Nauru Travel Diary

From Houston to Sydney 2013

From Houston

to Sydney

2013

 

After the long day yesterday, it was a pleasure to sleep in a bit and get out of bed late at 9 am.  We managed to get breakfast before it closed at 10 am, hoping not to get a reputation here of arriving for meals just on closing time.

Following a great breakfast, topped off by the truly superb coffee that is routinely served here in Costa Rica, Di returned to our room to have a rest and watch the emergence of the royal baby from hospital on the television in our room.

Meanwhile, I took my camera and went down to the beach where it was low tide, thus enabling me to walk through the estuary waters to the beach on the other side of the river.  The erosion of the sand banks due to yesterday’s heavy rains was very evident, but the calmer waters of low tide made a stark contrast with the high energy environment of high tide that we experienced two days ago.

Although we had driven through the town of Tamarindo on several occasions (including yesterday morning when it was 4:30 am, at which time it was definitely possible to label it as a very sleepy little town), we had not walked around the town.  We decided to do so this afternoon, so despite the tropical heat and humidity, we walked from the hotel into town – a distance of a couple of kilometres which we managed in about 25 minutes.

Tamarindo is a pleasant town that is obviously focused on beach tourism.  Although there are some shops that cater to the needs of the local population, such as supermarkets, the town is dominated by travel and tour agencies, and souvenir shops.  Compared with other beach towns in other parts of the world, Tamarindo is very relaxed, with a slow pace and none of the heckling to buy things that commonly occurs elsewhere.  Di was hoping to find a particular kind of bag to buy, but she did not find anything suitable, so our only purchase was a bag of coffee beans at one of the supermarkets.

Returning to our hotel, Di decided to have a swim in the pool while I went for a walk along the beach to admire the sunset – the first clear sunset we have had in Costa Rica.  The sunset was everything I could have hoped, and I found myself taking many more photos than I had intended (and far more than I have included here).

Di suggested that I limit myself to just two sunset photos.  For the record, I did take her suggestion into account in good faith when I was choosing the photos for today’s diary entry.


Day 18 - Tamarindo

Tuesday

23 July 2013