As we pulled out of the Tabacon Resort, the threatening rain clouds let loose their furry... and it was a hell of a lot of furry. Torrential rains, and booming thunder and lightning accompanied us for the entire journey which took the better part of six hours. Rain seemed to be coming from all directions... down, up, left and right. Although we were in the car with the windows shut for almost the entire time, we still managed to feel like we were getting wet and a dampness surrounded us the whole way.
As if that were not enough to give a motorist an unsettling feeling, we had to deal with the roads. Oh, those magnificent Costa Rican roads. The road leading out of La Fortuna was a shuffling mix of sink holed concrete and washboard dirt that gave you the impression you were riding a roller coaster, except this ride never seemed to end. After an hour and a half of entertainment, we made it to the state highway, if one was feeling humorous enough to call it that, a highway. What could be mistaken for a private driveway that had been paved in the 50's- 1850's- this heavily ridden
and heavily neglected stretch of singled-laned road was in worse shape than the access road we had taken to get to it. Its downright dangerous 80km/hr speed limit was enough to, with one ill-faded twist or turn, send your automobile tumbling into a ravine. This "highway" stretched all the way to the coast. We were in for a long trip, and on top of that we had to dealwith drivers. Oh, I forgot to mention the divers.As if that were not enough to give a motorist a completely ratted feeling, we had to deal with the drivers! Easy confused with escaped mental patents feeling their captors by way of a high speed chase, these drivers are the craziest people I have ever seen. It didn't matter if they had one or five cars- or six wheeler trucks- in front of them, they would swing out into oncoming traffic and attempt to pass them before, after, and during blind turns. Several times we witnessed these demented motorists bolt out into the left lane, get half way passed the motorcade of cars and have to slam on the breaks
and- almost in reverse- jump back behind the line to elude and oncoming car which had just overtaken four school buses, dodging pot holes and washouts, in a hairpin turn while trying not to hit the bikers. Oh yeah, there were bikers too. But as my sister said after my dad complained about these driver's incessant need to beat the traffic, "if you gotta go, you gotta go!" But that's not to say that you didn't need to pass, you NEEDED to pass. Otherwise you'd get stuck behind some farmer on his backhoe going 15km an hour, because he wanted to take the scenic route home. Or even better, you might come up on a school bus that stooped on the road so the children could get on or off. Did you hear me! STOPPED on the middle of the damn highway. Oh did I mention that we were also in the middle of a torrential rain storm? Crazy.
We managed to escape with our lives, and landed in Tamarindo in the early evening. It was still raining, but we knew right from the start, it was worth the drive. We pulled up to our ocean front villa just in time to watch the sun set in the red sky as the last of the rain drizzled down on us. I walked down the the water's edge. The air was warm and the water was warmer... we knew it was worth the drive.
The next day was gorgeous. Bright blue skies, with a gentle breeze. We explored the town of Tamarindo. A sleepy little fishing village turned surfer Mecca hugged the north side of one the many Pacific bays along the cost. It was in the throws of multinational development. Every peace of land was being bought up by developers and probably every
construction crew in the country was working on something within town limits. The town is bordered by two estuaries on the north and southend. Our villa was at the southern end and when ever we wanted to escape the crowds, all we had do is cross over the estuary to the next beach, Playa Langosta. Which unlike it's noise cousin Tamarindo, was completely deserted of development, houses, or people. However, despite Tamarindo's looming influx of commercialism, the town still retained it's sleepy charm. We fell in stride and for the next five days did little else then sit on the beach and cool off in our pool during the day, and drink fresh fruit Pina Coladas at sunset and venture into town for dinner at night. Naomi and I went on snorkeling/sunset cruse one day, but, because of the recent rains, didn't end up getting in the water because of the red tide. We did however, on our return, run into two humpback whales playing in the surf and sailed along side them all the way back to Tamarindo as they performed water breaching back flips and tail splashes in perfect synchrony. Amazing.I'm home now, which is a good thing. I missed my dog, and as I found out, my work missed me. But I would have loved a few more sunny days to explore the many other secrets that Costa Rica has to offer. I'm not too worried though, I'll be back, I'm sure of that.
TTFN
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