Beaches and Branches: Welcome to Beaches and Branches

Welcome to Beaches and Branches:

We are starting this blog about our traveling experiences and the related stress involved with setting up our trip this year to Costa Rica:
We have been dealing with a wonderful company, http://www.waytogocostarica.com/

However, to really understand our passion for Costa Rica we should revisit last years trip. I went to Costa Rica with three of my close friends from college. We left from Atlanta and landed in Liberia. Which, I would have to say scared me landing. I was expecting a cow to be on the runway (see Club Paradise with Robin Williams, a classic). We stepped off the plane and first thing I noticed, it was Hot. I don't mean, "Oh its warm out there", I am talking "HOLY SHIT, We just landed in hell". I was expecting to see little tribesmen walking out with robes on and spears. It was "Africa" hot. Unbeknownst to me, Guanacaste region could be classified as a Desert as it only has a certain amount of days of rain, and the area has cacti growing.

We stayed at an all inclusive resort. The Barcelo Playa Langosta. Very neat place, good food, helpful staff. The pool was large, the beach was pretty but there were large volcanic rock and it made it hard to swim in that area.

The resort had a lot of wild life running around it. We saw iguanas, and a species related to a Raccoon.

I went last year to Tamarindo on the Northern Pacific side, and had a blast. We surfed and enjoyed the local culture. While Tamarindo is growing with the new additions of large condos and hotels, it is still a very unique town of dirt roads, and a very small central district.
Actually while there last year we were privy to the first modernization of downtown Tamarindo, they paved the road!! Very funny and interesting coming from Atlanta that in one interstate has 24 lanes.

We went last year to several neat areas. We went on a horseback ride through the Jungle and on the beach. Our guide Paco was very "interesting". Unfortunately Paco was one of the Ticos (Costa Ricans go by this name) who did not speak english. It was not that big of a deal except my horse, Coco, thought she was in the Kentucky Derby. I was sore for a few days afterwords.

Here are some photos from last year's horseback adventure:

The next day while we were down there we decided to go surfing. I highly recommend Witches Rock Surf Camp (http://www.witchesrocksurfcamp.com/) . Absolutely one of the most amazing places in Tamarindo. They have huge nachos, As "Big as your ass" (see photo below!). The waves were in amazing sets of 6 to 8. I have to say those guys do it up right. The bar, surfing, and everything else made for an amazing afternoon in Costa Rica. The food was great, beer was cold, and the instructor was very knowledgable about surfing. We got to see some hot dogging as well. One guy with dreads was riding the waves in doing a head stand. Pretty cool stuff.

The end of an amazing day in Tamarindo and Playa Langosta

The following day was probably the most amazing day of my 34 years on this planet. We met our guide at 6 am on friday. Of course there was the "pissing and moaning" getting up that early, but WOW! is all I can say. We then went to the monteverde cloud forest. Wow! again, the area is a natural preserve in the mountains around Lake Arenal. http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/

The flora was amazing. Trumpet trees, ancient trees everywhere. One tree was so large that you would have thought it was planted when the earth formed.