Here is another view of the bay at Playa Panama, shot with a telephoto from the same spot as yesterday's photo. As this photo shows, there is lots of land around and some people have got caught up in the real estate boom of 5 or 6 years ago. In a few days I will show you the sometimes not-so-successful results.
This is a view of Playa Panama from the road approaching from the south. This shows something that I commented upon yesterday, which is there there is not much of a town at Playa Panama. 
Here is a photo of the beach at Playa Panama, looking in the opposite direction from the view that I howed yesterday. As I commented yesterday, the beach here is so sheltered by the bay that it is similar to the shore of a lake rather than the ocean.
This is a photo of the beach at Playa Panama. It is sheltered by the its location within the a bay deep in the Gulf of Papagayo, so it does not receive ocean waves or surf. It is ideal for easy swimming.
Today I will begin a short series of one more beach north of Tamarindo, close to the Gulf of Papagayo. This area is under the location where airliners fly over the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica when they make their approach to the international airport in Liberia, about one hour north of Tamarindo. 
Yesterday I showed a monkey in his natural habitat. Here are some monkeys not in their natural habitat. These monkeys have jumped onto one of the tour boats that takes visitors on wildlife boat trips in Palo Verde National Park.
This is a photo of a white-faced Capuchin monkey reaching into a hole in a tree for some food. I don't know what he thought he would find. Maybe some bugs. I don't know about you, but I would not stick my hand into a hole in a tree. This monkey is braver than me.
This photo completes my little series about our condo at the Tamarindo Diria Resort. Our building is seven stories tall, and our condo is on the fourth floor. 
This is a photo of part of the gardens at our condo at the Tamarindo Diria 
A few days ago I showed a photo of the walkway to our condo at the Diria Resort. I received more comments than usual, so I thought I would show this photo of the view from the bed in our master bedroom. Yes, a view like this does make it easier to get up in the morning.
The little dog in this photo seems to be putting on the brakes so he does not get in the way of the bigger dog. It is nice to see dogs playing together nicely.
As regular readers of this blog know, I like to post a series of photos that tell a little story. This photo shows more of the scene when the lady with the three tiny dogs walked along the beach. This little girl seems to want to follow the dogs, sort of like the Pied Piper. 
I like to walk along the beach in Tamarindo and Playa Langosta. In addition to the surf and sand, the beach offers an opportunity to observe an array of animals, such as pelicans, sea gulls, iguanas, crabs, and some non-native species, people and dogs. 
Last evening I returned from a business trip, driving from Las Vegas to our home in Scottsdale, and I stopped the car several times to take photos of the dramatic Arizona desert sunset. The thought occurred to me that I have not posted photos of a Tamarindo sunset lately. 
This is another photo that I considered posting for yesterday's Daily Photo theme day of "edge." This is the hallway leading to the front door of our condo at the Diria Resort in the middle of Tamarindo. Our condo is on the right at the end of this corridor.
The worldwide Daily Photo Theme for April 1 is "edge." Tamarindo is a small beach resort. It does not have a lot of "edges." But because the beach is the essence of the town, I selected this photo, as it shows multiple edges. 
I have shown photos recently of Playa Hermosa and Playas del Coco, about an hour north of Tamarindo, so I thought I would show a photo of Tamarindo beach for contrast. 
The dive attendant in yesterday's photos was snapping his fingers. That was the clue to what he was doing. He was summoning his dog, who attentively ran to his side and kept him company while waiting for the divers to return from the sea. 
This photo is a closer view of the dive attendant that I showed a few days ago. He has extra air tanks, a gasoline can for the dive boat, a water cooler and an ice chest. But his attention seems to be diverted to the beach on his left, rather than looking out to the ocean where the divers are.
Here is another view of the town of Playa Hermosa. There are some restaurants, as you can see in this photo. 
This is a photo of one of the main streets in the town of Playa Hermosa. It is a quiet, Costa Rican beach town. It is much smaller than Tamarindo and does not have the shopping, restaurants and activities of Tamarindo.
Because the waves at Playa Hermosa are so gentle, it is a popular place not only for swimming, but also for snorkeling and scuba diving. Here you see a photo of the attendant for a group of scuba divers, sitting on the beach with the extra air tanks.
Here is another view of the beach at Playa Hermosa, taken from about the same spot as yesterday's photo, but looking up the beach in the opposite direction. 
This is a closer view of the overview of the beach at Playa Hermosa that I showed yesterday. The beach is in a cove that is part of the larger Gulf of Papagayo. It is therefore protected from the ocean waves. 
This is a photo looking down at Playa Hermosa from the ridge to the north. Playa Hermosa means beautiful beach in Spanish, and this photo shows why it deserves that name. 
I have shown a few aerial photos of the approach to the international airport in Liberia during the last few days. Here is a photo as the airliner crosses the Costa Rican coast. 
This view from an airliner window during the approach to the Liberia airport shows the ocean in the distance, and flooded fields in the foreground. My guess is that these are rice paddies, as it appears that there are short plants growing up through the water in the foreground, but not in the center, as the water there reflects the clouds smoothly.
Here is another photo of the scenery on the approach to the Liberia airport. This will give a perspective that the airport is close to the coast because the plane is low as it crosses the coast and heads inland. 
This is an aerial view of a river between the Liberia airport and the Pacific, viewed from an airliner on the approach to the airport. This gives me an excuse to talk about a very serious and sad subject regarding a river in Costa Rica.
To the left of the area shown in yesterday's photo is a suspension bridge used by workers to get to the factory or mill. This worker was making a repair to the bridge. I hope he was tied off because it looks like he is standing on the cable or rail on the edge of the bridge.
The factory or mill in this photo was just across the river from the spot where I took the photos I have shown during the past week. This will show you how high the men and oxen had to haul their heavy loads of wet sand.
This photo shows why the men were in the river with their ox cart. They were digging up sand from the river bottom, hauling the wet sand in the ox carts out of the river bed and up the embankment to the area from which I was taking photos, and then dumping the sand.
When it is time to leave the river, the men splash the oxen to get them to move. That seems like a gentle, refreshing way to get the oxen's attention. In fact, they might think that if they stand there long enough without moving, they will get a shower on all sides, which must feel good on a warm Costa Rican afternoon.
These are not fishermen, but they are workers. This looks like hard work. Their work method reflects that Costa Rica is still a developing country. as in the USA one would never see the work that they are doing performed in this manner. 
There is something more going on in the river than an ox cart crossing from one side to another. Here you see a man bending over and doing something. 
In the river photo that I showed yesterday, there was an ox cart in the river, as you can seen in this photo.
This scene of a meandering river about a half hour from Tamarindo is fairly typical of the surrounding countryside. But there is more to this photo than a river. The story of what is going on in this river illustrates that Costa Rica is still a developing country.
Yesterday's sunset photo showed the crashing fury of the waves against San Francisco Point. In the sheltered waters of the southern end of Tamarindo Bay, the gentle wave action as water retreats slowing on the gently sloping beach provides a more subtle and muted palate for reflecting the sunset. 
It has occurred to me that I have not shown a sunset photo in a long time. What is wrong with me? Sunset is the best time of the day in Tamarindo. 
As I did with the photos of the woman fire twirler, here is a flash photo to show the fire juggler. 
After the woman I showed the last two days performed her fire twirling routine, this man juggled clubs on fire, including tossing the burning clubs up with his foot.
Here is another photo of the fire juggler that I showed yesterday. I used the flash for this shot to capture her in sharper focus. 
While having dinner as La Baula, two people came by to entertain the diners by performing a brief routine of juggling and twirling objects on fire. I took this photo without a flash and the slow shutter speed shows the movement of the fire, although her movement also causes her image to be a little blurred.
This is a photo of La Baula, a popular restaurant in Tamarindo. They have excellent pizza. Like most restaurants in Tamarindo, even those serving gourmet food, the dining area of the restaurant is open air. 
On a drive north from Tamarindo, the road leads to Brasilito and then Playa Flamingo, and ends at Playa Potrero. This is a photo from Potrero looking back to the south across Flamingo bay.
The worldwide Daily Photo theme for the first of March is "favorite part of town." My favorite part of Tamarindo is the beach. Now, you might be thinking that I should show the town, not the beach, but this photo shows the center of town. 
People seemed to like my macro flower photos the last few days (and thank you for the comments), so I will show a closer photo of the beach than I normally photograph.
This surfer in this photo looks very comfortable cutting left on a small wave. I hope he has had someone put sun screen on his back, as the sun is glistening off his back. 
This is a close view of the interior of a ginger flower, showing the delicate features, subtle colors, and feathery texture.
