Just when I thought I was ready to go home...

More Tamarindo please!

My last full weekend here was perfection--I couldn't have asked for a better ending to my trip. (Okay, no ending at all would have been more perfect). But seriously, the beach we went to was awesome, and I've never stayed at a nicer resort. Ever.

After we got there and the cute bellmen carried up our bags, we sat on our balcony admiring our view of the beach. Then we got ready and walked down the streets of Tamarindo. It was a cute little town lined with cafes, clothing stores, and hot surfers. Food was a priority though, so we found an Italian restaurant and grabbed some dinner. Definitely got my pasta fix.

Saturday morning we woke up to go zip lining. We had 8 cables to zip across, one of which I did upside down. I don't remember the last time I laughed myself to tears like that. (Click on the first picture of me zip lining) It was that hilarious. Another cable I got to go across "superman style." That was also pretty fun...

We got back to our hotel around noon. But before we headed to the beach, we went by the supermarket and discovered Cuba Libre--ready-to-go bottles of rum and coke. We spent the rest of the afternoon laying out on the beach, staring at hot bodies and shopping. Sounds like a terrible day, I know. It ended with a really ugly sunset too. It did start to pour later on in the night. But by that time, we were in a cozy restaurant right off the beach. No complaints here. I ordered a macadamia-crusted tilapia with a side of gallo pinto and a salad. I couldn't have been happier. Got my wine fix too.

The following morning was quite the experience. Up at 5:00 am, we were ready to see some animals. But first, we walked along the beach (as the sun was rising) towards a cove where we were met by some swamp boats. Ten minutes into the boat ride, we all felt like we were searching for an anaconda. We did see some blue herrings and a crocodile, but our tour guides told us that we needed to hike if we wanted to see any howling monkeys. So we drenched ourselves in bug spray while others prepared their Jessica Simpson flip flops for a hike in the mud. Mud. Ha. That's an understatement. But in the end, it was totally worth it. We got to see some howling monkeys. (Thanks to our tour guides screaming at them and acting like monkeys themselves). We even got to see the crabs that were nesting all over the place. That was pretty cool!

Since we were back at the hotel by 8 am, we were able to get to the beach by 8:30. The rest of the day went more or less like this: beach, ocean, pool, beach, ocean, pool, beach, ocean, pool, shower, lunch, bus. Yet again, another horrible day. Getting on the bus definitely wasn't a highlight, but the weekend was so great that I smiled the whole way back.