this is
what this whole gorgeous peninsula is named for? 
Last 45km
was a bit bumpy but not too bad. Nosara is rather confusing at
1st, very spread out, nothing like Tam. Found Casa Tucan, better
than expected 
with HUGE
room 
and
nicely landscaped grounds, 
2 minutes
to surf. Which looked awfully good, pretty big and glassy. Kicked
the bench outside my room, shin rather sore. Too tired and late
to go out, went to Marlin Bill's for dinner, quite gourmet
actually. Met many people at Tucan bar, including Enrique the
local fun merchant. Tucan had amazing guitarist/singer Jose Mario
Garcia or something (aka Tico Hendrix) who was an absolute riot. 
Purposefully
broken English and double entendres galore. Maracas made from
sand or maybe salt in water bottles. Monkeys howling, bats flying
around. Then went to Blew Dogs, met lots of people whose names I
can't remember. Missed scene at Tropicana in Nosara proper which
supposedly was fun.Hit the water Sunday at 8 to find big waves and big crowds. Got one decent left but didn't compete successfully. Drove to Ostional,
very
beautiful and nearly deserted 
but
surfing not allowed due to turtles? 
Great
rope bridge over river which would be challenging in rainy
season. 
Pelada
had nice reefs, 
I think I
may go there tomorrow. Also checked Garza, claimed right reef
(from Surfer's Guide) nearly invisible but tide was high. Super
beautiful though, me gusta. 
In PM
listened to marimba band at hotel, very cool. 
Saw and
felt 1st mosquitoes of the trip, probably not the last. Hung at
hotel with Katy the surf instructor 
& her
students. 
Woke up Monday morning to find HUGE surf at Guiones, easily double overhead and bigger on sets. Never made it out, need a bigger board for that sh!t. Wasn't the only one either. Drove to Pelada, nobody out, drove to Garza which was flat, went out anyway, absolutely dreadful. Came back & ate at hotel,
read New
Yorker and watched hilarious Seinfeld (Kramer, Newman &
butter) I'd never seen before. Enrique was laughing his ass off.
Went to e-cafe which is one of few air conditioned spaces in
town, and it is way hot. 
Fiona is
excellent email correspondent. Went to market & stocked up on
groceries. It is awesome to be able to keep milk, OJ and beer
here. In PM went out at north end of beach, paddle not too bad.
Caught one OK right and messed up two lefts. Takeoff needs work
as always. But at least I made it out. In evening had dinner at Cafe de Paris after picking up next email from Britt. She says she and friend may be arriving soon. Hotel restaurant closed on Monday, went to Blew Dogs,
hung with
cool teenager Mason from SC 
(CR is
saturated with Carolinians), then played cards with adorable punk
girls Jesse & Amber 
from
Melbourne FL, they're leaving manana, that's too bad. Everyone
says Malpais will be crowded for Semana Santa and I need to
reserve ahead of time. Brian from Harbor Reef promised to hook me
up, we'll see.Woke up way late Tuesday, could have felt better. Guiones still going off, slightly smaller than before but still sizable. Pretty much skunked. No crowd factor as the beginners are on beach. Went to e-cafe but nothing from Britt which was to be the case all day. I think it's off, nothing from Leslie either, suddenly I feel a bit lonely. Drove to Sámara, nice town with my bar,
great
drive past herds of cattle 
and
gorgeous I think Tabebuia (actually Caesalpinia)
in full
bloom. 
No surf
in Sámara though. 
First
real river crossing. 
There is
not much architecture in Costa Rica, at least not in the beach
towns. 
Back in
Nosara, missed Brian at Reef by 20 minutes. Went out at Guiones
in PM, tried to stay inside. Got a couple so an improvement over
recent sessions. Lent board to Izzy the surf diva. Ate pizza at
hotel and called it early...I think...Woke up Wed. to excellent surf, perfect size, got maybe four nice waves before left arm started to hurt, don't know why, it's fine now. There is no water pressure in Guiones, no showers, toilets don't flush, good thing there's a pool. Went to e-cafe and then breakfast at Hotel de Paris, Britt appears to have disappeared. Leslie is in Nicaragua and likely won't make it here. Is there no mold in Nicaragua? Went to Harbor Reef where Brian performed superhuman feat of finding me a place to stay in Malpais. Gave him 5000 colones, not nearly enough. Spent actually 1st day of trip lounging about,
didn't
make it out for evening session 
but got
nice pics I hope. 
The
sounds made by insects at dusk are myriad: teakettle, car alarm.
Ate at Harbor Reef, food good but indifferent service except for
Gringo who interceded for me. Later, really bad music at
Reef so moved on to Blew Dogs, sorta fun but I miss Tam
atmosphere, girls not as friendly, more like SF.Woke up (a bit late) on Thursday to another good session, about head high and smooth. Got about six, kinda mushy but fun. Arm still acting up and shin hurts like hell too. Since you asked, leg is swelling up due to chronic malady and I have to do lots of stretches. In PM lounged about mostly, went out for evening session, was OK. Running out of colones so ate at hotel. Tico Hendrix played, hilarious again. Went to Blew Dogs, St. Patrick's day so drank whiskey with very cool couple from Ireland. The GF was an amazing beauty and the guy was as nice as could be. Weird Irish names, never got them at all, too bad, I like them.
Friday morning session fun again, head high, got great wave with lip breaking over shoulder, made it easily, very stoked. Had smoothie at Juice Lab and went to e-cafe where, who woulda thought, message from Britt! She's been ill but still wants to meet up later. Not holding my breath but encouraging. Went to bank, very frustrating, waited 1.5 hours and then they wouldn't let me back in.
Hotel
changed one $100 and broke another into twenties thank god. But I
hate using US money even though it's OK many places. Sore shin
persists and now has nice little welt to go with it...glad I
brought first aid kit. Rented longboard due to declining swell.
Another 1.5 hour bank session and now I'm flush.Evening session on rented longboard shoulder high and mushy. No complaints though. Went to Tropicana after great steak at de Paris. Kinda slow actually.
Casey,
Amy, Chelsea, Shane, Claire are some of the names I remember from
Nosara. 
Willy is
a great host, I swear I knew he was gay before it was pointed out
to me. Seems it would be difficult for a gay Tico but everybody
loves him. Culture is definitely less macho than say Mexico.Sat. morning session on la barca was fun, caught a few good ones. Returned longboard and went for massage from gorgeous Tica. Afterwards very mellow, lounged and drove around
and then
in evening went to Marbella ("next town past Ostional"
per Brian, not even close!) for rodeo. Picked up Tico and
daughter on the way, he's my new best friend for hours. Rodeo was
interesting, got good videos (Note--it
will have to be pitch black in the room for you to see this).
I love
the lack of code requirements, and I bet nobody's gotten hurt,
like, ever. 
Rumor is
there is good reef @ Marbella, but hell it's almost halfway to
Tamarindo! How bad could that drive be? Stopped at Blew Dogs for
dinner, bad experience, took forever, I was irritated and split
without hanging out. Came back to hotel, bar just closing but
Katy and "new" Amber (there are lots of Ambers here)
there along with Tico Hendrix. 
Broke out
remaining beer, then Amber broke out rum, Jose made fruit mix and
we all got pretty drunk. Lovely night with light rain and distant
electrical storm.Sunday morning session sloppy but fun, I'm not 100% tip top. Packed up and hit the road around 11. Jose (Tico Hendrix) was hitching so gave him a ride past Nicoya, played him White Stripes, he dug it. What a guy!