Technically, Tamarindo is a suburb of the city of Santa Cruz. Which means that not-infrequently, we have to go to Santa Cruz to take care of things. That's where the seat of government is located, where the power company's office is, where property taxes get paid, etc. Since we had a planned power outage on Tuesday (they are upgrading the lines to the beach areas) I decided to take care of some minor errands in Santa Cruz (since they had power). As I was driving around I started to pay attention to the large number of older homes that were built in a more traditional (read: no air conditioners) way. Decided to snap a few photos and share them. I hope you enjoy the brief tour.

Please note, not all the homes in Santa Cruz look like this- I photographed the ones that caught my eye, not in any way the "most typical". Also note, I took several of the photos while driving, so they aren't particularly excellent quality.

Nothing like a few coats of teal with lavender accents	Bright paint, wooden plank siding, "petatillos"- the ventilation above windows and along the eaves to let hot air out without letting hot sun (nor animals/thieves) in
the modern courthouse, across the street from the houses pictured on the left	More subdued colors, but nice scrollwork over the doors and windows	This color combo is as close to "classic" as any
A much newer home, still has the bright colors. I think this is a prefab.	Not as well maintained as some, but combining pink with teal and green... that's a statement	Another bright combo- light blue and light green. Note the scrollwork and the details on the eaves
the old church belltower. No bells now, but a recorded hourly chime. Very modern, I prefer real bells	Church that sits beside the clock tower. Must have been 70's, right?	overexposed to show the stained glass at the church

Labels: Costa Rica, photo, travel