazing. So cool.
This was a view in front of our hotel room and what we saw when we looked out our room. Super nice hotel, great price, amazing staff and we set up all our activities through the hotel.
Side note: Big shout out to Stefan who is from Belgium, but moved to Costa Rica after a vacation, who told us an amazing place to eat for dinner, which Leslie had not been to and was not only dirt cheap but a classic typical Costa Rican meal. From reading Leslie’s blog I knew that the place we were eating a local “soda” serves the typical Costa Rican plate lunch. A meat, fried plantains, rice and beans. She and I got the fish plate and so did Ryan. But Ryan thought it was tacos so he ordered a pork plate as well. The restaurant owner didn’t speak English so he sort of looked at Ryan funny. Leslie and I didn’t say anything but the owner kept saying “you hungry” in very broken English. Ryan just said “yes”..so as he walks away Leslie says “You ordered two full meals”, Ryan was stunned and then we all had a good laugh when Ryan got enough food for two people. That being said the meal was delish and like I said dirt cheap.
Day one we headed on a beach hike, to Playa Langosta which was the town down the way from Leslie. We hiked on the sand, and jetty rocks for about 40 min and then found this amazing little island beach that we spent a few hours at. The beach is surrounded by a river, and was gorgeous. We all swam, and a few times we all got the poop kicked out of us by a couple rogue waves. It was fun, but those two rogue waves that came in, knocked Ryan and I over, and flipped us head over feet 3 times in a row under the water. Worth it through because it was fun!
Leslie had school in the afternoons while we were there so she went to school and we went zip lining. Right before zip lining we had a local sandwich from a place called Addy’s. It was amazing, and Addy is working her tail off making food alone, and running the entire thing herself. We love Addy…so much that we ate there again the next day.
pre-zip lining.
Getting ready to go. There were 3 couples on our excursion and the other two ladies were NOT happy about going. I of course was excited and volunteered myself to go first. It was really hard to take pictures because everyone goes through the course so fast.
View atop one of the platforms.
At the end of zip lining you can go on a Tarzan swing. So you get strapped in and you told onto two handles and literally jump off a HUGE ladder platform and just swing. It was AWESOME. Ryan went first and then one of the other guys. Once again I was the only girl. I hesitated right before jumping but I would have done it again if they left me. It was so much fun!
Zip lining
Waiting for the Tarzan jump to begin
Wednesday we signed up to ATV. Leslie went with us since we did it in the a.m and it was a TON of fun. Leslie and I went along with something Ryan wanted to do and we were both a little nervous starting out on the ATV. After about 5 min we were having a blast and we were cruising at about 45 kph on the ATV. It was the dry season in Costa Rica so it was REALLY dusty when we headed up the moutains. We were covered in dirt, but it was so fun.
Our trusty tour guide Diego. He was 20 years old and from Peru. In high school he moved to Oklahoma and then after vacationing in CR he moved there. That is usually how it works. You go and then never leave. His English was great since he went to high school in the States and he was a ton of fun.
Leslie ready to go
At the top of the mountain
dirty Ryan
panoramic shot
Ryan tried to be a billy bad ass on the sand with his ATV, only he dumped himself off. I didn’t see it but just listening to the story makes me laugh. Leslie turned around to see him on the beach and just saw him lying in the sand. She was dying with laughter.
We stopped at a black sand beach, a white sand beach, and a beach that is known for fishing, which houses about 200 pelicans just hanging out between meals.
The fish beach
In Costa Rica they have Nachos as big as your ass…and in case you’re not that hungry you can get the half ass nachos.
We also gave surfing a try. Since Leslie’s school is a Spanish and Surfing school we had her sign us up for lessons. You can see way more pics on my Facebook page but here are a few.
Pre water practice with Luca our coach.
Ryan hanging ten
Me hanging ten…
Ryan proclaimed that this drink would make him an alcoholic should we move to Costa Rica. It’s an Imperial, local Costa Rican beer with lime juice. Only there the lime is more of a cross between lemons, limes and it’s color is orange. I even loved them, and was plotting ways to illegally bring seeds back to the US for Ryan to grow. It didn’t work, he’s too much of a rule follower. Either way they are good. I had them make fresh limonade and it was delicious. As was the banana smoothie, pina colada, and mango/banana smoothie I had on the trip. Back to the beer…Ryan had MANY of these on our trip…MANY
Our last night. El Pascador, for a beach BBQ and fire show. Excellent food. I have to say I had the most delicious food for every meal in Costa Rica. Everything was fresh, amazing, and so good. I had fish at every meal, fruit picked pineapple, mango, watermelon avocado and cantaloupe. Not one single thing was bad…and the coconut pie at Nogui’s was to die for.
Our last morning we all got up early and headed out on a river tour of the swamp type land around Tamarindo. We were on the hunt for crocodiles. Mostly for Chips, and well because let’s be honest I have a fascination with alligators and crocs. Although I was a little nervous getting out of the boat and walking around to look for monkey’s because I know how fast alligators can chase prey and I would imagine crocs are just as fast.
Our one croc encounter. It was nesting season so the big ones were protecting their young…but this little sucker wasn’t nervous of us at all.
Leslie with a spider crab
spike tree
fresh pineapple
our tour guide Victor Hugo…not kidding that was his name. 
Blue Heron, one of the many birds we saw.
A termite nest. We learned that parakeets put their babies in these because it’s endless eating..and termites will attack anything in their nests but not parakeet babies. We also learned and heard calms eating during low tide. Victor was a wealth of info and a great guide.
Howler Monkey
Porcupine sleeping..and they share trees with Boa Constrictors because neither one of them mess with the other one.
A spike tree, the higher you go the more razor like the spikes get.
Plane leaving Tamarindo
Bye bye Leslie and the only place outside the United States I would move to tomorrow if you asked me to.
So you might wonder about why I included 20 minutes into the title of this post. As your read before we missed our flight into Tamarindo by 20 min…and on they way home our flight from Tamarindo to San Jose was delayed by 20 minutes…which then caused us to be barred from getting on the plane in Costa Rica because we were 20 minutes late for our flight to Houston….no not missed the flight. Late according to customs rules, so the fabulous worker at United who was not friendly at all, would not let us board the plane, which was still sitting at the gate, which had not left yet, while there was NO line at security and we had no bags to check…so once again we got to stay the night at another unplanned hotel in San Jose. Since our flight the next morning was 6:30 a.m. we opted for a Hampton Inn across the street from the hotel. I said we should sleep at the airport but Ryan didn’t think that would go well. We dined at a local Rotisserie Chicken place for dinner, and Denny’s at 3:30 a.m. before heading to the airport. So 20 minutes was the magic number of the trip since it was how late we were on both ends of the trip causing us to miss flights. 
All in all, despite the major issues with planes, it was a great trip. I am so glad we got to see Leslie, and Ryan and I had a GREAT time being adventurous and doing all sorts of extreme activities. I would move to Tamarindo in a heartbeat…if I could find something for Ryan to do there, and I would turn my white little babies into tan Costa Rican beach bums who learn how to surf by age 6.
