Livin' the Life in Paradise.

This past weekend I lived the true vacation lifestyle--freedom, relaxation and eating way too much. Tamarindo Beach is where I set off to this past weekend, which is just northwest of San Jose.

The group arrived in Tamarindo around 7pm on Friday night, after a 5.5 hour car ride from San Jose. When arriving we all separated into our hotel rooms, unpacked and got ready for the night's adventures. I went with some other girls to a near-by sushi place, that was recommended to us by some other students at Veritas. The sushi cafe was this modern, urban looking restaurant--it was really cute and much different than any restaurant I've so far been to in Costa Rica. It looked a lot like a lounge, with black leather couches, low tables and dim-lighting. I ordered my favorite sushi dish, caterpillar (it has eel and avocado in it) and a pineapple daiquiri. Needless to say it was an awesome dinner.

The next morning, I woke up around 7:00am, ate breakfast and headed to the beach with one of my friends. We wanted to check out the beach, take pictures and walk around the town to do a little souvenir shopping before the beach got busy. The beach in the morning was beautiful. Tranquil is probably the best word to describe it. I was able to take tons of photos, get my feet sandy and wet and watch surfers all morning long. After shopping around the shops we decided to go back to the hotel and change into our swim suits.

I got to beach with already burnt shoulders and eagerness to cool off in the ocean. The ocean had a pretty strong tide with the pretty sizable waves, much bigger than I've ever seen. The afternoon was filled with jumping over waves and laying on the beach. After spending the peak hours of sun time on the beach in 80-90 degree weather, I headed of to lunch with some people from my program and my program director.

Friday night Rebecca, the program director told me about a restaurant in Tamarindo, owned by that served awesome fish tacos and pies. From that moment on I was craving fish tacos, and we decided to check out the restaurant. I ordered fish tacos, rice and beans and a slice of coconut pie. It was a true beach meal.

After lunch I looked around at some more shops, that I hadn't seen earlier that day. We stopped to talk to one of the shop owners. He was a retired cop from the United States with some ties to Iowa. It's always fun to meet people in random locations that know about places you are from. I needed a break from the sun, so I spent a little bit of time at the hotel pool, cooling off. While at the pool I was able to spot iguanas and howler monkeys. One of the coolest things about Costa Rica is the diversity of all the plants and animals. Rebecca was telling me they have everything from deer to monkeys--it's nuts.

I went back to the beach for round-two of jumping waves and soaking up the sun. The waves the second time around were much bigger. I stuck around with some other people from my group to watch the sunset and surfers catch the last waves of the day. The sunset was beautiful.

Dinner that night was paid for through AIFS, so I went out with the whole group to one of the countless restaurants in Tamarindo. We were told we could get anything under 5000 colones (that's the equivalent to $10.00). I ordered a Hawaiian pizza and Cas juice. Cas juice is green and has a bit of tartness to it--it's from the fruit Cas, which is typically only grown in tropical climates. It's so refreshing--definitely something I'll miss when I get back home. Dinner consisted of playing "Never Have I Ever" with some girls and my program director, good conversation and good food.

Earlier that day I told my program director I would go back with her, to the restaurant we had lunch at, to get chocolate pie. She didn't let me forget it and insisted we still go, even after a filling dinner. I went with five other people from the program and we all got some type of delicious pie. Literally every bight was a struggle because I was so full from dinner, but pie is my weakness so I had to finish it.

Sunday morning was another early wake-up to get to the beach to take some photos, before horseback riding. I'm starting to really enjoy taking pictures and learning about photography. After an hour or so at the beach, I went back to the hotel to get ready for horseback riding.



At 9am about 15 members of the group went down the road to a horse stable, to start our horseback riding adventure. I was put on this cute, little white horse. Within five minutes of getting on the horse, it decided to show me it had a mind of it's own. Through out the whole 2.5 hour ride, the horse really did do what it wanted to. My Spanish commands and attempts to steer didn't amount to much--I literally just held on and hoped for the best. It decided at one intersection it didn't want to follow the other horses and turn left, and instead went right. Sometimes it would walk super slow and then bust into a gallop, and then suddenly stop to eat some grass--it had some serious ADD. Towards the middle of the ride my horse decided to run and catch up to the front group--the fear of falling off was definitely worth the end result though. The group of eight or so of us was led by one of the workers to a path that led to the beach. We got to walk along the beach, and through the town with our horses, while the others in the back group followed the trail through the woods.

Overall it was a great weekend. I came back with a bit of a sun-burn, tons of great pictures and awesome memories. Tamarindo is definitely a place I will return to if I have a free weekend.

Pura Vida!