We've just finished our third day of our second week (out of six weeks yippee!) in Santa Teresa.....and it's raining, with thunder and lightning. How exciting, and oh ….. now the lights have gone off! All is dark in Santa Teresa (8.10pm). Just us in the casita with a lone security guard flashing a light around outside. The rain feels quite eerie when usually it’s so dry around here.. We have a tin roof – don’t you love the sound of the rain tip tapping on the roof – I do! Snowdon’s found a good activity for a rainy night – meditation. So have I – blogging.
The first week here we lapped up the opportunity to exercise. We surfed 2-3 times a day and ran several times in the first week here. It’s so great to be surfing again. This beach is quite different from Playa Carmen where we were last time. Initially I was a bit gutted because I didn’t think the surf was as good (probably because I had trouble surfing it). But by halfway through the first week I’d figured out that it was actually better, more challenging to surf, faster and rounder than Playa Carmen. I’ve been given an opportunity to extend myself – and grab it I will - I’m getting better every day (and my new trademe ‘fish’ is perfect)! I’ve never surfed so much and it’s so great to have good warm waves every day.
It’s lovely and warm out surfing. I come in when the waves putt out or I’m too tired. I wear a rashie but the sun still seems to get through – didn’t realize how much until Snowdon took this kitchen shot - I'm starting to merge in...look like everyone else around here!
That first week we went on a few forays down past Playa Carmen to the crossroads (and the bank). Check out our handstands on the way…..
On the first foray I couldn’t hack the pace, too much sun and heat, so we didn’t do much exploring.
Since then we’ve checked out the place a bit better, and even found a really good bookshop/swap (to Snowdon’s delight).
It’s lovely strolling along that beach, and hopping in for a swim on the way.
We eat a lot here, think it’s all the exercise we’re getting, lots of trips to the super market, but nice healthy food. We’re loving the watermelon, oh and the mangos – oh boy oh boy!
We’re still with Sicilian Ugo in the Surfcasitas. After the first week he gave us a good long term deal for the remaining 5 weeks here. He’s happy, we’re very happy. Here’s a shot of the one we’re in now (we were downgraded because someone else was booked into the ‘top’ one, but I like this one more – it’s lighter inside).
It was Ugo’s girlfriend Cody’s birthday last Friday. She had a pot luck party up at their house, and the friendly being that she is, she invited us! Lucky! I took beer and watermelon. Snowdon stayed home, so I had to be brave to go it alone. It was great to meet some locals and the food was delicious. Ugo has heaps of mates, all day we hear people calling his name! It was great to meet his kiwi mate Al, who's living here, there’s just something about the familiarity of your own culture in a foreign place – it was lovely to hear him share with his mates about NZ (there’s a nice ring to the sound of someone talking up your country). Each person I meet I ask what they do here – I’m eager to find out how people can make a good living here, even with young children etc (the teacher salary here in very minimal). Al works with Aussie Mick who has a surf coaching business: surfmongrels they’re called! Another of Ugo’s mates had said that there’s a lot of work for after school tutors here. Another was a chef. I also met Brad who’s on the PTA for that lovely school down the road, Hermosa Beach School, says they’re looking for a principal (they don’t have one at the moment). Think I need to edit my prior ‘dream school’ comment to ‘dream location school’. That a school has a principal is up there on my priority list for a school. Anyway he’s doing a lot of work to get it back on track. He owned accommodation and ran tours.
When I ran out of mates I came home. So that was the party. I'd love to be so 'at one' with people that I can just sit and 'be' and not feel like a no mates when I've got no one to talk to, but I'm not up to that stage of my self-spiritual awareness yet. But the bonus is that now I know people out in the water (and I’m meeting more each day). Surfing's great alone, but for me it's even better when you feel like your hanging out with your mates.
Now we have a bit of a routine in paradise. Snowdon meditates in the morning, I surf for a few hours. So far the surf's been best in the morning. Brekki and coffee (love the Costa Rican coffee). Read in the hammock (ref book review, man mine is awesome) or internet (searching and applying for jobs in Japan, planning our Europe trip; Wwoofing, visiting friends and Vipassana, or whatever we're researching at the time..), then maybe a walk along the beach into town, another surf, or we sit on our spot on the beach (see photo) and read, talk, write in our journals, or just sit and watch the surf, surfers surfing and the sunset. There are some beautiful sunsets, and it’s cooler down on the beach. Then home for dinner. We alternate cooking nights now, because we now have two cooks in our household! Things just get better and better....
No comments:
Post a Comment