The cleaning lady comes once a week and usually commandeers the house for five or six hours. We feel kind of awkward just hanging around, so we do our best to find something to take us out of the house for that period of time. This week, we loaded up the paddle boards and headed over to Tamarindo. We staked out a spot in the first beach lot and gave Vincente a couple thousand colones to look after the car.

The Papagayo winds were up and howling by this time which made our excursion interesting. We were both a little bit rusty having not paddled since Playa Venao in Panama. We turned north into the strong side shore and paddled our way over to Playa Grande to have a peek before turning tail back with the wind and cruising back to Tamarindo.

There was a small patch of unclaimed shade at the corner of the lot that provided us a great view of the day’s beach activities. We set up our chairs and got comfortable, reading books and people watching. An entrepreneur sets up his little barbecue in the parking lot and sells kebabs. Succumbing to my hunger, I had him grill me up a pork skewer that I shared with my reptilian friend over by the fence.

That was about the extent of our activity. Lots of lounging in the shade with an occasional trot across the hot sand to cool of in the tropical ocean. Lots of beginning surfers honing their skills on the mellow waves rolling in. Vendors were prowling the sand trying to make a buck or two selling trinkets or cold coconuts. We stayed until two then headed back to Playa Blanca where the pup was lobbying for a beach walk.