July 24th: Tamarindo

I woke up to breakfast made and happy music playing this morning. We tried to get up early and watch the sunrise but that didnt happen at all. We woke up to rain and didn't get up. But we headed out to Tamarindo where we would try some more surfing. Like most places in Costa Rica, it's a liiiiiiittle tricky to get to Tamarindo. First we went to Playa Grande on accident. Which had a pretty cool surf shop with ridiculous prices. They gave us directions.....aka turn right three times. And we were off. We will probably head back there for a surf another day though. Tamarindo is way different than I remember. There is a ROAD now!! So exciting. Still the tourist trap I remember with crowded but awesome surfing. We relaxed on the beach for awhile in our own secluded area before going to scope out the waves.

Often Jennifer and I will exchange verbal joking blows. Often Jen says something good and funny that I have absolutely NO response to. I don't remember what she said exactly but it was a good one. I was a little stunned and could only muster up the joking, heavily stuttered response, well... I will roundhouse kick you to the toothjaw. Yeah that was it. That's my killer comeback. "To the toothjaw". I'm not good at trading zingers. Shaking my head.

Then we shopped. After shopping a bit we rented a board and I went out surfing........

One version of me surfing goes like this: it was crowded. Lots of locals at the point. Monster waves crashing making perfect tubes in sets of three. After paddling out I muscled myself into a huge barrel, 6 feet over head. I instantly popped up as though my Mexico training was yesterday. Making the drop and the turn effortlessly riding with style all the way to the beach and impressing the lovely miss Jennifer.......

Another version goes like this.....ahem: I took the water and paddled out slowly but made it. I sat in a crowded group of local bros with absolutely no hope of catching the wave of my choice. Like 27 other guys and 1 chick who were much better than me. I waited and waited. Got frustrated by watching the same three dudes riding whatever they wanted. Tail between my legs, I went back to the beach and wined to Jennifer (who had been patiently waiting in the hot sun, guarding our stuff for over a half hour, camera in hand trying to get a picture of me surfing) who was NOT amused. "Okay okay I'm done complaining. Round 2! Sorry :/" was the mas o menos of that convo. I went back out. Completely missed my one in a hundred chance at a good wave with no one already on it. And serendipitously/successfully caught the next one. It was actually a good ride!! The one and only of the trip so far!! So excited!! Lets go see the pictures. I ran to the spot on the beach where I left Jen. Smiling profusely, I proudly walked back to my lady. "Jen, Jen, did you see it?!! I surfed!!" Jen turned with a "kill me now" look because of the old tour guide who had been talking her ear off for the last 5 minutes. She didn't see. She didn't get a picture. I am so sad. :( I surfed. I swear. 

After the surfing we headed back to Coco. Tired of all the buying mediocre tourist food we went to the store and bought food to cook. We were given bandanas in exchange for a picture with an imperial (beer) model. After the pic I decided two things. 1) Up close the "model" kiiiiiinda looked like a dude. Annnnnnnd 2) Jen had a large black ominous dot on her front tooth. Yikes. What a great picture. 

We cooked a glooooooorious meal of mashed potatoes, chicken, and salad. I watched Puss in Boots in Spanish as Jen fell asleep. I like cartoons in Spanish. They make me giggle. :)