28 April - 6 May 2014
Hello there!
Kath here. Hope everyone at home is well and looking after themselves. We are now more than one month into our big adventure and although we miss you all, we are having an epic time. And somehow, despite all the chaos and challenges that we face daily in traveling about non-English speaking countries together, Damo is still my favourite person in the world. He seriously is the best travel buddy (right after you Cazz!), we make an amazing team, and I can't imagine this trip would be half as fun without him. He rocks.
Anywho, here we are in another blissful location - Santa Teresa. Somehow every place just gets better and better. Actually, that's a lie. If I had to compare Santa Teresa with Jaco, Santa Teresa would win.
Jaco shmacko. It was cool, but it was big. There were gyms and tourist offices and drunks and loud crass Americans and dirty surf and KFCs and town maps and all sorts of other crazy things we're not used to. But it also had some groovy things, like our guest house (inclusive of air con, ohlala) and its owners - Mike and Selina - who were awesome hosts; a couple of funky restaurants; and nice flat roads to ride push bikes along which I like a lot.
But Santa Teresa was right up our ally. Perfectly. It was small and rustic and peaceful and our accommodation (although up the top of a hideous hill and without aircon - which I've come to learn is one of Damo's basic life necessities, right after food and air) was seriously chillaxed and luxurious. The best part though was that this tiny town of ST lived for two things:
1. Surf and
2. Yoga
Um, winning!
The highlights
Jaco
- So, big news. It turns out, I'm a totally gnarly surfer. Yep. I sat out the back with all the big boys, carved up at least four epic sized waves in two days (you know, the ones that haven't even broken yet and are big and you look super groovy as you grind down them), was smashed by another fifty of them and triumphantly emerged from the ocean with only a handful of cuts and bruises. Damo, my encouraging surf instructor, says Im going to be the next Steph Gilmore. Woot!
- In other news, team Damo and Kath (or Demon-Cat as JJ from Bocas used to call us, ha), experienced their first bout of "mutu batu" - or travellers gastro as it's more commonly known. Let's just say, only 50% of the team got it. And it was the half that has short dark hair and a name starting with D (ie. not me). The poor little guy was not in a good way. I've never seen him stay in bed all day or heard him decline chocolate before! Needless to say, with a few remedies and some home cooking, yours truly brought him back to the Damo we know and love today. You're welcome.
- Other than nursing the sick like Mother Teresa, I rode whimsically around on my push bike, read yoga books, walked the huuuuuge beach that is Jaco, ate the best ravioli ever at a little eco friendly restaurant, and thoroughly enjoyed skulking about our guest house with Damo, cooking up healthy brekkies and lunches together. He even made his famous poached eggs two mornings. Best.
Santa Teresa
- We loved it here. We had a killer daily routine. It went like this:
6am - D surfs the best waves of the day and K reads on the private hanging day bed
9am - D returns to read on the balcony and K goes to a blissed out yoga class just a stroll down the street
11am - yogi K returns and D makes a delicious brunch
11:30am - D and K read on the balcony and swim in the pool together
2pm - Smoothie and salad/sanga time at a cafe down the road
3pm - D surfs and K walks the beach / reads on the sand / gets her yogi on again
5pm - best time, sundowner time. Beers on the sand. Yes.
6pm - gets even better, spa time. Vodka sodas in the hot tub.
7pm - cooking dinner time. Also, wine time. Then eating dinner.
8pm - optional activity time - pool, spa, reading, whatevs - but always with chocolate.
10pm - D passes out on the day bed. The end. Repeat for four days.
- The highlights were really the surfing and the yoga. The yoga place just down the road from us had classes every morning and evening and they were all so different and so great. And the studio was just an open deck looking out over the jungle and then over the surf and often birds and squirrels and butterflies came to visit. It was awesome! I'm keen to come back here in August and volunteer before my teacher training course which is just half an hour away. We'll see what happens.
- Damo loooooved surfing in ST. He says "it was the best. 4-6 foot, slow peeling, no crowd, light offshore wind - the best waves I've ever surfed." So, I take it that it was good.
- Our accommodation deserves a mention - Canaima Chill House. I won't bore you with the details, but basically it was bliss. Yep.
The Summary
Weather: Jaco was surprisingly not as hot as some of our previous locations. It rained often and there were heaps of awesome lookimg clouds kicking about. Santa Teresa on the other hand was H O T.
Surf: Aside from me rocking it in Jaco, the surf there was average for Damo. ST was the best surf of Damo's life so far. Wowsers.
Food: Cooked lots. Salads. Tuna. Chicken. Bircher. Damo's scrumptious poached eggs. Risottos. Slow cooker stews. The lot. Also had a tasty DIY fish taco and that delish ravioli in Jaco. And tasty healthy lunches in santa teresa, as well as an epic Italian meal by a guy who was in the top ten of the US Masterchef.
Beverages: Vodka sodas. Wine. Beer. Healthy smoothies. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Gastro-stop (for D, not me).
People: Mike and Selina in Jaco were lovely, the locals kept to themselves and some of the American tourists we encountered were absolutely hideous. The owner and teachers of my yoga place were all super lovely.
Accommodation: Jaco's guest house was great - the aircon room with ensuite was perfect for poorly Damo, but there wasn't much private space to sit outside. Santa Teresa's accom was amaze-balls.
Budget: Came in at -29% in Jaco. Awesome. And just -9% in Santa Teresa. None too shabby.
Overall: Santa Teresa just kinda worked for us - the perfect mix of surfing, yoga and chillaxedness. I'm going to put it out there - it's probably our favourite place of the trip so far. And maybe it was tainted by Damo's mutu, but Jaco just didn't make the cut.
That's it for now boys and girls! Next update will be coming your way from tamarindo, our last stop in costa rica before we hit nicaragua where I'll be transitioning from my 20s into the big 30 - eek! Exciting times as always.
Hasta luego,
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