Day 6: Our Last Day in Tamarindo

5:30 AM Sunrise from the Condo

Friday Jog Route

It's Friday.  It's also our last full day in Tamarindo.

Like all the mornings in Tamarindo, I woke with the sunrise.  Like many many of the mornings in Tamarindo, I went for a sunrise jog along the beach.  I also explored some of the streets on Tamarindo looking for new places and new restaurants to check out for our final day.

Caleb's Favorite Restaurant - Waffle Monkey!

Bridget said the first thing out of Caleb's mouth when he woke up was something related to waffles.  So Caleb and I headed to Waffle Monkey, Caleb's favorite restaurant in the world!  Or at least favorite restaurant in the US or Costa Rica.  The folks gave Caleb a Waffle Monkey sticker; which Caleb was a huge fan.

Caleb and I split a vegan (no eggs!) waffle with bananas and coconut.  We also split a strawberry smoothie.  This waffle was way better than the peanut butter/Nutella waffle I had yesterday.  Caleb knew what was up!  From having quite a few delicious Nutella crepes in Paris, I have a weak spot for Nutella anytime it pops up on any menu.  Waffle Monkey, and monkeys for that matter, had been good to us on this trip and had great merchandise so we bought Caleb an awesome blue Waffle Monkey Tamarindo t-shirt so he could tell his friends back home about these awesome waffles in Costa Rica.  Speaking of Caleb's friends from back home, from time to time he'd mention how best friends from school, Jace and Benji, came over to the house on Halloween.  He told us several times a day that "Benji has a baby brother".

Waffle Monkey at the Beach

Bridget met us at Waffle Monkey as we were finishing up breakfast and we all proceeded to head to the beach.  We scoped out a shaded place by the beach to make homebase for our beach morning.  Caleb kept running to a nearby restaurant, that hadn't opened yet, to play and sit on the swings.  He had a ton of fun running back from us to the restaurant to explore the area.

Friday Beach Morning

After an hour and half or so at the beach, we headed back to the Condo pool.  We hadn't used the GoPro at all on the trip so I headed to the condo and took a ton of video swimming footage of the pool area which will make good footage for a future Costa Rica movie!  Caleb also had some nice camera work!

The concierge was picking up the guitar at 1:30, so we headed back to the condo.  I played a few last songs (who knew "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" sounded so good on nylon strings) and gave back my Costa Rica guitar.

A little "Blue Bossa" rendition before guitar is returned

Our plan for the afternoon was eat, souvenir shop, rest, sunset.  We put Caleb in the stroller and sought out the Green Papaya Taco Bar, a restaurant highly recommended by our new friends from Portland.  We looked for it last night but couldn't find it.  Not ever using any of our international cellular data plans on any day, we were mostly at the mercy of what we found on the street walking.  

After consulting the map back at the condo, today we found the Green Papaya.  The decor was very impressive (pics on TripAdvisor).  Outside seating consisted of swinging seats on rope aligning the perimeter of the exterior seating area.  As inviting as it was outside, we decided to eat inside to cool off from the heat. The interior consisted of tables and seats constructed of beautifully carved wood.  Cactus and other succulents lined the floors of the restaurant.  The walls adorned with Picasso influenced paintings of surfers in the water.  

Green Papaya

We were greeted by a friendly American waiter.  His first questions was if there were any allergies.  We certainly appreciated his attentiveness to this matter considering Caleb's egg allergy.  We ordered Caleb quesadillas, Bridget ordered a burrito, I ordered tacos.  The food was very delicious but Caleb was having some toddler meltdown moments.  I ate all my tacos, we boxed up Bridget and Caleb's leftovers and we headed off to go souvenir shopping.  At a t-shirt store, Caleb was going into super meltdown mode so Bridget rolled Caleb off in the stroller back to the condo.  I tried to pick out some shirts in a hurry.  Being in a rush, I think in retrospect the shirts are a bit smaller than ideal.  While I was still at the T-Shirt shop, Bridget and Caleb were struggling with the stroller.  Our travel stroller is ideal for travel as it is extremely compact when folded; however with its very small wheels it is not ideal for maneuvering any rocky terrain or any steps or any terrain that is not flat.  Luckily for Bridget, our friendly waiter from Green Papaya happened to be going down the road and helped Bridget with the stroller.  Meanwhile I left the store.  Bridget had said they were going back to the condo but in the midst of the toddler breakdown I didn't hear her correctly, I thought they were just walking outside for a bit.  I headed outside and didn't know where they were.  After a few minutes of pacing around I walked back to our condo; not knowing which way they would have walked.  Luckily I picked the same route as them and was able to help Bridget maneuver the stroller up to the sidewalk from the very rocky road.  

View from the Hotel Resort Pool & Bar

Once back at the condo we tried to put Caleb down for a nap.  He certainly fought it for awhile.  After about an hour and half nap, Bridget carried him, still half asleep, to the beach for our last sunset.  It was a magnificent sunset but Caleb having just woke up was a bit cranky.  Caleb needed milk.  I headed to the hotel resort bar to get (hopefully cold) milk.  After waiting several minutes, the bartender came by and said he didn't have milk.  I asked if there was somewhere that served coffee. He said that this bar served coffee.  I guess we had a miscommunication at first and then it clicked.  He gave me a milk and 2 cups for our wine free of charge.  Unfortunately the best part of the sunset occurred when I was at the bar.  Luckily I did get to see it albeit from the bar and not from the beach.

Following sunset, we headed back to the condo for our final Costa Rica dinner and to start packing up for tomorrow's travel day.  Bridget and I split the leftover burrito from Green Papaya, which was a very delicious burrito!  We also picked at some of the leftover rice and other meals that Bridget had made.

Here are a few pictures of our last sunset in Costa Rica:

Caleb & Dadda

Horses in the Tamarindo Sunset

The Ocean in the Tamarindo Sunset

The Shoreline in the Tamarindo Sunset