It’s always hard saying goodbye. I never liked saying it and prefer to say “see you later” or ” until next time, my good friend”. Not sure when the next time will be but I will assure you, there will be a next time!
See you again my new friend!
It’s always hard saying goodbye. I never liked saying it and prefer to say “see you later” or ” until next time, my good friend”. Not sure when the next time will be but I will assure you, there will be a next time!
See you again my new friend!
As a tradition every new years we pick up or eat out at a sushi restaurant. This year will be no different as we hit up a local Playa Tamarindo sushi restaurant for our fix. It was to be the best in town! Funny how all the prices were in USD!
The Bamboo Sushi Club is located on the main strip in Playa Tamarindo. The entrance is a small allay between two souvenir shops.
What you will find is a great little gem of a place. Its hard to believe that the restaurant is located behind, and between a bunch of souvenir shops, bars and possibly a hotel.
At only $2.50 I could pass up the opportunity to enjoy a cold local Imperial beers. Maybe it was all the sun from today’s beach time on Playa Langosta and Playa Tamarindo but that first bottle of Imperial was hitting me hard.
Now for the reason we came to Bamboo Sushi Club… for the sushi!
One Special Sushi Combo was on the plate for celebration dinner. What we can say about the sushi is that what it lacked in size it gained in quality. It was a great meal and surprising as you don’t exactly think of sushi as a food option in Costa Rica.
From Playa Tamarindo we, and it appeared like thousands also, enjoyed the last sunset of 2011.
Many happy returns for 2012!
We hit up La Baula pizzabar for the second time and yet again it did not disappoint.
However, I did attempt to have one of there banana drinks (with milk, not water) and it was far from being as good as the ones from Soda Viquez that we enjoyed in La Fortuna. Those days seem so long ago.
La Baula does not open until 5:30pm, without knowing this we arrived a little early. Without hesitation they sat us and served us. The place can get very busy by about 6:00pm (after sunset) so we tried to beat the crowds.
I took a shot of the interior while it was still pretty empty.
Hard to believe that we are only down to two more days here in Costa Rica. Not looking forward to our departure in the new year.
This was our local breakfast spot next to our hotel in Tamarindo.
Today we are staying local and enjoying the beaches at Tamarindo and Playa Langosta. Leaving the phone/camera at the hotel and spending some quality time with the sand, sun and ocean.
Our next to last stop is Playa Avellanas. Known as a popular surfing beach it was PACKED with surfs waiting or ending their day in the water. It was so packed (when we arrived at 4:00) that there wasn’t much room on the beach. It also didn’t help that the tide was high and therefore little shoreline to utilize.
The beach itself wasn’t that great, at least the area we were in. The beach was covered in crushed sea shells, which isn’t ideal for walking. We actually didn’t spend too much time here as it didn’t have the appeal we were looking for and we want to get to Playa Negra before sunset.
Our next stop was to be the beaches just north of Playa Samara, such as Playa Guiones, Playa Pelada, and Playa Nosara but we ran into a little roadblock. On route out of Playa Samara heading to Nosara we encountered that the road we were travelling on had a river going through it at one point. We watched two other trucks take on the crossing but not with ease, so we gave the trip a second thought. Instead we turned around and travelled north to Playa Junquillal (pronounced ‘hoon-kee-yal’).
Its 2 kms of gray sand and wilderness off the shoreline. The waves are rough and come in hard. We saw signs on the way in that the undertow was strong and swimming was not recommended. I don’t think the locals take much note of this as there were people in the water. However, the beach was not very popular and other then walking the beach and/or watching the waves come in there wasn’t much less to do here. I wouldn’t say this was the must stunning of beaches in this part of the world, but it is quiet.
There was an option for food and drink at the beach parking area and seemed to be popular with the locals – Bar y Restaurant Junquillal.
When we finally reached the waters edge a surprise was something we didn’t want. Our feet seeped into the shallow water and it was warmer then a Sunday evening bath. There was nothing refreshing about it. It was 30+ degrees (C) and the water felt warmer then the air. It was such a letdown after all the positives that we encountered up to this point. We were even willing to overlook the fact that the beach did not have a very good surf (no waves). Now the ranking of this beach / Playa has fallen greatly on our list of visited.
Nevertheless, our visit to Playa Samara was very enjoyable and even with everything mentioned (negatively) above, the beach is one of the best we have seen so far.
Now onto our next stop…
On day two of our “Playa/Beach Tour” of western Costa Rica we started with Playa Samara.
However, in order to get to Playa Samara from Playa Tamarindo (where we are based) we had to take on a two hour trek. This included going through Santa Cruz and Nicoya. We heard that Nicoya is one of the most pleasant cities in the area. With its bright buildings and bustling streets all contribute to the welcoming atmosphere. Translation, the roads are tight, the streets are busy and you won’t get from one side of the city to the other without going more then 5 km an hour. Maybe on foot the city has something to offer, but in a car it just gives me a headache. Not to mention that the first thing you see when arriving into Nicoya (from hey 21) is a Burger King, you know its not pleasant city you were expecting.
One good thing about the trip through Nicoya is that the route was direct and no chances of getting lost were given. Now we are only 35 kms away from our destination – Playa Samara (all on paved roads).
Arriving in Playa Samara we immediately felt like we were in a pleasant town. It felt safe, quiet, relaxing, and lots of opportunity to explore the various shops along the main street. It was as expected busy with vacationing Tico and foreign families. We found a parking spot and had no problem finding our way to the beach!
The beach was absolutely beautiful. We arrived at low tide so there was a lot of sand between the town and the foot of the water.
The beach itself was surprisingly not overly busy. There were a number of individuals resting in the shade of the palm trees lining the beach area… some even had a hammock strung up.
……..More
Tonight we craved Mexican! The solution to that craving was going to be “Smilin’ Dog Taco Stop”. However on our adventure to find the place we came to realize that its closed. So much for that idea.
Next step was to jump onto TripAdvisor and is what other options were in Tamarindo. As it so happens there was a Mexican restaurant about 400 meters up the road from our hotel. Plus the reviews on TripAdvisor rated Gil’s Place as something very appealing. All that to say, we found ourselves a Mexican restaurant, off the beaten path, with a good standing review from the public. We were not disappointed!
On the menu for our stomach tonight was taco’s. Specifically “The ‘KIND’ Taco. To start, a chicken taco of her and a beef taco for him. We also got a side of chips and salsa. Needless to say, it was gooooood. So good in fact that we ordered another round. This time beef for her and chicken for him (see image below). All was very enjoyable while sitting on the patio and with the company of Gil himself.
Gil was a fascinating guy. I mean, this is a guy born and raised in the Bronx of New York only to land in Costa Rica 14 years ago and open up a Mexican restaurant. A good one at that! Super friendly with a great spirit about life. He knew what he wanted early in life (move out of the United States) and went out to make it happen.
We might find ourselves here again for breakfast one of these days in the near future.
The above is a shot taken from inside the restaurant. A map of Costa Rica in full colour on the wall and ESPN playing on the TV in the corner. At the time they were playing an NBA game.