Tamarindo (Costa Rica)

After a very confused and stressful border crossing into Costa Rica, we consoled ourselves with a few days on the beach at Tamarindo. Now I know looking at the picture you're not going to have any sympathy for us whatsoever, but I can assure you the border crossing was an absolute nightmare. At least Vania is able to speak Spanish, otherwise I think we'd still be there!

We arrived at the border with enough Nicaraguan Cordobas to get us through, however having been unceremoniously unloaded of cordobas by Customs, we were them told we could only pay in Costa Rican Colones on the other side. With the only ATM down and the bank staff spectacularly unhelpful, we had to use one of the numerous touts to change money. We then queued at Immigration only to discover they only accept US Dollars. Another money exchange later (being ripped off) left us about $0.25 short of the money we needed! We ended up scrabbling around in our bags for an extra coin and finally were allowed through. Except then the border has a wilderness area between the two countries, with nobody telling us we actually had to walk about half a mile to Costa Rica. Once there, we had to queue up again for an hour for the pleasure to pay more to enter Costa Rica. Our last border crossing which I am very happy about!

Costa Rica has an amazing biodiversity, which results in some extreme wildlife. On our first day in the country we met a squirrel at our hotel which was so hard it was hammering away at a coconut, whilst whacking another one with its tail! Then during the night the howler monkeys didn't shut up, accompanied by the monster-sized lizards scuttled across the roof!

Again, the people are very friendly although Vania is having some difficulty explaining where Portugal is. So far, people have mistaken it for a region of Spain, a newly formed country and a Baltic state! With each time this happens, she gets progressively more annoyed!

Tamarindo is getting very developed, the Americans have arrived in numbers to build their 500 bed resort complexes with conference centres, golf courses and onsite heliports. This was a bit of a shock after the rest of Central America. We passed our few days in Tamarindo on the beach and I took the opportunity to get some surfing in. This was quite challenging with the waves being big on the Pacific coast this time of year and the rip currents strong.

After a few days lulling around on the beach, we decided to take a trip across to the Caribbean coast and visit Tortuguero.

More news soon!

Tom