In 1999 I visited Tamarindo for a few days on a family vacation, and we all enjoyed it immensely. Tamarindo is a beach town on the Pacific coast in the northwest part of Costa Rica, and is a popular surfing destination. At that time it was a fairly quiet, surfing town that had a relaxed, close-knit community that encouraged a fair amount of tourism. The beach was long and pristine, the people were friendly and talkative, and the town had a charming vibe. With these fond memories in mind, we chose Tamarindo for our two-month stay in Costa Rica.
However, almost immediately upon arrival in Tamarindo, I could tell that it had changed a great deal. For one, the town is now much bigger than it was before, and has lost essentially all of its charming small-town vibe. We had not done much research, mistakenly trusting that little would have changed over the 11 years while I had been away. We have since learned that it experienced a big boom in the early 2000s and grew up quickly. While it is easy to focus on the negatives of Tamarindo, it has served us well in a lot of ways. Here is my attempt to summarize the many aspects of life in Tamarindo.
The Good:
Tamarindo beach itself is very long and spacious, and allows us to find fairly quiet areas away from the more densely populated areas in front of the main hotels. The surfing here is reliable and good for beginners, so we have been able to learn and practice. Being in a developed town has also enabled us to have access to a lot of luxuries that we would not have otherwise, such as our gym membership, a nice, modern apartment, and a lot of restaurants, bars, and other stores. The time Siobhan has spent working at the local pottery studio has been well-spent and enjoyable too, and would not have been possible in most other places. Tamarindo also operates as a good base for renting a car and exploring a lot of the nearby attractions.
The Bad:
Without a doubt, the most disheartening (to us anyway) and all-encompassing feature of Tamarindo is its unyielding and uncompromising focus on tourism, particularly to Americans. It no longer offers a traditional, authentic Costa Rican environment. Examples of this include: the numerous fast food chains and American-style restaurants, the fact that dollars are as common as colones (the Costa Rican currency), seeing NFL games in multiple bars, and hearing more English than Spanish. Furthermore, we are constantly treated as outsiders and tourists. It is impossible to walk down the main road without hearing "Taxi, Taxi" and we are repeatedly being offered souvenirs on the streets and on the beach. It often feels that we are viewed by many of the locals as unending sources of money.
The Ugly:
Yes, I am sad to say that there is an ugly side to Tamarindo too, which goes beyond the bad. To be fair, the ugly side is a product of tourism, money, and foreign visitors looking to party to the max. This reality has attracted a lot of shady characters, including an ample supply of drug dealers and sexual predators. Even so, it has not been too hard to separate ourselves from this sleazy underbelly when going out at night, we just have to use a little common sense. The ugly side struck us personally in our last week in Tamarindo, when someone stole several of our things off of our balcony in the middle of the night. The thieves took both of our hiking shoes, which was particularly painful, as well as both of my bathing suits, and some of my workout clothes. It was an infuriating occurrence, and we will have to be more careful in the future.
In conclusion, it is hard to say whether or not we wish we had chosen a different location in Costa Rica. Tamarindo has been a good home to us in a lot of ways, and we have certainly enjoyed our time here, but we feel as though we have only gotten to know the real Costa Rica on our trips outside of town. We think that the perfect scenario may have been for us to have spent one month in Tamarindo, and our second month in a smaller, authentic town. However, that would have been hard to juggle with my work, apartment rentals, and the moving and transportation. In the end we have perfect weather on a daily basis, a beautiful beach, and plenty of fun things to occupy our time, so there is not too much to regret.
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