Nosara (at Playa Guiones), Costa Rica
About 2.5hrs from the Liberia Airport, this bohemian yoga and surf town is about two blocks long, with only a handful of shops and restaurants. The only place in town with a TV was packed for SuperBowl Sunday. The route into town is through a gravelly, dusty, potholed, washed out road through an active river. Our little casita is nestled off the main road. It’s a two bedroom house with our own kitchen and outdoor living room with two hammocks. It’s quiet and private, just perfect for how we like to vacation. Monkeys climbing in the trees above, birds chirping, visits from neighbourhood cats and a menagerie of other assorted animal visitors. The beach is pristine, powdery white sand, free of garbage and pesky peddlers, not very crowded, and perfect ocean temperature to play in the waves for hours. The busiest time of day is sunset when everyone in town gathers on the beach with a beverage and watches the sun dip into the ocean. I spent most days in my swim suit, sarong and flip flops, with layers of sunscreen and beach sand all over.
Yoga
My yoga shala is right across the street from our casita. Thatched roof, open air circular building in a garden setting just steps from the beach. Salutations to the sun with background sounds of howler monkeys, toucans, geckos, chirping birds, and ocean waves. I also checked out the fancy yoga resort in the next town. Massive compound with multiple shalas, gorgeous views of the jungle and ocean, with a juice bar, infinity pool and vegetarian lunch buffet. The yoga practice was next level at that place. Some students doing a chin stand to transition between gumby contortion postures.
Surfing
With the help of our instructor, I was able to hang ten for a few waves. This area has a beach break, which means you can surf in chest deep water, easiest for beginners. It’s super fun to ride the waves, even just lying down or kneeling on the board is a rush.
Rosita & Ricardo
Our latino alter-egos have been resurrected on this trip. The locals struggle to pronounce “Heather”, so it’s just easier to go by “Rosita” (my middle name is Rose).
Golf carts, ATVs and tuk tuks
The transportation of choice is this little hamlet is by golf cart or ATV rental, or tuk tuk taxi. On our very first evening in town we wandered down the beach at sunset and managed to find our way over a mountain trail (in flip flops no less) to the next little beach town. We bellied up to a little pizza joint and after realizing it was impossible (and ill advised) to find our way back in the pitch dark, we hired a tuk tuk taxi to bring us back home. One day we rented a golf cart to explore outside our tiny little section of town. A very jiggly ride on the gravelly, potholed roads, but manageable with the right support garments.
About 2.5hrs from the Liberia Airport, this bohemian yoga and surf town is about two blocks long, with only a handful of shops and restaurants. The only place in town with a TV was packed for SuperBowl Sunday. The route into town is through a gravelly, dusty, potholed, washed out road through an active river. Our little casita is nestled off the main road. It’s a two bedroom house with our own kitchen and outdoor living room with two hammocks. It’s quiet and private, just perfect for how we like to vacation. Monkeys climbing in the trees above, birds chirping, visits from neighbourhood cats and a menagerie of other assorted animal visitors. The beach is pristine, powdery white sand, free of garbage and pesky peddlers, not very crowded, and perfect ocean temperature to play in the waves for hours. The busiest time of day is sunset when everyone in town gathers on the beach with a beverage and watches the sun dip into the ocean. I spent most days in my swim suit, sarong and flip flops, with layers of sunscreen and beach sand all over.
Yoga
My yoga shala is right across the street from our casita. Thatched roof, open air circular building in a garden setting just steps from the beach. Salutations to the sun with background sounds of howler monkeys, toucans, geckos, chirping birds, and ocean waves. I also checked out the fancy yoga resort in the next town. Massive compound with multiple shalas, gorgeous views of the jungle and ocean, with a juice bar, infinity pool and vegetarian lunch buffet. The yoga practice was next level at that place. Some students doing a chin stand to transition between gumby contortion postures.
Surfing
With the help of our instructor, I was able to hang ten for a few waves. This area has a beach break, which means you can surf in chest deep water, easiest for beginners. It’s super fun to ride the waves, even just lying down or kneeling on the board is a rush.
Rosita & Ricardo
Our latino alter-egos have been resurrected on this trip. The locals struggle to pronounce “Heather”, so it’s just easier to go by “Rosita” (my middle name is Rose).
Golf carts, ATVs and tuk tuks
The transportation of choice is this little hamlet is by golf cart or ATV rental, or tuk tuk taxi. On our very first evening in town we wandered down the beach at sunset and managed to find our way over a mountain trail (in flip flops no less) to the next little beach town. We bellied up to a little pizza joint and after realizing it was impossible (and ill advised) to find our way back in the pitch dark, we hired a tuk tuk taxi to bring us back home. One day we rented a golf cart to explore outside our tiny little section of town. A very jiggly ride on the gravelly, potholed roads, but manageable with the right support garments.
Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
6hrs shuttle bus ride on rough roads brought us south to Santa Teresa. Also a bohemian surf and yoga town, but this place has more to it compared to Nosara. It is long and narrow, extending about 3-4kms along the seaside between three consecutive beaches (Playa Carmen, Playa Santa Teresa, Playa Hermosa). We stayed in a boutique ‘eco chic’ hotel called Canaima Chill House. We had our own private deck with table and suspended napping bed. Inside there is a queen bed, kitchenette and a cool bay window type glass shower jetting into the mountainside jungle. There is a common pool, hot tub and chill out zone with beanbag chairs and pool loungers. And a resident resort cat which we lured into our lair with cat treats. He slept on our deck every night of our stay.
Surfing
Rich said he doesn’t need any more lessons, he just needs to practice. So we rented a surf board for a few days and just played in the surf. I got my butt kicked by the waves just trying to get out far enough to catch a wave to ride. The ocean is POWERFUL! Ricardo had a bit more success as I did.
Yoga
I found the mothership in this place. My yoga place is part of a fancy oceanside resort, with the thatched hut yoga shala and massage rooms RIGHT beside the ocean. I love watching the surfers and hearing the crashing ocean waves while in my tree pose.
Valentines Day
Our valentines treat to each other was an oceanside couples massage at the fancy resort, followed by wine and dinner at sunset. It’s the yoga resort’s valentines promo package and it totally speaks my language.
ATV
Given the long narrow shape of this town, and that our place is 400m uphill on a rough mountain road, an ATV was the perfect vehicle for us to get around. It really is the rental vehicle of choice all around town, with many of them outfitted with surf board racks. It also allowed us to explore a bit farther out of town as well.
Cabuya Island
About 7km from town, accessible by foot from the mainland by a sandbar at low tide. We had to time our visit by the tide charts or risk being trapped out there.
Beachside restaurants
There are a lots of oceanfront restaurants in this place, and we tried quite a few of them. I’ll never tire of the waves, ocean breeze, watching the surfing, and sunset views.
Other musings:
- Molasses helps keeps the dust down on these gravel roads. Actual molasses. You can’t make this stuff up folks. Very sticky on the flip flops.
- Little mini piles of poo all around town are from the monkeys climbing in the trees above. Word to the wise: close your mouth when you look up.
- “Pura Vida” is a Costa Rican expression used to say hello/goodbye/thank you/be cool/hang ten/ see you later. Translation: pure life.
- Traveller vs. Tourist - both the places we chose on this trip are off the beaten path, and not that easy to get to. This keeps the tourists away, but not the travellers. There is a local saying “Bad roads bring good people”.
