We were greeted at the airport by our very friendly shuttle driver from Guanacaste Viajes Transfer and Tours. He was wonderful, but spoke no English, so Shaun and I tested out some of our newly acquired Spanish. It would appear we have a lot of work to do! Regardless, I would highly recommend their services.

After an hour long drive, he dropped us off at our hostel, Villas Macondo. Thank you Trip Advisor, this one is a winner. I will write a full review later, but essentially its a little slice of paradise right in the middle of bustling Tamarindo.

After a quick trip to the grocery store, a snack, and a cervasa (or two), we headed out for a beach walk and happy hour. We figure we would head to Eat at Joes, which is part of the Witches Rock Surf Camp. We’d eaten there many times, knew they had a happy hour, and knew that we could get some good beach walking in to get there.

We stopped along the way to take some obligatory sunset photos

Our first Costa Rican sunset.

We arrived at Joe’s, took advantage of their happy hour beer special, and ordered dinner. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a traditional Costa Rican Casado.

Casado is Costa Rican for “Married Man” and is a meal consisting of rice, beans, plantains, salad, sometimes a tortilla, and a protein (fish, beef, chicken, pork). Simplicity at its best! Add some Lizano Salsa, and you my friend are in business!

After our meal, we were feeling pretty good, and were thinking about calling it a night, until we realized it was 6:30. So we grabbed a couple road pops (totally legit here by the way), and poked around Tamardino. So much has changed, and yet so much is the same.

During our walk about, we happened across a little bar that we had visted on our last trip. By bar, I mean a stand in the street with stools, but still. We were there on the day they opened over three years ago. They had plastic chairs, a putting green, two kinds of drinks and no customers. We certainly didn’t expect for it to still be standing. Well boy were we surprised. It was not only standing, but decked out with flat screen TV’s and a full kitchen. We had gotten to know the owner during our last visit, so had a great time catching up, and imbibing in his deadly rum and pineapple drink special. I’m going to write a whole post about the bar, as soon as I can track down the old pictures we took on opening day!

At Wild Panda!

After a couple more cocktails, it was time to call it a night. With fuzzy heads, and tired bodies, we headed back to the hostel for a very good night sleep. The adventure of a lifetime has begun!

What kind of local food have you tried while travelling? Anything wild and exciting??

Pura Vida!

Kate