A Pictorial Tour of Tamarindo Part II

Yes, the 5:30am surfing lesson was well worth it both in terms of wave consistency as well as instruction! Quick observation - younger surfer dudes at the surf shops are basically working to surf and meet chicks in teeny swimsuits and they are not the greatest teachers. This is a generalization but the better teachers out there tend to be older. Pablo is a 32 year old Tico (Costa Rican) who works at the Matos Surf Shop - much better than the surfer dude I've had from another shop. Took time to go through safety rules and how to navigate your way out to where the waves are breaking. I also appreciated his taking some time to help me understand how to read the waves - breaking left or right and what a "fat wave" looks like. Spent the other day being really frustrated with my ability to barely stand up and then today, I was able to paddle, pop up, stand and ride in about 75% of the time and felt awesome. So now I'm going back tomorrow and rented a board overnight so I can get out there before the surf shop opens. Granted, I'm not particularly coherent by the time I show up for Spanish class at 1pm but what the heck....

Let me continue my pictorial tour of Tamarindo. -- I left off where I showed you the roads and bit of town. Here's a photo of the Spanish school... the downstairs is sort of the "student lounge" with a snack bar where a lady makes breakfast, smoothies and lunch. Upstairs are a bunch of classrooms as well as classrooms off the snack bar.

Ironically, the competition is located just across the street:

Around town are a bunch of lots and properties for rent and sale...

Surfer towns seem to have a particular culture - drugs on the street, homeless people shuffling along and new age treatments and businesses. Here's a sampling of what is available here in Tamarindo in case you are looking for Mayan Astrology, Massage Therapy or Reiki...

These signs are located at the turn off for the school and the road leading up to where I am living.

Finally, what's a town anywhere in the world without the requisite Chinese restaurant.... I don't think I've ever seen anyone in it but they certainly have a nice sign....

Surfing with Patrick who is another student from Switzerland who lives next door (ironically one of the "student houses" if you don't want to do a home stay happens to be located in the next building to mind) 5:30am was a little early for him so we settled on 6:15am. Debating diving on Friday with a German woman, Gabrielle, who has done 2 liveaboard dive trips already in the last 6 weeks . If that happens, tomorrow will be my last day of trying to master surfing - I suppose one never completely masters this stuff but heck, I'm a lot better than I started out last Tuesday when I took my first lesson.

Hasta manana or la manana proxima .....