Tamarindo: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

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.

Montezuma's Revenge

After doing some research, Siobhan and I decided to take an overnight, weekend road trip to the beach town of Montezuma in the southern part of the Nicoya peninsula.  The distance according to Google Maps is a mere 112 miles (!) and is projected to take just under 2 1/2 hours.  Lies!  We rented a compact SUV with 4-wheel drive and set out on a Saturday morning with a fairly early start.  We did not know it at the time, but our choice to pay a little extra for an SUV over a car would turn out to be critically important.

About halfway to Montezuma we arrived at a small town called Jicaral, where we had a choice of a couple different roads that could ultimately lead us to our destination.  Foolishly ignoring the advice of a police officer, we went for the "more direct" inland route as opposed to traversing the coastal roads.  After a short time on the bumpy, partially-paved, pothole-ridden road, it quickly became apparent that we were in for a long journey.  This realization was compounded by the fact that the map we had was inaccurate, and that there were almost no road signs and a lot of unmarked forks in the road.  We finally got our bearings when we arrived at a beautiful, secluded beach, but simultaneously realized we still had a tough path to cross to reach our destination.

 

Leaving the beach, we headed inland again and were starting to feel like we were making good progress.  Next thing we knew, the SUV in front of us plunged into a two and a half foot deep, quickly flowing river and slowly made its way across to the other bank, a good 30 yards away!  We stood on the bank, stunned with mouths open, and began to process our predicament.  After watching another truck make it through (which offered to help tow us across for $20), and a moped, we decided to try it ourselves, despite the fact that doing so was not covered by our insurance.  Just before doing so, an English-speaking couple warned us not to get out of the car if we got stuck, because the river is home to a number of crocodiles (which we later learned have eaten their fill of dogs, pigs, and small cows over the years).  Fortunately we made it across and did not have to deal with that scenario.  (See the video for an in-the-car experience.)

 

On the other side of the river we encountered a small soda (a little restaurant) and talked to the people there in Spanish to get some directions.  They told us that all three of the roads (including the one we had just used) leading away from the restaurant had river crossings, and that we still had a decent distance to travel.  We were encouraged to take the coastal route, so set off in that direction.  Within a matter of minutes we had to do two more river crossings, one of which was particularly fast-moving and dicey, but yet again our SUV made it through.  After narrowly escaping a couple of muddy patches, our car suddenly emerged from the jungle and shot right out onto a nearly-deserted beach.  We started driving down the beach to try to find another way out, but soon came across another SUV that was parked in front of a small river that was flowing into the ocean.  Testing the waters on foot, we found them to be waist-deep and impossible to cross as the tide was rising.  Not wanting to backtrack with waning daylight, we (and the other group of people who were American tourists) decided to park our SUVs back in the jungle and walk along the beach in search of a town.  The tide had come in even further at the river crossing, and was now up to my chest, requiring us to carry our bags over our heads.  After an hour walk we arrived at a very small coastal town, which fortunately had a restaurant and hotel rooms just off the beach.  We made the decision to head back to our car around midnight to drive it along the beach to the town; it would be low tide at that time.  With nothing else that could be done at the moment, we enjoyed the ocean sunset, had some dinner and got some sleep before our retrieval mission.  Around midnight we awoke and did the long walk down the beach to retrieve our car.  It was a clear, beautiful night with a lot of stars, but it was also quite nerve-wracking to be alone on the remote beach in the dark.  In the end we found our car unscathed, and were able to easily ford the rivers at low tide and bring our car back to the hotel.  We went back to sleep for a few more hours, planning to make it to Montezuma early in the morning.

 

 

 

The drive to Montezuma was not without a couple of directional concerns, but with the help of some local advice we arrived at our destination in mid-morning.  We parked our car in town, explored the beach for a little while, and then set off to hike up a river to a jungle waterfall.  It was quite a high and powerful waterfall, with a nice swimming pool, and we made it there early enough to avoid the crowds we passed on our way out.  Getting back onto the main road, I saw a sign for a butterfly conservancy, which I knew would appeal greatly to Siobhan, so we hiked up a scenic road overlooking the coast and found the conservancy.  The tour of the butterfly conservancy was fun and informative, and Siobhan managed to get a lot of quality, close-up pictures.  The rest of our afternoon was spent having a good, Costa Rican meal, and relaxing on the beach with a Litro of Imperial.  Overall Montezuma was a very nice, laid-back town with a respectable mix of local culture and tourism, and we wondered if it would have been a preferable place to stay over comparatively-busy and tourism-dominated Tamarindo.

 

 

 

On the ride home we never dared to stray from the coastal roads, and the drive definitely worked out much better.  That being said, the roads were still in horrendous condition in many places, featuring two-foot deep potholes, winding mountaintop passes, and the traditional lack of road signs.  Despite these obstacles we made pretty good time on the return trip, and did not take any wrong turns.  Considering that our successful drive home still took well over four hours, we can safely conclude the 2 1/2 hour projection offered by Google Maps is a joke.

Pottery Volunteering

After the rains subsided and we were finally able to emerge from our compound, we took a walk through Tamarindo to check out the sights.  About five minutes from our house we came upon the Guaitil Pottery Studio and I went in to see if they could use a volunteer.  Lucky for me they said sure! For the past few weeks now I have been going there frequently and have learned a tremendous amount from Arbin (who makes colorful Chorotega pots) and his wife Tricia (who makes amazing wire jewelry), who are both incredibly talented artists.

I stole some of this from a handout in the store, but here goes:

At the Guaitil Pottery Studio in downtown Tamarinido, potter Arbin creates one of a kind Chorotega pieces, an indigenous craft taught to him as a child by his mother.  In this fashion, the same traditional and ancestral techniques of the Chorotega indigenous art lives on from generation to generation as it has done for over 800 years.

 In spending time at the studio I have had the opportunity to learn a lot about this process from Arbin and by helping with each step along the way, and I have even created a few pieces of my own.  In this style of pottery, each piece is created using coil building techniques and a completely manual hand wheel, which is very difficult to get used to. The clay is made of materials found in Guaitil, a famous Costa Rican potting town (where Arbin is from) about 45 minutes from Tamarindo.  To make the clay one adds water to fine sand and clay dust, then stomps around on it as if crushing grapes for wine.  On my first day volunteering I helped to make a batch!  I knew I would like it there immediately; there is nothing better than really getting into it and making a mess..  There are no glazes in this process, so after each layer of paint is added separately, and the piece needs to be polished using small pieces of smooth plastic.  This technique gives each piece a glossy appearance in the end.  Each piece will also undergo a series of paintings and etchings.  They are then fired in a hand built kiln (made from stone and manure), using a specific wood that fires them at an extremely high temperature (this process also cooks chickens quite nicely I might add).  Each piece requires hours of work and detailing, and as with pottery in general, if something goes wrong in the last phase all is lost.  Arbin is a great teacher and offers lessons to anyone who is interested, so if you are ever in Tamarindo and want to bring a souvenir back that will last longer and contain more memories than a rain stick, then stop by his studio and check it out.  It is located in Tamarindo circle, and you can check out his website @ www.Tamarindo Pottery.com.

My second piece..

Tricia has a store right next to the pottery studio called Urban Eclectic, and features amazing wire-wrapped jewelry.  She is originally from Los Angeles, but for the past few years has been living the dream with a beachside jewelry store featuring all her unique necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc.  I have had the opportunity to see some of her creations come together and I must say they are truly works of art!  If you’re interested in checking some out…  In addition to her shop in Tamarindo, she has a website (http://www.urbaneclectic.etsy.com/) where you can go to check out her latest creations, or even request whatever design or style you are thinking of.

I have been very lucky to have been able to spend so much time in beautiful place learning from two talented artists, not to mention two really great people.  I have learned a lot from them and I look forward to calling upon what I have learned for inspiration in the future!

Endless Summer III

The gang arrived late one night after a five hour drive in a party van, carrying with them the greater contents of the duty free liquor department. Needless to say, it did not take long before Doody was using a Doritos bag as a pillow and Ashley was passed out in the hammock.

 
The next two days we hung out around Tamarindo, and everyone displayed their greatest effort at surfing, especially Geiger, who had dubbed himself "The Great White Surfer." Although I think the ladies showed the greatest natural talent, with Ashley and Abby standing up on their first waves, we were certain that within a few days we would be getting shot out of tubes! We also spent time cultivating our skin cancer, in addition to checking out the local stores, restaurants and mixed drinks. They were also treated to the fine, cultured nightlife here in Tamarindo. While ladies often drink for free, there is always a price to pay, whether it's being hit on by sleazy locals or that hangover the next day from that strange jungle juice. We grilled and played cards and were treated to an evening of Abby’s finest jokes!

After a few days on the beach we all headed out into the wilderness to see some of what the real Costa Rica has to offer. We decided to do a combination road trip to see the Arenal Volcano and the Monteverde cloud forest. The first stop was Arenal, where a long morning of bumpy travel, put us at the base of an active volcano, which we had a nice view of from our hotel. Along the way we stopped for photos, got up close and personal with some couti mundis (who have been robbed of their wild ways by ignorant tourists!), and some of us saw a sloth for 0.5 seconds going by the car window at 70 mph. Since light was fading fast we headed to the Arenal national park and did a hike around the area, stopping to admire the massive trees and fun hanging vines, then watched the sunset over the lake. We unfortunately did not witness any spewing lava or visit that infamous German bakery, but I’m sure Derek and Luke’s tears were absorbed by their massive pancakes that morning on our way to Monteverde.

The road into the mountains on our way to Monteverde was paved primarily with potholes, but the views along the way were amazing. There were lots of beautiful trees, cows, coffee plantations, and stunning scenery of the valley bellow. As usual it took us longer than expected to get there thanks to the roads. As soon as we arrived we signed up for a cloud forest hike across hanging bridges, then set out to do an impressive zip line course. Soon enough we were harnessed and flying through and above the canopy at speeds which can make your eyes water. It was especially fun to get a unique perspective of the surrounding landscape, which made for a truly fun experience that we will not soon forget.

All that sitting in the air can really work up an appetite, and in one of our more “American” moments, we all rushed to the car afterwards to shovel down the breakfast leftovers that had been baking in the sun all day. And yes, I literally mean shovel (we used potato chips as the mechanism). In mid-gorge we looked up to see a van full of locals looking at us in horror; we probably looked like zoo animals at feeding time, that you would think were on the verge of starving to death. The fact that Ashley was loudly inquiring about the safety of eating car-baked meats did not help our cause much either I suppose.

On the way back we found ourselves driving through a small lively town at the base of the mountains called Juntas, where locals were walking through the streets, with music playing and a soccer match being played on the town's central field. Wanting to stay a bit longer, we decided to watch the end of the game and then stop for dinner and drinks to refuel. We later found out that all the liveliness was due to local elections that were being held. I also witnessed my new favorite means of advertisement, where a guy on a little motorized bike was carting HUGE speakers behind him that were blasting out political messages mixed with music. That combination is deafening and impossible to ignore!

In our last few days together we hung out around Tamarindo, enjoying more of the beach and sunsets. Abby spent some quality time drinking her new favorite soft drink, Squirt, and Ashley spent some quality time on the bathroom floor with the squirts!

But being the trooper that she is, she rallied for a sunset catamaran cruise filled with snorkeling and as much food and drink as you can put in your face, just in time to take sunset photos in a bathing suit. Sadly all journeys must come to an end, but I hope that they will take comfort in knowing that in the coldest depths of winter, while scraping ice off their windshields, I will be laying in the sun and having a siesta in a hammock ;-) and that they came come back and visit anytime!