Endless Summer

Costa Rica is about half way between the Tropic of Cancer and the equator. The Pacific coast is warm all year round but there is a wet and dry season. It's hot every afternoon at this time of year and rarely rains. From April-May until around November it rains pretty much every afternoon, sometimes in torrents. The tourist authorities euphemistically call that the green season.

Big slap in the face getting back to work this week. Editing and posting time is limited so I'll pare down the content. This scene is a couple of hundred meters down the beach from the condo where we stay, as sunset approaches.      

Indolence

Costa Rica is a good place to do nothing if you are a visitor. Not so much for the locals, who work hard to take care of us.

I would never do what this man is doing. I've had a brush with melanoma and got past it, so I know better. Sure, this is part of why people come here but it's a pretty bad idea. Probably better to sit in the shade of an umbrella and watch the ocean.      

STL DPB On The Road - We Never Tire Of It

We are not a couple who like to lie out on a beach, avoiding consideration of the co-pays for melanoma treatment. This is a sunny place, though, that is so beautiful we return again and again. This our tenth trip to Costa Rica and our eighth in the Tamarindo - Playa Langosta area.

Thanks to some wonderful people who own a beachfront condo, we have the benefit of the ocean and beautiful accommodations. If anyone is interested in coming here, we can put you in touch with the right people. You do have to book well in advance for this particular property. We have our week for February, 2019 reserved.    

No Direction

For now, anyway. Photos from Playa Langosta as sunset approached. What do the Aussies say? No worries, mate. For now. For another week. And then . . .

Quite a variation in our annual routine today. It's Stupid Bowl Sunday. Normally we'd go out to dinner for our private Stupid Bowl party but we're not on our home turf. There's a sports bar here, Sharky's (my photo), that is lined with huge televisions and is promoting the game. Never gone into the lair, so to speak, for this event but my camera and I plan some anthropological research.       

J'accuse

Plan B Was Okay

Turns out there was some misunderstanding about yesterday morning's event. Clare's little airport has a fly-in/drive-in pancake breakfast around the forth of July. No plane rides but 75 to 100 single engine aircraft, mostly old and some just strange, stop in for a $7 breakfast of pancakes (as stated), cheesy potatoes, ham, eggs and coffee. People ate at picnic tables in a hangar. And everyone got complimentary treats from Cops & Donuts, more about which soon.

After breakfast we drove way up north to Traverse City, where the National Cherry Festival was in progress. I guess they grow 'em up there. It was packed. Nowhere to park close enough with a baby in a stroller. Visitors swarmed across the main road, oblivious to traffic and signals, at times reminding me of migrating herds of bison. So we drove straight out of town.

The alternate destination was Leland, Michigan, even farther north. It's a cute village that lives off summer tourism (it must be brutal in the winter). There is a nice sand beach along the northern reaches of Lake Michigan. Audrey got her Great Lakes baptism.             

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Yes.

Playa Langosta, late Sunday afternoon. Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas any more.               

Volver

Volver. To return in Spanish. (Also the title of one of my favorite Carlos Gardel songs.)

Here we are, back again at Playa Langosta, Tamarindo, Costa Rice. What an extraordinary privilege and pleasure. Life has its tough spots and its rich spots. This one is the jackpot.            

Sur la Côte d'Azur

It's been a full if jet-lagged day of walking around the old city in Nice, eating French food (there must be a McDonald's here but I haven't seen it) and trying hard to communicate with the locals. With the additional practice, I think that French has edged out Spanish as my best language that I'm bad at.

Note that the beach here is made of small, smooth rocks, not sand. Everyone brings a roll-up wood slat mat rather than just a towel.

As you can see at the bottom, Mrs. C and I are thinking of you, gentle reader, the whole time we're here.
                                    

Temporarily Tamarindo: The Beach

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Another exhausting day, this time not doing much of anything.

After a late start, we decided to walk the beach from where we were staying to the town center. It was nearly high tide and there were bits around the point that were tough going. It took about an hour with photo stops, trudging through the blazing sand and sky.

The beach is my enemy, in a way. My heritage is Irish and Polish, people so pale that some of them have nearly translucent skin. I'm about as white as they make 'em. I've had skin cancer. Usually I'm completely covered up. Yesterday I was wearing shorts, a short sleeved shirt and sandals. Luckily, someone now makes 90+ SPF sunscreen and the stuff works. No pink at all. By the time we got to town we were beaten down by the trek and radiation.

There was a very pleasant lunch at Nibbana (the standard of food service here is very high) but it left us full and sleepy. Somehow I thought it was a moderate walk back to the condo but it took a half hour, uphill, in drenching humidity and on bad roads. PLOP on the sofa when we returned, open a beer and do some photo editing. Vacationing in paradise turns out to be a bit of work.

Road trip planned for today.

We go shopping for a wedding dress on Downtown St. Louis 365.

STL DPB At The Beach: Vina del Mar, Chile

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Welcome to the Chilean Riviera. Well, perhaps more like the Costa del Sol - it's all so new. Vina del Mar, just north of the old port of Valparaiso and 90 minutes drive from Santiago, has beautiful beaches, great restaurants, luxury condos and a summer to dream of. One of the reasons I posted this is to annoy my friends back in North America, who are having a miserable winter.

Buenos Aires tonight, briefly, and then on to El Calafate early tomorrow morning.