Quick post on Costa Rica today. It’s strange writing back and remembering, even though it was only a couple days ago…

On my last day at Paradisus Playa Conchal, I booked a tee time on the Reserva Conchal golf course at 6:30 AM… yes, 6:30 AM. Too early.

The Reserva Conchal golf course is a beautiful course in Costa Rica designed by Robert Trent Jones II. It’s a challenging course, fairly tight fairways and some tough greens. It is really amazing to think that they can keep a golf course in good shape like that in the hot weather.

It was strange playing a golf course by myself. Some background on golf and I… I started playing golf about 4 years ago when I was dating someone in university who used to play golf a LOT. He actually taught kids camps, etc. I wasn’t very good at all, but I did go to the driving range quite a few times that summer. Flash forward several years, and I’m still not very good at golf. I did start going to the driving range a bit last summer, I bought a set of irons, and I played in the company golf tourney.  Now this year already, it’s almost the end of July and I’ve only gone to the driving range a couple times this summer. I really need to start going more.

It’s a love-hate relationship.

So imagine my surprise when I played the Reserva Conchal course with my rented clubs, and I pulled out a driver for the first time, and actually managed to hit it alright. That’s the first time I have ever hit a driver without it hitting someone else, popping straight into the air, or divebombed 2 yards in front of me. It was exciting!

So, when I got back to Vancouver I bought myself a new driver because I was so excited. Needless to say, I have not been able to replicate my success and continue being a hazard to all at the driving range with my driver. More on this later in the week.

There were some gorgeous views of the ocean from some of the holes.

There was tons of wildlife all around the golf course, including these cute birds all lined up along the side of one of the holes…

… and this gigantic iguana!

After playing the course, one of the guys I had made friends with at the Pro Shop, Mauricio, was kind enough to drive my luggage and I to Tamarindo where I would be staying in an apartment rental there. I can’t thank Mauricio enough!

I was staying at Villas Langosta, just outside of Tamarindo on Playa Langosta. I loved Playa Langosta last time I was in Costa Rica, but I have to say… really disappointed with the apartment rental. It was totally functional and definitely no-frills as I expected, but for the price ($110 USD a night), I’m not sure it was worth it compared to some of the other B&Bs or vacation rentals in the area.

There was a kitchen which was functional and had everything I needed to cook, but there were TONS of cobwebs everywhere, and huge HUGE spiders in all the cupboards. For those of you who know how scared of spiders I am, it wasn’t a pleasant experience to be cooking by myself there!

The living room was actually pretty big for an apartment rental, but I barely used it.

The bedroom was nice, and I appreciated the mosquito netting… too bad there were tons of ants that crawled in under the door all night!

Anyway, if you’ve been following my Twitter, you know that I ended up coming back to Vancouver early. I missed Allan, I was worried about the cut on my face softening up after surfing and needed to see my family doctor, and I didn’t feel safe in my apartment rental. (It’s not in the best area of town, and I actually heard someone creeping around in the bushes around my apartment, and someone tried to open my patio door)… so I decided to fly back early.

Coming up on the blog this week… I am looking forward to posting some of the surf pictures… as well as putting together a Costa Rica compilation video! Also, I’ll be at Chill on the Hill at Whistler on Saturday thanks to NESTEA and will be SNOWBOARDING in July! Woohoo! Can’t wait to pull out the Malolo.