Before Scott left, one of the last things we did was to visit Playa Tamarindo. As you may know, we had been to most of the other beaches near Coco. Since Tamarindo is so famous, I couldn't let Scott leave without a quick visit.

Although we got stuck behind some costa rican hill billies, I am very happy to report that we did not get lost, a welcomed alternative to our earlier road trip experience of Arenal Volcano. Tamarindo is only an hour's drive away, and I had been there a few times before, so I felt comfortable just getting on the road and heading out.

I have posted about the road conditions in Tamarindo, and was preparing Scott for the worst before we arrived. However, the roads were not as bad as I remember. The main drag is paved, and only the side streets are dirt, yet we could not escape the potholes, as they are everywhere in this country.

We found a seemingly safe place to park the car, and headed into town. We were both hungry, so we stopped for lunch at a restaurant called La Copacabanna. First thing Scott's eyes took him to was their ceviche. I had never tried that before, so I ordered the same.

I was blown away. Ceviche is raw fish "cooked" using lime juice (or lemon juice, or sour orange, depending on what country you're in), but the fish is never heated. You can prepare this using any white fish, such as Mahi Mahi, Sea Bass, or even shrimp. Bottom line is that this ceviche was delicious, and I will be trying ceviche many, many more times during my travels.

Midway through lunch, we could not distinguish what type of fish we were eating. Maybe this is a detail we should have asked before ordering, but we asked anyways. Marlin. We were eating marlin ceviche, and it was good. Neither Scott nor I had ever had marlin before, so check that one off the list...

After lunch we strolled down to the main stretch of sand. Tamarindo's beach is much larger than I had imagined, and this was my first sight of the actual beach in Tamarindo (I had only ever been here to run errands). At the far end, we could see what looked like a surfing competition.

We had become so accustomed to the empty shores of Playa del Coco that this scene looked a bit alien at first, and demanded further investigation. Turns out, it was just a bunch of umbrellas with people standing around on the sand and in the water. Ooops... Time to get the eyes checked...

One of the cool things about a busy shore line is the odd sights you might encounter. About half way down the beach, we ran into a tico & his dog. Nothing odd about this at first, until they both jumped onto his surfboard and started paddling into the waves.

When they had found their wave, not too big, not too small, but juuust right, they went for it. The dog gave a sly smile and waged his tail, as if to say "go faster." What a great feeling for the pair that must be. Man & his best friend, surfing the shore-breakers of Tamarindo, in warm, sunny Costa Rica...