Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa

We arrived in San José and weren't sure whether we should spend one night there or go straight to Santa Teresa. The last bus was at 14:00, but we arrived at 13:35. However, we ended up at the wrong terminal and didn't have enough time to walk. The taxi driver noticed this and charged us a bit more. Not incredibly expensive, but enough to annoy us. Since we had already booked the hostel in Santa Teresa (we didn't know that the last bus was at 14:00), we didn't have any other choice. The taxi driver said, 'Oh, it will be tight.' Then he thought for a moment and said, 'Well, we can make it.' I think he broke every speed record. It felt like we were being chased by 20 police cars until he finally dropped us off at the terminal. We ran to the ticket counter and then to the bus. The bus was already in reverse. We barely made it. We were on the road for another 5-6 hours, including 1 hour on a ferry as it is a peninsula.

The last hour was on bumpy gravel roads with 7 million potholes. But we finally made it. A cool hostel right on the beach.

The whole village is 4 km long with one main road, and everything is built along that road. Across the road is about 200 meters of jungle, and then the sea.

There are lots of cool restaurants and bars. We went to a neighbor to have an Argentine steak. Our goal in Santa Teresa was to learn how to surf as quickly as possible, and we did that the next day. We were picked up at the hostel and taken to Playa Hermosa. We had a dry lesson first. After warming up, we went into the water. Who stood up first out of the 6 students? That was the question. I managed to do it pretty quickly and soon stood on my first wave.

Muriel had a bit more difficulty at the beginning.

But for me, it was a bit easier since I snowboard. We didn't go far out, so we could still stand. We had to lie on the board and the surf instructor pushed us when the wave came, and at the right moment, we would stand up. After 30 minutes, I was waiting on a wave at the same time as Muriel. The instructor said, 'Let's do a romantic wave.' Only when Muriel and I were on the same wave did she manage to stand up for the first time. We were literally on the same wavelength, and it was awesome.

In the evening, we played beer pong and another drinking game with the rest of the hostel. Then we all went to a party on the beach with a huge bonfire.

It was amazing, but not great for the surf lesson the next day. I had already had 2-3 drinks... maybe one too many. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it work the next day. But we had to paddle to catch the wave ourselves and know when to stand up. In the end, it worked out great. Muriel was better than me that day. On the following day, we took a break and rented a quad. We drove around the half island and stopped at various beautiful beaches.

At noon, we went to a waterfall in the middle of nowhere.

It was very cozy, and some crazy people jumped into the water from 10-20 meters high.

We then needed a snack at around 4 p.m.

After that, we went to a special pool.

It was a hotel resort where you have to pay 20 francs to enter, but you can use those 20 francs for food or drinks. I didn't drink anything and ordered the most expensive meat on the menu, a filet mignon.

It was very delicious. The resort was on top of a hill and had a view over all of Santa Teresa.

We enjoyed the sunset in the pool and eventually went back down to the village.

The next day, we rented a surfboard and went to learn to surf on our own. It's not easy. You have to know which beach has the best waves for beginners and also pay attention to the tides. We gave it a try.

Muriel did great from the start. But I struggled at first. Eventually, I returned the shortboard and picked up a longboard, and everything went smoothly. I caught wave after wave. There are 'shortboards' and 'longboards' in surfing. I'm definitely made for the longer ones. But it's not about body size, it's about surf style. In the evening, we watched a surf contest to see how the pros do it.

I have never admired the guys who surf as much as I do now that I know how difficult and demanding it is. Okay, we got a bit distracted by the many dogs that were there.

And then we watched the contest again.

The sun went down, and we enjoyed our last evening there.

The next day, we went to Manuel Antonio National Park in the morning. There, we watched more animals.

Next stop: Manuel Antonio

See you soon,

Ernesto and Muriel