A friend of ours from San Francisco came down to visit Costa Rica with two of her pals this week. Because they were travelling on a budget and staying further south of here, we decided to road-trip down to see them in Samara (about two hours away) instead of having them come to us. Truth be told, We weren't very excited about the drive when we started, but once we got on the road and were enjoying the beautiful scenery (many of the hardwood trees are blooming right now- riotous explosions of color in the middle of a drab dry-grass background) we had a great time. It has been a few years since either of us has spent any time in Samara, so it was fun to see that little town from a fresh perspective as well.
After catching up with the girls (clockwise from left: Natalie, Jen, Jocelyn, Jen) on the beach for a while, we all enjoyed a great lunch in town. Caly had her first "no dogs allowed inside, so I'm tied up at the entrance waiting for my people" experience. I think it was more stressful to Jocelyn than the dog.
On account of the fact that Natalie and I are both in real estate, the conversation took the inevitable turn towards investment opportunities which ended up with Natalie headed back up to Tamarindo with us to see some property. She treated us to a delicious dinner in Santa Cruz on the way home. To our disbelief, the breeze was so strong that by the end of our meal we were actually cold! Odd things happening meteorilogically this year, normally the end of February is well on its way into "damn hot". Go figure.
We spent Sunday morning fiddling with the cars and the yard, enjoying breakfast, then the girls spent an hour at the studio jewelrying. Finally hit the road south sometime after midday. After showing her the great property we are selling in Avellanas, just south of Tamarindo, Natalie and I decided to take the coastal road down to Samara. It makes for a bumpy but beautiful tour of the Guanacaste coastline. It had been entirely too long since I'd spent the day bumping along a dirt road looking at monkeys, beaches, and local folk just living their lives.
Living in Tamarindo offers conveniences that feel indespensible sometimes (delivered pizza, video stores, various shopping options, a mote of cosmopolitan culture) but getting out of town into a more authentically laid-back Tico atmosphere is refreshing and fun. Unexpectedly, the coastal dirt road made for less travel time than the inland highway (remember, we're still in Guanacaste, "highway" should be interpreted loosely). On account of the fact that it was dark when I started back and the Nosara-Samara section of the road was full of potentially tricky wrong turns, I decided to take the highway back, which wasn't nearly as fun.

Labels: landcruiser, photo, travel