Costa Rica, the beach and the mud!

Trip Start Aug 06, 2007

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Costa Rica Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
Tuesday, October 23, 2007

It was a long long day of travelling when we arrived at Zopilote Surf Camp on the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. Up at 3.45am in Santiago, minivan to airport (1 hour), flight to Lima (didnt know about this stop over, our 5th time in Lima airport....never thought we would be back here!), flight to San Jose, one DODGEY bus terminal later (stare harder anyone....I know we are gringo´s! Please dont rob us!), a bus to Punta Arenas, one car ferry, another bus to Cobano (the roads start to get bumpy in the dark), then a smaller bus we are told are needed to make it thought the wet, bumpy unsealed roads to Mal Pais, I clutch on to the bus handle for dear life as we seem to slide more like a rollercoaster down the pot holes and hills, arrive in Mal Pais - no one from the camp is there....oh ohhhhh, 10pm and tropical rain pouring - however a man with a flash looking taxi luckily drives past and spots us under the shelter and knows where Zopilote is - so we bump another 30 mins to camp (he is busy showing us the flash TV in his car!).....phew.....we are here, and Trish (surf camp mum, empasize the SURF part!) greets us with late supper and shows us through the mud to our bunglalow home! Cant wait to wake up tomorrow and see where we are - although we can hear the surf only a few hundred yards away! hehe!

Wake up early as the bungalow is open air with mosquito nets and the sun is up at 5.30am. Paul is excited about getting to check out the surf - although the tropical rain persists! At least you can still surf! There is a nice young German couple, a Japanese guy and two nice Norwegian girls here to! It is good because the Norwegian girls and just starting off at the same time as me - so at least i have someone to potter with in the white water....

Later in the week, Tillman, a hillarious young German judge arrived back at the camp - he had split his chin open on his first lesson (striched up on the kitchen bench by the surf Doctor Mel who arrives on her quad bike!)- and so all stiched up he had been travelling whilst this healed - so he arrived back at the camp for round two. He had the dryest straight up sense of humour - which made dinner time pretty funny. Paul told me to try and imagine Tillman surfing in a Judges wig and gown - pretty funny! Another German Girl, Sylvi arrives, as does a young Austian Couple with a baby - who have WON a trip tothe 6 ´chill and surf´camps around the world (Portugal, France, Capetown, Rio de Janeiro, Costa Rica and Indonesia)!

After 2 days of pretty torrential tropical downpours - and ever uncreasing mud - the sun came out - what a relief! And it was HOT!

We surf in the morning at about 8am and came back and have a MASSIVE breakfast with everyone down the table at about 11am. Then we surf again in the afternoon at about 4pm till sunset at 5.30ish and then again a massive dinner is cooked by Trish.

Everyday I have tried to make missions into Santa Teresa township - about 45 mins walk. But after all the rain the roads are muddy carnage! One day I thought I might die - I seriously almost cried - went to the side of a huge puddle where the mud looked firmer - NO - one leg sunk, and as I helplessly yanked my jandled foot out the other sunk knee deep too! Arghh....so knee deep I managed to yank my feet free and reach down deep in the mud and retrieve my temporarily munted jandals out - needless to say I was a complete muddy monster! The funny thing was - as I began walking head down dejected I heard a whistle from a local mowing the lawns over the road who had witnessed my huge mare - he was Marcos the same man who does the surf camps gardens and he showed me (laughing) where i could hose off! Needless to say I got a ride home in the camp ute that day from Trish - and the roads dried up a little in the next few days! You kinda get used to always being muddy - and itchy covered in mozzie bites! Im normally covered in a layer of calamine lotion and mud! Attractive! We also have borrowed the camps bikes...rusty old cruisers which is pretty fun but just means the mud is displaced to your arse and all up your back by the time you get into town! hehe!

There are many animals at the camp - I was shocked to see a horse running around the coconut palms and mud in the backyard, there is also a pig down next to the massage table (!) by the beach, and about 6 dogs at any one time at the camp. You often see geckos running on the roof, a fruit bat tries to knock off the banana´s in the main house at night, big iguana´s often are crawling up the coconut palms as are cute red squirrels and we even saw (and heard) howler monkeys on our first morning.....so shall we say, no shortage of wildlife.......It is funny heading to the beach as you are normally followed by a pack of 5 or more dogs all shapes and sizes from Jack Russel to Great Dane size! Like a zoo!

The guys that normally run the camp (Simon and Bruno) have been in Indonesia and Austria and so Trish has been looking after the camp and feeding us - she has done a great job - we are normally bursting full! It is great to not have to worry about finding a restaurant to eat at everyday - and having ´home cooked´meals. Need to go on a diet though....yikes.

So after 9 days here - I can´t say that my surfing is that much better - but the water is gorgeous and warm and at least I can play around a bit more now - Paul has caught some great waves - and we feel more exhausted than when we arrived! We are ready to take our muddy washing to Guatemala and start the next leg - with lots of beach and sea time under our belts.....

Lots of Love, xoxox.