Tamarindo is a whole different animal this week, I’m in awe. Two weeks ago it felt like the kids and Erin and I were the only visitors in town, this week this sleepy surf town is PACKED with people. Tico’s, Americans, Canadians, Europeans and more. We heard this morning that every single room, hotel, condo and rental in the entire town is full and we’ve also seen the side effects of that. Power is going on and off all day, I don’t think the town can actually support this many people for more than a week, the internet connections have been weak at best and surfing… well… we’ve skipped surfing this week. SO many people in the water, it’s like chicken noodle soup, the good kind with all the veggies and noodles. Everywhere you look there are surfboards and people. The energy is awesome though, there are people in all the restaurants and all over the beach, it’s a blast. The nice thing is there are so many places to eat and drink that we still have never had to wait for a table. It’s a perfect mix.

We had a wonderful Christmas eve here in Costa Rica. We spent the day with our friends from Canada (Mark, Carolyn, James, Annie and Christopher) and enjoyed carryout from our favorite italian place (Las Brasas) by the pool at the Luna Llena. It was perfect. The kids swam (although we did have to deal with a few swimming langostas) and Mark, Carolyn, Erin and I enjoyed drinks by the pool and a great meal.

Christmas day was super mellow, we opened a few gifts for the kids and spent much of the day at the beach. Not much to say other than the fact that I want to spend christmas out of town every year if it can always be this fantastic. We really enjoyed escaping the craziness of the holidays, it felt much more raw, and completely stress free. I couldn’t ask for more.

This week has been filled with espanol school. We’ve been taking full time classes all week at the school trying to get a grasp on spanish, it’s not easy! We’re all starting to get the hang of it, but we are far from being able to really communicate. If someone uses simple words and speaks slowly to me, I can have a conversation now, but it’s not easy. Feel like my brain is melting for sure. The cool thing though is that I’m starting to think in spanish and and whipping out spanish words much more frequently than english words in some situations. It’s almost making speaking english harder. I’m also discovering how little I actually know about the english language. It’s kind of funny…

This weekend is the biggest weekend in Tamarindo all year, so I’m sure we’ll be spending quite a lot of time with the crowds down on the beach, but we are also planning on leaving town on Saturday so that we can go on a tour. I’ve forgotten where we are going, but Erin will remember, so I’ll let her write about it 🙂 We’re going with our Canadian friends, so it should be a fun way to wrap up 2011. Horseback riding, river rafting, zip lines, waterfalls and more. Looking forward to it.

OK, battery is about to die so I am going to sign off now. Sending warm thoughts to our friends and family back in the states, we miss you all!

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

The Crew