I needed lunch anyway after walking through the desert road of death toward the crocodile-infested river for a water taxi over to Tamarindo. We all know what happens next... But no, this time it's different. I didn't have to walk back on the beach with 20 pounds of groceries!
Here are some photos of the desert road of death:
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| I wore walking shoes this time. Brody, do you like the red shoes? |
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| This is what it looks like for 3 miles. |
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| I was fine until I realized vultures were circling me. That can never be a good sign. |
Boat ride - the water was so low that we almost got stuck in a very shallow part.
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| Our boat was named Victor Hugo, but I didn't see Hugh Jackman anywhere :( |
I think this is probably from the tide going in and out, but when I was here last weekend the water was all the way up to those stairs. Crazy.
After walking through Tamarindo to the Budget place, I have reaffirmed how happy I am to be in Playa Grande where people are chill. Tamarindo is...como se dise...very touristy. While I was waiting for the budget place to open I went to have lunch at one of the dozen restaurants on the beach. I was there for 40 minutes and had to tell 6 beach vendors "no, I don't want to buy your stuff." That's one every eight minutes. That's six too many.
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| Playa Tamarindo - can you see the big rock all the way across the ocean? That's where I'm staying. It's quiet there. |
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| Tourist Trap |
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| Lunch stop |
And then I got my wheels. And they upgraded me to a Soccer Mom SUV! Behold, the Toyota RAV4 which will now and forever be known as Mustang Sally:
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| All she wants to do is ride around! |
I immediately went to the Auto Mercado and stocked up on everything I couldn't carry last week. It was awesome. Until I got back in the car and realized I forgot the hand-drawn map I made for how to get home.
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| hand-drawn map that I forgot after taking this picture |
What else could I do other than just start driving and assume I'd figure it out? That's exactly what I did! I was reminded of my Grandpa Mark and a conversation we had when I was fairly young, maybe 8 or 9. I asked him, "Grandpa, how do you know which way is North?" He turned his body in the direction of Lake Superior's shoreline and said, "Because I know this direction is Northeast due to the Lake." I think from that point on I had directions implanted in my brain. I guess any time I look at a map I remember it well, almost in a photographic memory sort of way. It was this superpower I called upon whilst driving back to Playa Grande.
If you look at my hand-drawn map, you'll see at #2 it says "Tamarindo Church." I remember driving by that and the road Google maps told me to take looked like a dirt road driveway. I kept on driving. I convinced myself that things looked familiar from the shuttle ride from the airport until I realized that I was nowhere near the road I came in on. Finally a sign for Playa Grande appeared and I took a left. I figured if I kept driving toward the ocean I would make it back. This may have also been the first time I almost panicked about not speaking Spanish and not having data for my phone.
Driving in Costa Rica is kind of scary because the roads are really narrow, people drive fast, motos will drive on the divider line, and you can drive while drinking (but you can't be drunk). And watch out for livestock:
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| There was one on the other side of the road too |
But I'm back and it only took 4 hours. And I have wheels! Oh the exploring that is about to happen!! And I saw the sunset tonight again. :)
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