Our early-morning flight to Costa Rica led to a long, tiring day of travel. We took a shuttle from near the main airport in San Jose and arrived in Tamarindo after dark, where we would be based for the months of November and December, and checked into our hostel. Having little energy to explore the town, we had some dinner and went to bed early. The following morning we arrived at our pre-rented apartment, La Casa de los Árboles, or The House Among the Trees. We met our French-Canadian landlord, signed the paperwork, and started to settle into our new home.
Our apartment is on the second floor of a three-apartment building, which is set just outside of town, and about a 5-minute walk from the beach. The location is great, as we are truly amongst the trees and far enough outside of town to have privacy and peace. The best feature of the apartment is the large balcony that has a good-sized table for meals and work, two comfortable hammocks, and an easy-to-use gas grill. The balcony is situated amongst a lot of trees, and we have had many different birds, iguanas, and even noisy howler monkeys, within a few feet from the balcony. Inside we have a large living room with a couch, television, and desk, and a nice, equipped kitchen too. The bathroom features an open-style shower with questionable water pressure and a finicky toilet. Up a little wooden staircase from the main room is a tiny bedroom, which has windows for three of its four walls, and a nice breeze. Aside from occasional minor issues, such as Internet outages, we have been quite happy with our apartment. (See the video of our apartment, to be posted soon, to get a better idea.)
We spent our first week in town getting to know the area as best we could during the occasional breaks in the torrential, unrelenting rain. A tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico was effecting our local weather, and for roughly six consecutive days Tamarindo averaged about 18 hours of rain per day. During this time we managed to join a local gym, and started to get into a workout routine. However, this complicated other aspects of our lives, as the building's washing machine was not functioning, and the damp environment led to a lot of wet, smelly clothes. (Eventually the machine would work, but not until we paid about $20 to have our clothes washed at the only public place in town.)
With the rain finally subsiding, we began a more interesting and fulfilling existence. In addition to our workout routine, I started to fall into a comfortable working pattern, and Siobhan began volunteering at a local pottery store on an almost-daily basis (see her blog for more information on that topic). Of course since we were only five minutes from a beautiful, tropical beach, daily trips to swim, surf (using the surfboard that we purchased and intend to sell upon departure), and relax became a regular occurrence as well. Our routine also found us making weekly treks to the large grocery store on the other side of town (about a 30-minute walk), and hauling back groceries in our backpacks. Our diets shifted to the local flavors, featuring a lot of beans, rice, pineapple, and bananas, among other things. We tried out several of the restaurants in town too, and quickly found some good ones.
Overall the first few weeks we spent in Tamarindo were pretty quiet and relaxing, which worked out nicely, as we would have several visitors over the coming weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment