Living in Tamarindo, Costa Rica

When I first moved here over two years ago one of the very first people I met here was Barry Lawson, owner of an Costa Rica B & B Villa Alegre. Barry literally was the very first person I met. The day after I arrived I decided to go running on the beach in Tamarindo. I ended up running towards to Langosta from my apartment. Once I got to Langosta, about 1 - 1.5 miles from Tamarindo, I was dying to get off the beach. So I found an exit off the beach. It just so happened that this exit was the beach access for Villa Alegre.  Read more... (542 words, 7 images, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

So we’ve been home for about a month now and I’m finally getting a chance to update you guys on our trip. I had hoped to make the blogging a more real time experience while we were there. Unfortunately, I was unable with work and family commitments. At any rate, here’s an update on our trip to Hamburg while we were visiting Germany.

Once we booked our trip to Germany, I immediately started looking into soccer games. As many of you know, I’m soccer crazy. Not sure where the hell it came from, but in the last 10 years it’s become an absolute obsession of mine. I think it has to do largely with my injuries and inability to play anymore. Hopefully that will change soon, but that’s a blog for another day.  Read more... (1234 words, 29 images, estimated 4:56 mins reading time)

After a couple of days of work we finally got to get out and see the area a little bit. The town closest to where Kristina’s father lives is Eisenach. It’s smack dap in the middle of Germany.

Before we rolled into town Kristina talked me into a bike ride while she ran. Unfortunately my knees are so lame that I can’t run with her yet. That’s going to be resolved November 2, 2009 when I finally get my surgery. Below are some pictures I took of the bike ride.

 Read more... (165 words, 13 images, estimated 40 secs reading time)

So we made it after a hellish flight. We got the premium seats on our flight over. We were both stuck in the middle of the middle 4 seat row on the flight. It was awesome. Nothing like getting the dude in front of you sleeping in your lap while the people behind you are complaining about you reclining.

Kristina’s dad picked us at the Frankfurt airport and took us back the house. The trip home was a little ridiculous. We hit 235 kilometers per hour a number of times during the ride. Below are some pictures of Kristina’s parents house and the surrounding area.  Read more... (140 words, 6 images, estimated 34 secs reading time)

Scored some pretty sweet pictures on decent swell. Enjoy:

From Avellanas River Mouf, July 09

From Avellanas River Mouf, July 09

From Avellanas River Mouf, July 09

From Avellanas River Mouf, July 09

From Avellanas River Mouf, July 09

When I first started packing to move to Costa Rica I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my long board skate boards. I knew Costa Rica had awful roads, majority of which were dirt. For whatever reason I decided to pack them up with my surf boards and bring them along for some slim chance of finding a paved road.

After about a month of living here I finally found a place to move in to long term. All the roads leading up to the place and surrounding were dirt. But after doing some exploring wouldn’t you know it I found some paved roads. What was even more ridiculous is that I found paved downhill roads. The setup was absolutely perfect for downhill skateboarding.  Read more... (210 words, estimated 50 secs reading time)

That’s what they said when me and 3 of my friends decided to take a boat trip up to Witches Rock and Ollies Point.

For those of you not familiar with either of these spots, they are probably the most well know surf spots in the northern pacific coast region of Costa Rica. In order to get to either spot you need to take a boat. Typically what most people do is drive up to Coco beach from Tamarindo and hop a boat from there. Coco is about an hour from Tamarindo by car. The boat from Coco to each spot is about an hour to an hour and a half. Below is a map that will help provide better detail.  Read more... (1437 words, 12 images, estimated 5:45 mins reading time)

Hey Gang,

Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth the last 5 months. Just been extremely busy. It’s been difficult to find the time to write.

Here’s a quick video of our new place that we moved into back in February. We moved to a Langosta vacation rental which is the neighboring village to Tamarindo. We ended up trading our 2 bedroom for a 1 bedroom 30 yards from the beach. It’s heaven on earth. Hope you enjoy the video. Sorry it’s a little shaky.

When I first decided to pick up everything and move to Costa Rica I was slightly scared. Like anybody would be I suppose heading off into the unknown: foreign country, no foreseen address, no car, don’t speak the language, no cell phone, and NOT KNOWING ANYONE. All those great unknowns make the adventure what it is ….exciting!  Read more... (1181 words, estimated 4:43 mins reading time)

I’ve been sitting on this blog post for some time now. Needless to say I’m extremely happy to finally begin writing it all the while being stuck next to some fat smelly guy on my left and the drink cart to my right with the silly ass airline attendant spilling soft drinks on me.

In order for me to stay in Costa Rica legally (wink wink) I need to do a visa run every 90 days. Basically I need to be out of the country for a total of 72 hours or 3 whole days. Lots of people have ways of getting around this like paying a resident Tico with connections at the Nicaraguan or Panamanian boarder to get the necessary stamps for another 90 days.  Read more... (890 words, 15 images, estimated 3:34 mins reading time)