Hotel Las Tortugas Playa Grande

... she
told me ¨Well, you can just carry it on your head.¨ Awesome, I can't
even carry the darn thing. Now, however, I have way more sympathy for
all the silly tourists who come to Breck and can't even manage to carry
their equipment. It's like, how do you think you're gonna get down the
hill when you can't even carry your stuff? I understand thy pain,
gaper. I must say though, we did look pretty sweet carrying our boards
and wearing our little ¨rashies ...

... to
Tamarindo, our jaws dropped. Cute storefronts, endless surf shops, fast food, no stray dogs,
clean streets, and hundreds of gringos. It was like Disneyland! And they´re not even backpacker gringos, they´re, like, old! Ha, that was for you, mom. Anyways, we are in definite reverse culture shock right now and are trying to get over paying more than $3 for a meal and seeing people that are clean and in normal ...

Hmmm, to lie by the ocean or by the pool? These are some of the *************s you are faced with when on a tropical vacation. Well, I chose the pool this time. Another day of breakfast at 10:30 a.m. then off to the strenuous part of the day. After about ninety minutes by the pool (I hated to have a time limit) I headed to my next high stress appointment.

We had a catamaran tour booked for about six hours. The bus ...

... Latin American cities. Me and Juliette even tried to learn to surf on Christmas Day, now this was an experience that's worth bragging about. A visit to the nearby beach, Playa Grande, ($1 by boat to cross the river to the north of Tamarindo), was another great trip. Playa Grande is nearly deserted, only a handful of surfers trying their luck. We certainly enjoyed Tamarindo more than any other place so far, so missing Nicaragua does have its alternative rewards.

... is like $2.00 or something, but it is happy hour until 9pm, hence why Im back in my room.so no clue what a beer really costs? Met another fellow solo traveler at the bar, she is a teacher from New York, so we got Shawn from San Diego, Anna and Mia from Canada and Alexis from NY, met a couple guys from DC area as well. Saw Joe (the owner) with his wife and kids, they are so cool, kids were dancing to the music...very cool vibe ...

Well, we admit it, we've gotten in the swing of things here and used to jelling around the beach and the house to be spending too much time writing journals. But we still manage to take a few pictures here and there to capture the moments. So here you go.... ....and happy Thanksgiving to those in the U.S. Love, Shirin & Babak P.S. Mariscos means Seafood in Spanish, for those who may not know that.

... beach? The water held almost a Caribbean blue hue, but because of the black and tan (yes, like the beer) shades of the velvety sand, the water, although a clear blue, is somewhat subdued. The waves role in on a long, flat stretch to the beach so that at low tide, one looks across the black and tan mottled beach and imagines that it´s a giant swath of smooth ice, but instead her footsteps are absorbed by the warm waves gently spreading across the beach. Of course, at high tide ...

... At least it was our biggest night out in C.R. so far, a whole 3 bottles of beer felt like a party compared to the previous weekend when I never got beyond the porch! The Spanish lessons seem to be going pretty well but having started at pretty much zero means that I haven't exactly learnt too much yet. So far I have spent most of the time in 1 on 1 lessons which are pretty intense but you learn lots. It's all in ...