Tamarindo to Samara. 59 miles. August 19th, 2010

Our second day in Tamarindo was great. We relaxed, played at the ocean and the maid/cleaner at the cabinas did all of our laundry for us. After filling our RV with water, we bid Johann (the manager) adios with the possibilty that we will be back in a couple of weeks with Danny and Nicole in tow. Samara is another beach town headed south towards the gulf and once again there were no references in any of our literature of places to stay. The driving was uneventful but a couple of notes. The roads are terrible, full of potholes, cattle and other hazards. However, the countryside is clean and free of trash. After Mexico and the rest of Central America, this was easy on the eye. It is plain to see that Costa Rica and the Ticos take the eco (as in ecology) very seriously. There are plenty of trash cans around for disposing of garbage and even, in some places, recycling containers requiring you to separate recyclables from trash. Being Californians this is a welcome sight. Samara is bustling with tourists when we arrive but the streets are narrow. We head out of town towards the north. Cross a river and drive towards what looks like small cove. But, nowhere to park the RV. As we turn around and go back down the street, we pass an American couple walking their lab. They wave us down. "Did you come all the way from California?", they ask, checking out our license plate. "Yes and we are going all the way to Argentina". This always invokes similar responses of mostly enviousness at our adventure. We ask about a place for the RV and they direct us back the way we came, cross the river, take the first right and at a fork in the road, turn right again. They said there was a campsite there. As we approached the campgrounds we thought they were closed. Huge piles of dirt were piled on both sides of the road but as we pulled up on the beach, we saw a restaurant area, albeit closed and two men in their twenties. We chatted with them and they were open but not the restaurant and directed us to an area where we were able to park the RV so our door opened towards the ocean and still able to hook into power. This was all we needed. The campsite itself was seedy and a little trashy but with our unobstructed views of the water and beach, we knew we would be happy. As we settled in a group of horses appeared on the beach and as the sun was setting they looked as though they were enjoying the view as much as us. Tomorrow Tom is going into the water to board.