Tamagringo, indeed!

the hang out jam spot at botella
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Wow, I feel like I'm in San Diego.  For every Tico there are about 7 gringos.  And not just any gringo.  Gringo girls with blonde hair and a fake bod and demasiado make-up and nice clothes.  It's really bizarre and I'm not sure I like it so much.  I have spoken to a fair amount of locals and asked them how they feel about all the gringo construction, which is bountiful and all in-progress, and I have received mixed answers.  Some tolerate it because of the money and job opportunities it presents, and others hate it because it completely suffocates the local lifestyle.  Regardless of it all, Kimberly and I have had SO MUCH FUN.  I figure I might as well enjoy the tourism, since it is already here and there is not much I can do about it.  Of course we try to do more of the local thing, but in some places it is unavoidable.

My day of solo travel was pretty fun.  I spent Sunday night in San Isidro with the Swedes, and then woke up at 4 in the morning to get on a bus to San Jose.  The bus came into San Jose just a couple minutes too late for me to take the direct bus to Tamarindo.  The next direct bus left much much later, and I was impatient and eager for some adventure so I hoped on a bus to Santa Cruz, where I had heard I could transfer to a bus to Tamarindo.  The ride was long, hot, and very uncomfortable.  I sat next the a super nice Tico named Roy who lives antes de Santa Cruz and had been in San Jose for his abiertas funeral.  Totally nice guy.  I still feel way safer on Costa Rican buses than I do on The Greyhound.  I got to Santa Cruz with just enough time for some Gillo Pinto before jumping on the school bus to Tamarindo.  When I arrived at our hostel, La Botella de Leche, Kimberly was already there, settling in.

Not wanting to waste any time, we headed straight for the beach where we enjoyed some Piña Coladas at sunset.  We asked the bartender a good place to go dancing, and he sent us to the Villareal, a rodeo/fair that was on it's last night in town.  We hopped in a taxi for about five minutes and found ourselves suddenly out of gringo territory, sitting on the edge of an arena where inside a bull was running loose, chasing away the 50-or-so Ticos who dares to taunt it.  It was insane!  We grabbed some carne from a stand for dinner, and then continued to watch the bull fighting until it was over and the discotech fired up.  Reggaton.  So much Reggeaton.  We danced for about three hours before we decided somos consadas, and it was time to head home.  We walked, as we could not find a taxi, for such a long time we were certain it was well passed 4 in the morning.  Much to our surprise, when we returned to the Botella, we found everyone fresh-faced and clean, ready to begin the night...it was only 1230.  We passed out despite everyone trying to convince us to "live a little."

Yesterday we got up on the later side and strolled leisurely to the beach for round dub of Gillo Pinto desayuno.  Yum.  Then we had ourselves a little surfing lesson with two of the most gorgeous Argentinean men I have ever seen.  SO...that was entertaining, to say the least.  BUT I made a HUGE mistake: I forgot sunscreen.  How could I?  Maybe I was too preoccupied with Wines (one of the instructors) smile??  Needless to say, I am fried.  I am that gringo girl who gives the rest of us a bad rep as "beached whales."  So that's cool.  We went to Perdro's fish hut for dinner and binged on fresh fish tacos and frijoles.  Woke up this morning, still full.

We got up earlier today and decided to go for a little run before breakfast.  We jogged along the beach until we came across some coral tide pools where locals were searching under rocks for crabs to use as fishing bate.  We waded over, talked a bit about Tamrindo, tides, fishing, gringo invasions, and then we taught them some english phrases and they helped us a bit with out Spanish pronunciation.  Lunched on the beach, and just waiting for Kimby to come back from the bank before going on another walk about town and possible down the beach the other direction.  Must go nurse the burns before she gets back.

Toodle oo