Activities galore!

What is there to do for visitors to Tamarindo? Well, of course there is the beach and ocean, with great swimming and surfing. But what else?

Here are the proprietors of an activities shop on the main street of Tamarindo. You can see them standing next to their poster listing the following activities: snorkeling; horseback riding; sailboat; catamaran; zip lines; kayak; mangroves; sport fishing; Palo Verde National Park wildlife tours; rafting; all terrain vehicles; excursions to Arenal volcano; excursions to Monteverde cloud forest nature preserve; diving; "super combo" (I don't know what that is); Witch's Rock surfing; and excursions to Nicaragua.

There are more activities besides those listed. For example, my son booked the gyrocopter tour that I showed several weeks ago through this activities office.

The couple who you see running the shop are foreign, like many of the shopkeepers in Tamarindo. The woman is from Toulousse, France, and the gentleman is French Canadian. The enthusiasm of the woman is so infectious, that if you were uncertain about doing any of the activities when you walk into the shop, after you talk to her you will feel like signing up for several of the activities before you walk out of the shop.

While we are on the subject of activities, I should mention that one week ago was the third annual Tamarindo Beach Marathon. I was not in Costa Rica last week so I could not get photos of it, but there were 900 runners, twice as many as last year, with runners from as far as the USA, Argentina, France, Germany, Mexico, Kenya. The winner was Bernard Kimwetich Sangoka of Kenya, with a time of 2:37:16.

Today is Sunday, so we have posted some new photos on our Viva la Voyage travel photo website featuring The Quaintness of New Zealand.