THREE WEEKS WITH FREDDIE AT SANTA TERESA
The 2 towns of Mal Pais and Santa Teresa are one ribbon and mostly dirt road and the first thing I noticed was the terrible dust that I would consider a health hazard. It seems strange to me that new businesses springing up everywhere don’t have to contribute to a fund to get the main road sealed in town. So the bus drops you off into dust and I got a taxi to Casa Capitan deep on the beach side away from the road.
I’ve got to take my hat off to Freddie’s mother Carlota who has done a great job in setting up a wonderful place for high end vacationers to come and have exclusive rights. It did make it a bit tricky visiting for me, having to keep out of sight and spending a lot of time on my own in the Java House separate to the main building. You can look at the complex at this link http://www.costarica-beachrentals.com/mphouses/capitanrental/villa.htm
Its very 5 star accommodation fronting onto a great beach with good waves and it was here where I finally got back into surfing after the elbow accident. The waves come out of deep ocean and had a lot of power and speed, but I struggled manfully and got the occasional wave slow enough for me to be able to stand up. Felt like a beginner again but everyone was encouraging and I stuck at it. Thanks to Mick for the loan of boards. You can see that this place is fantastic for good surfers with big peaks and reef breaks when the surf has some size. Unfortunately the hoped for surf on the Caribbean side did not arrive so we didn’t get to go to Bocas Del Toro. Maybe just as well for me, only just getting back into surfing.
We went out for dinner a lot and one Sat night it was a benefit night for Haiti and I met local Costa Rican identity Roberto and we led each other astray with the Scotch but most of the people that I met in the area were Swedes which is not surprising seeing as how my hosts are Swedish-English. I’d like to thank Freddie and Carlota for their hospitality and look forward to coming back for a couple of days in late March to wish Freddie happy birthday. He’s already got his present and making good use of the camera bought in LA, see this link http://freddiemeadows.blogspot.com/2010/01/barrel-of-season.html
Too much of a good thing in the one place and I was ready to move on when the booking that required the main area and the Java house came up. I took a shuttle bus up to Tamarindo at the northern end of the Nicoya Peninsula to check out some of the other surf areas in Costa Rica
