Temporarily Tamarindo: Booze Cruise

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That's what most people call it, although it's an overstatement. A four and a half hour ride with Blue Dolphin Cruises on a catamaran to a cove where you can snorkel or kayak, or stay on the boat and take pictures. (Who might that be?) A good lunch of arroz con pollo, salad and more, plus all the beer, rum or cacique (a deadly Costa Rican liquor that's sort of sugar cane vodka) that you cared to pour into yourself. No one got tipsy enough to fall overboard, although that might have made for some great pix.

Above, the lovely and exotic Rosie from Brazil, perhaps taking three sheets to the wind. Below, a couple all the way from Finland; relaxing on the foredeck in the setting sun; Capitán Gerardo at the helm and with some of the crew (one of whom is inexplicably wearing a Minnesota Twins baseball hat).

The odds of lots of things happening are tiny but, still, they happen some times. There were 21 passengers on the boat. Two of us were graduates of St. Louis University School of Law. She graduated several years after me and practices in Washington, but we had a long, pleasant talk over cocktails about how awful many of the professors were that we had in common. Go figure.

Once again, it's very late. Downtown St. Louis 365 will go up Thursday morning local time (conveniently, the same time zone as home).

Trmporarily Tamarindo: Why To Be Here (Plus Confused Religious Symbols, Thursday Arch Series On Wednesday And A Visit To Philly)

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So why bother to come all this way? The images above were shot a couple of minutes apart on opposite sides of the sky last night (and thanks for the help from our friends at Adobe). Plus, it's way below freezing at home and a snow storm is moving in.

We took a day trip yesterday but less than we would have liked. It's been taking us so long to get our butts up and out of here in the morning (well, we are on vacation). We were going to drive to Liberia, the big town in the region, and Guaitil, known for its pottery production. We only got to the former. It has some interesting architecture and a pretty new main church. The statue below is supposed to be the the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I think, but it looks pretty Hindu to me, what with the flaming topknot and brightly colored lotus in his hand. The elliptical wire halo looks, I don't know, Copernican.

The town of Filadelphia (W. C. Fields alleged epitaph: I'd rather be in Philadelphia than here) is not far south of Liberia. The arch at the entrance to town suggests that there is something of archeological interest there but none of the guidebooks mention it so we didn't stop.

Today's agenda: booze cruise.

Big monuments today on Downtown St. Louis 365.

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.

Temporarily Tamarindo: Adventure!

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What a day. I took something over 1,100 snaps. Three-quarters are junk but there are some gems in there. We took a boat ride up the Palo Seco estuary, enjoying the mangrove swamp environment and looking for wildlife. We went ashore at one point, searching for howler monkeys. viz., the chap above.

There is a big regional festival this weekend in the town of Santa Cruz, an indeterminate distance east of here over some muy malo roads. This is cattle country, Central American division, and there were close to 700 cowboys and girls in the horse parade. The horse traffic jam was as bad as going into New York through the Lincoln Tunnel on Monday morning. even if there was no toll. This rider took pity on his horse and offered to share his cerveza with it.

Returning after dark, there was a serious traffic accident on the dirt road back to Tamarindo. In the US the police would have moved it to the side and let traffic pass slowly. Here, la policia completely blocked the road. In the best of my weak Spanish I asked an officer how long the delay might be. Una hora, mas o menos. I got that. I asked if hay una otra ruta a Tamarindo. The policeman consulted with a colleague. Es muy complicado, he told me. Check.

Then a taxi driver carrying some Americans back to Tamarindo offered to let me follow him through the back roads around the blockage. Well, that would be great, but, um, you aren't taking us to the banditos headquarters, are you? No, he was just being helpful. We have a GPS with a Costa Rica map and, at one point, we were in a completely black, uncharted zone. But here we are, back at the condo, after one of the best meals we've had in a long time at Carolina's. More about that tomorrow, I hope.

It's 1 AM as I finish this. Downtown St. Louis 365 will go up when I regain consciousness.

Temporarily Tamarindo: STL DPB In Costa Rica

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All must be revealed: yesterday we flew from Miami to Liberia, in northwest Costa Rica, then drove an hour to the town of Tamarindo on the Pacific Ocean. Holy bleep, this beats being in St. Louis in January. And we owe it all to our friend and colleague David Selden of Tamarindo Daily Photo, who owns the condo where we're staying. Dave lives in the Phoenix area but spends a lot of time here. I don't blame him. This is the place. I'm telling you, if you have a way to get to Costa Rica, you should come here.

I met a couple from Cincinnati when I was shooting on the beach at sunset and they suggested we dine here. OMG. It's looking like a good week.

Above and first below, sunset at Playa Langosta, where the apartment is located. Bottom, flying off the south coast of Cuba on the way down.

Downtown St. Louis 365 is fixing bicycles today.

Birds Fly South For the Winter

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The Crowes are heading toward warmer climes. We flew to Miami last night. When this post goes up, we will be sound asleep at an airport hotel. Mid-morning flight today to our destination.

These pictures were taken at the St. Louis airport and on board the plane. Some people take meticulous care of their investments or religious practices. I am an obsessive manager of our American Airlines frequent flier accounts, the master of upgrades. I did not pay for the gin and tonic in the second picture.

I hope to add a bit to this post by Saturday evening, US Central time, revealing our destination and the CDP pal who got us there.

We mess with your vision today on Downtown St. Louis 365.

Travel Day, But To Where?

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The Crowes are on the road again today. This photo is not in St. Louis. So, where to now? Cleveland? Who goes to Cleveland in January? Who goes to Cleveland? (Actually, it's not so bad. My brother and family lived there for a few years. It's got the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.)

Guesses as to this location are invited. However, this is not the final destination. We'll spend the night there and fly out Saturday morning to the end of our trail. May have a supplemental photo on the blog from there by Saturday evening our time, early Sunday at the latest. I plan to horn in on the territory of one of our CDP friends for a week.

We're talking about the skyline today on Downtown St. Louis 365.