03.07.09
Posted in Central American Adventure, Costa Rica at 12:12 am by Administrator
Well, it´s harder than it looks, but lots of fun. I took a lesson from Grettel, a cool surfer tica (costa rican gal). She and her husband Greg, from Ventura, CA, live in a shack in Santa Theresita, but surf every day and live a very modest happy life.
The first day I made it to my knees. The second day I managed to stand up. The third day I did about the same, and the fourth day I actually rode a wave (for a few seconds). The water is beautiful. No wet suit and I didn´t even get cold. We surfed for a couple hours in the morning and evening while the sun went down.
Lots of life lessons in learning something new. Patience, humility, letting go and just having fun without expecting to be good at it from the start. I am no surf chick, but I can say that I did it! I can check that one off my bucket list!
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Posted in Central American Adventure, Costa Rica at 12:03 am by Administrator
I can´t believe it´s been 10 days since I left home. I would have written soon but the past couple of days here in Antigua (Guatemala) have been busy with Spanish classes… more about that in another post… Anyway, I´m delinquent in updating you all on my arrival in Costa Rica. Here you go!
I arrived in San Jose Costa Rica Tuesday night about midnight. Thankfully I had arranged to be picked up and taken to the guest house. It would have been a nightmare to find it. That was a great suggestion from David. I slept well after a long day of travel.
The next day I rented a car, and was planning to drive to Manuel Antonio national park. But the headline of the newspaper said that the park is closed due to ¨fecal contamination¨…. so I certainly wasn´t going there. My other thought was to go to Playa Hermosa to a yoga spa, but then I heard it´s in a very busy area. So I decided to go somewhere else. I drove to Punta Arenas and took a ferry to Naranjo on my way to Mal Pais. It´s on the Nicoya pennisula. I met a nice couple Peter and Trish on the ferry, and we agreed to caravan.
I am so thankful to them. It turned out there are two ferries, and we took the wrong one and had to drive about 20 miles on a rough dirt road… It was rough enough that about 5 miles into it they offered me a beer. I gladly accepted and that made the road a little less bumpy.
By the time we got to Santa Theresita (just north of Mal Pais) it was past dark. Peter and Trish had a recommendation for a surf camp, and also bungalows on the beach. I opted for the bungalows. I ended up in a wonderful place called El Rey Padricio. You can see what it was like on their website. www.elreypatricio.com n $25 a night for a room with a view. Amazing.
Run by a wonderful family Luz, Emiliano, their children Atos and Malinche and the dogs Mamba and Choco… Choco was my guardian. He slept in my room and watched over me. It was wonderful. I stayed there 5 nights while I learned to surf…. I´ll write about that next!
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