Santa Teresa, A Yogi Surfer's Paradise

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A 10 km stretch of surfing beach interrupted every km or so with rock out-crops into the surf, stretching from Hermosa beach in the north, through central Santa Teresa, to old Mal Pais in the south. Great for long distance hikes, runners and of course surfing. Surfers from around the globe....Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Chile, Canada, USA,... the strand and main road are lined with surfer shops, surfer accommodations, quad & motorbike rental shops, cafes, restaurants, beach bars,



Apart from surfing the other big cultural theme is non-traditional spiritualism...yoga (all forms and teachers), Mayan spirit shamans and Ayahuasa sessions -the latter two bits are too scary for me. Casa Zen, the place I'm staying at, is pretty well core stream for Santa Teresa. Life is very nice here if a bit extreme on the lazy side… 6:00am the co-dorm surfers head out while it’s still cool, I head out for a trudge in sand and surf, then dive in for a 10 min surfy seawater scrub, then up from the beach to Casa Zen for a fresh water shower, before breakfast which is served at 8:00am+..ooh for the Costa Rican coffee and fruit. Then 9:30am into 2 ½ hours of Yoga, another shower and a salady lunch. Then a hammocky siesta; it gets oppressively hot and muggy ‘round mid-day --too hot to walk on the sand barefoot, so later in the afternoon it’s heading down to the surf to vege-out in the water, with pelicans nose-diving all ‘round catching an early dinner. Watch a bit of surfing as the sun goes down, and finally when everyone’s cleaned up, out to one of many dinner spots with a group, and then to bed when it cools down (sort of!!)—that’s pretty well the daily regimen. Most of the people here are yogi-surfers; with a sprinkling of older types; all very interesting, if a bit left wing.

The beach bars all light up with happy hours just before sunset, with the real party action starting up until 10:00 pm +++. I must be getting old; missing most of the action.

Surprisingly fishing is not a big deal here; it's mostly pursued by local Ticos with hand lines swung into the surf from the rock out-crops. They're seen parading the occasional tuna catches along the beach, but there's more fisherman than caught fish.

On balance, Santa Teresa is beautiful and people are super nice, but would I ever return at this time of the year??? Probably not -- too hot, too dry (big water issues), too much dust on roads and access paths kicked up by passing surfer quads, too many tourists. The best time to visit would be in the low season month of October when it rains a bit each night and everything is lush and dust free...and cooler!.

Today, I head out to Montezuma a small town along the coast. Have a great one and I'll talk to you soon. Cheers. Pete.

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Comments

[Sofie]

Hi Dad! Amazing photography! In addition to becoming a yogi, you're becoming a pro photographer. Way to go! Thanks for another entertaining and enlightening blog post. I'm impressed by how much yoga you're doing. I too would be missing most of the night action, by the way. Looking forward to catching up more when you get back. We've all been thinking of you and wondering how you're feeling in this last week of your two-month adventure. I hope you have a wonderful time in Montezuma. Lots of love, Sofie P.S. Sorry I didn't write sooner. Just got back from my weekend in TO yesterday evening. While it's not totally back to normal, Mom's sciatica seems much better than it was at Christmas.