Welcome to "la Pampa"

The famed Guanacaste tree that this area is named after.
It looks more like Africa than Central America and nothing like the jungle of Arenal or the cloud forest of Monteverde. It was truly amazing how much diversity there is in this country that is only one quarter of the size of Arizona.
Although the plan was to go as "Tico" as we could to get the true Costa Rica experience, we decided that a big part of the Costa Rica experience was to enjoy one of the highly "Americanized" surf towns.
Rich recommended Tamarindo for both the great surfing, as well as the access to "Witch's Rock Surf Camp". A surf shop, bar, and grill that was exactly like every surf shop in San Diego.
We loved it!

We rented boards for the day and headed out to the surf! The boys spent most of the day surfing but were happy to take a break after lunch and attempted to teach their wives how to get up on the long boards. Biggest difference from San Diego - the water that was the same temperature as the 80 degree air. Heaven.

Packed in the Bego for an early morning trip out to Playa Grande. This was our first full day of sunshine, perfect timing!

Thanks for being such patient and loving teachers! I think we each got a wave or two that we were proud of!