Big wipe out and final days

Dinner for Mike and Lad's Birthdays
see all photos »

The title is a bit of a giveway but it is still worth telling the story.

Lad, who had grown up on racing dirt bikes, decided to rent a 250 and  ride south in CR.  Although the roads were very rough with huge pot holes we all thought it was a good idea and would be a great adventure.  Sadly for Lad it turned out to be more of an adventure than planned.

Lad's Accident and Mike's Birthday

To make a long story short, after riding 4 hours south of Tamirindo Lad looked up as he was going through a crater size pot hole to see 4 cars  taking up the entire road coming straight at him.  In CR the mochismo of the drivers makes for some very aggressive passing.  Combine this with dirt roads, lots of rain, a bike that is not mechanically sound and you can guess what happened next.  To avoid hitting the cars he ended up putting the bike down. The hard packed dirt and rock road were not kind to him and he had a pretty rough go of it.  Somehow he managed not to go into shock and with the help of many friendly Costa Ricans made it to a hospital.  A few hours and a couple of hundred dollars later he was taped and bandaged up with the knowledge that his collar bone was broken.

Mikes Birthday Beer and My Last Night in Tamarindo
see all photos »

Apparently people in CR go to San Jose for any real medical treatment. Lad's choices were to go to San Jose and get treated or head back to the States.  He thought it would be better to go to the States (which in the end was a very good choice)  Not one to pack it in - Lad made his way back to Tamarindo and regrouped prior to flying out.

Lad had a great attitude about the whole thing and handled everything very well.  He even managed to get out with us for a diner on the night prior to leaving.   I now know I'm not as tough as Lad - but I still think I'm a better surfer -- sorry Lad ;)  The following moring we got lad out to the Tamarindo airport for the short flight to San Jose and on to California.

Tamarindo Sunset
see all photos »

Later that day Mike and I went for a surf.  I exchanged  my board for a 7' board at the high tide surf shop.  They were good about it and didn't charge me any extra money (maybe they felt bad for renting Lad the broken down motor bike).  The board was brand new and a little floatier than what I'm used to but it certainly was much easier to paddle and more fun in the smaller waves of Playa Grande. The waves at Playa Grande were only about 3-4 high but the paddle out was easy, the water was warm and the view of the beach fantastic.  

Lad On the Road To Recovery
see all photos »

One of the other great things about surfing at Playa Grande was the walk back along the beach.  We recovered our sandles which we had hid in the weeds beside the beach -- you have to be careful if you leave them on the beach people will walk off with them and then headed back.  About 10 minutes down the beach we crossed the channel (which supposedly has crocodiles in it) and continued walking on down the beach.  It took about half an hour to walk back along the beach.  Since we had gotten out as the sun was coming down we were treated to a fantastic sunset as we walked back.

Heading out for a surf on Mike's Birthday
see all photos »

That night Mike and I went out for a beer at the Monkey Bar to celebrate his birthday.  I had to catch an early flight the next morning so I wasn't able to stay for very long but the Monekey Bar is definitely worth going to.  It is up on a hill with some great views of the water.  They have the biggest party in town if you are there for Haloween.

The next morning I got up early and flew out on the small plane to San Jose and on to CA.  Sorry to say goodbye to Costa Rica but an excellent -- and certainly exciting -- week long getaway.