Thursday February 1, 2018
The alarm brings me out of a deep sleep at 6:30am. Time to move onward – today we head to the far southwest of the Nicoya peninsula to Playa Santa Teresa.
The shuttle arrives and we are surprised to see a 24 passenger bus rather than the normal micro-bus, definitely more room and more comfortable.
The drive through the countryside and towns is beautiful and it seems to get greener the further south we go. Fields of vegetables, grains, rice and teak wood are everywhere, one of the many growing regions of Costa Rica.
After 2 hours enroute we take a refreshment break at Soda Borbon, a nice roadside cafe. We have already surmised that the driver is of Italian descent and this is confirmed at the cafe, as the owner here speaks to him in Italian.
After our refreshment break, we are on our way and we both commented how pleasant the ride has been. Until………..we hit the hills and the dusty gravel roads that wind their way up and down through the jungle. Now, in the rainy season the jungle would be very green and lush, and I imagine the roads would be treacherous, however today it is hot, and the leaves are brown with dust.
For about an hour and half we were what Fero called ‘Jungling’ up & down through the Jungle. The young couple next to us from Winnipeg thought that was a pretty good name. Although the fellow didn’t look like jungling was agreeing with him (at one point we was very pale!).
Finally we reach Cobano and the road is less curvy and hilly and in no time we are heading down the bluff to the ‘dust bowl’ of Santa Teresa and Mal Pais. We had heard the road was dusty but this was incredible. It is one street of about 4 km, the beach is obscured by 100m of dusty jungle on the left and a jumble of shops, cafe, hostels and the odd hotel are to the right.
Just as we arrive in to El Cruce (the crossroad) we found ourselves in a traffic jam of vehicles, buses, food delivery trucks and a gazillion ATVs and Motorcycles. Part of the reason for the jam was an ATV had run into a car and they were sorting it out in the middle of the chaos. We looked at each other and thought – ok, this is not what we were expecting! And again, what the heck are we doing here!
Actually, the reason we are here and not somewhere else is because a local lady we had met said this was her absolute favourite beach in Costa Rica. Ok but…….we aren’t seeing the love, and I am secretly praying that our hotel isn’t a dusty surfing hangout!
It took us a while as we are 2km down the road and thankfully it becomes less crowded and a itsy bitsy less dusty. Upon check-in, I am thrilled to see an oasis of calm, ‘green’ and and beautiful casitas – not dusty brown palm trees. Ours is #12, directly across from the pool and is adorable. Ahhhhh, thank heaven for Trip Advisor & Booking.com traveller reviews and a little luck!
We are barely in the room and we have our bathing suits on and hit the pool. Quite frankly it is even too hot to walk the 100m to the beach, and we weren’t too keen to head back out in to ‘dustyland’.
We do finally venture out and make our way to the ‘Super’ (grocery store) and stock up on fruit, veg and other goodies. We have a little kitchenette and a full size fridge so we are delighted! We are in heaven eating the fresh sweet mangoes, watermelon, papaya, tomatoes and cucumbers. The taste is amazing!!!
Not into the surfing party scene we hang out in our casita and promise ourselves to see the beach tomorrow.