Costa Rica, Sports Fishing and a long awaited return to Santa Teresa

On the shuttle bus to Paradise :)

Do you have a favourite place you've been too?  It's a hard question to ask and a harder one to answer (though if you do, then leave us a comment below).  For us, there are many places that might qualify, but surely up there near the top of the list is a wonderful little seaside town on the Malpais peninsular of Costa Rica.  Santa Teresa.

View from the Puntarenas ferry

5 years ago we came here as a result of not being able to find an affordable option for a skiing holiday.  One of Serina's friends, Bill, had remarked in passing that he had loved his time surfing in Santa Teresa.  So we found what seemed to be a lovely place to stay and flew out to San Jose, then trekked down the coast staying at a couple of other places before we ended up in paradise.

5 years later, we're on a world trip and there wasn't a chance in hell that we wouldn't stop here.  We've been looking forward to returning for years.  The past 10 days in Peru, travelling around, waking up at the crack of down and struggling to breath the thin mountain air were amazing, but tiring.  Now we had the prospect of spending 2 whole weeks in the same place, with a kitchen, a terrace overlooking the Pacific and a wonderful pair of hosts (Stephanie and Jim).....well, we were excited!

Thank goodness for Fausto!  It was baking and those bags are heavy

We thought this rain was hard......we hadn't seen anything

Our trip there began with an overnight stay in the hotel at the airport of Lima and that was a great way to unwind.  Dinner was lovely and we had a great chat with the chef there who took the time to show us how he made his food and even what ingredients they used (herbs/spices etc).

"Stinking Roger"
aka
Huacatay

What a lovely chef he was

Your correspondant noting down the ingredients

Happy happy happy

As we were still in Peru, of course we had a wake up call at the crack of dawn and then a flight to Miami, before connecting to our flight to San Jose.  Simple.  No?  No!  The first bit was fine, but after 45 minutes of being sat on our final plane to San Jose the pilot informs us that a light in the cockpit wasn't working.  Then it was fixed.  Then they realised something else wasn't working.  The "mountain sensor".  This is a fairly essential piece of kit I am sure you'll agree!  So we were decanted from the plane and sat around anxiously waiting to see if we'd make it to Costa Rica that night.

Our first sunset in Costa Rica..by then we didn't knew that they will be rare

This picture doesn't do the waves justice

In the end all was well.  American Airlines went looking for another plane (one might think that would be easy enough.....we were, after all, in an airport!) and lo and behold!  They didn't only find another one.  They found one that was just as old as the one before.  Now here is a thing to note.  We Europeans (and Asians as well, but that wouldn't be a "we" as neither Julia nor I are Asian).....we are very lucky with our airlines.







The average airline in the USA is, well, I am trying not to use an expletive beginning with SH and ending with IT.  Let's just say they're rubbish.  I've flown enough of the different airlines to know they are all as bad as each other, just with varying degrees of angry cabin staff and run-down planes.  Even the seats look like they have been stolen from a 50 year-old bus in the Pakistani mountains.

Another rare moment of relaxation on the beach

On the next plane we laughed with the slightly overweight version of Robert Downey Junior about the age of the plane.  Apparently it was only just shy of 30 years old!  Wow.  Now I am sure there are aircraft equally as old in Europe (most in museums!), but they tend to get re-fitted....this one didn't appear to have been re-fitted once.

Anyhoo.......off we went and eventually landed in San Jose a couple of hours late.  The transfer to the airport hotel was smooth and next morning we had a lie in (7.30am!) which was wonderful, then a bus transfer to Santa Teresa.  Boy oh boy was it hot and humid today.  By the time we got to Santa Teresa (1.30pm) it was sweltering.  Fausto, the caretaker/handyman at Casa Marbella, came and picked up our bags on the ATV and we followed on foot.  Between our drop-off and our new home I had a meltdown.  Not sure why, but decisions became a chore and grumpiness set in.....I wanted a drink....no, wait, I wanted to relax by the pool...actually no, I wanted to go to the beach....to get the shopping done.  Wow.  Looking back all I can say is "sorry Julia"!

Normally a long stretch of sand....the storms had brought up all the tiny rocks and seashell bits that were the beginnings of next year's sands

 So a quickish trip to Super Ronny's and then a walk up the hill to Casa Marbella.  Let me pause here and tell you about Super Ronny's.  It's a small town supermarket that in the UK would be a large convenience store.  BUT.....it was great.  Julia is properly gluten intolerant and so being able to find gluten free foods is important.  This little gem in the middle of nowhere delivered over and over again.  It really lived up to its name: Super Ronny's.





Arriving up at the top of the hill, we realised how little things had changed (thank goodness).  Sure they had built an extra deck where you could work-out and do Yoga, but aside from that, everything was as great as it was last time.  Our room was actually a mini-apartment and we even had a spare bedroom!

Check our Wolfie, our companion in the bottom left of the picture

The stray dogs were all so friendly.....especially if they thought (hoped?) you had food

Clouds over paradise

To the regulars of BAR23, you're never far from our thoughts.....or feet

Sometimes it's just good to stand and stare at waves

Those first few days were luxurious.  We tried a surf lesson on our first day, but then the weather became a little ugly (rainy season had just started); periods of sunshine with long bouts of rain and then pretty big and loud electrical storms.  Some of the nights were a bit hairy for Julia....she doesn't like thunder and lightening so we lay together looking out over the ocean and watching the bolts of lightening smash into the sea.  All we did was laze about and it gave me an opportunity to catch up on some work.

The "Bat Cave"

I am Northern Welshman.....get me outta here!

 Then there arrived a large (8 strong) group of people from North Wales.  Wow.  Did this change the vibe of our trip so far?  Yup!  What had been a quiet, romantic holiday changed course.  In our first conversations we realised they were here for weddings.  Two of the couples in the group of friends had decided to share their wedding day out here.  So of course Julia offered to do the wedding hair and had her offer accepted.  Having a group of girls around her was something Julia relished.  I know I enjoyed the company of the lads and pretty soon we had been "assimilated" into the group.

A slightly sweaty Saroian

Dammit it was hot

They were very welcoming - first we all ended up together having a few drinks and then a few more, then going up to dinner at the great restaurant at the top of the hill, Brisas del Mar.  Then, after a day of recovery, they included us on a trip to the local nature reserve.

These little fellas were so aggressive it was funny!  They would rear up and snap their pincers at you :)

 We hired ATVs and drove the hour or so out to the reserve, then hiked through the rainforest to a lovely secluded beach.  Here we relaxed, though poor Jennifer developed two massive blisters, one on each ankle.  The walk was about 1.5 hours in each direction and to say we sweated a little would be a ridiculously large understatement!

Our private beach at the end of the trail

When filmstars lie on the beach and let the waves rush over
them, they don't show how the sand gets in your shorts!

Just idyllic

Still, watching monkeys hurl mangoes at Hefin was a funny moment and then the adventurous walk across the rocks to the Montezuma waterfalls was also an experience.  Driving home at dusk was great - there was an approaching thunderstorm and we just made it back in time before the heavens opened.

Ben, Ann, Jennifer and Hefin

Mmmmm.....coffee coloured water

From L-R: Alex, Chrissie, Rich, Clare, Gareth, Jennifer, Hefin, Ann, Ben and Julia

One night we all got together to cook and had a fantastic meal.  Hefin is a chef at a country inn run by his girlfriend Jennifer and so Ben, Gareth, Rich and I prepped for him, whilst Clare and Jenn watched Julia do the consultations for the wedding hair of Ann and Chrissie.

Euro cheese I believe was being played

Caption competition?
Leave your comments below

The meal was lovely and as I was on "frozen margarita duty" we were all pretty well lubricated when I suggested we head down to the beach for a beach party.  Playing around in the surf, listening to music and drinking more was a great idea.  Walking home via a short cut through private property...not such a great idea.  Luckily for us we didn't try what Ann did, which was to climb through a barbed wire fence and scratch her leg pretty nastily!

grrrrrrrr

The following day was again, a day of recovery for our Julia, punctuated only by a short interlude in a local bar to watch the Champions League Final of Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund.  Unfortunately Bayern won and we had to endure the sight of Frank bloody Ribery celebrating.  Worse still we had to watch Arjen Robben score the winning goal.  Not a good day's football!  That night we had a relaxing one ....then it was out on the open sea.

6am beautiful morning sky...it seemed to become a good day of fishing

You may remember from our trip to Doubtful Sound that Julia is a prolific fisherwoman.  If she ever hangs up her scissors, she'll have a career in persuading fish to commit Hari-Kiri on her hook.  We arrived at the beach-side boat-house and after an annoying start (being told we had a different captain and had to pay more for a smaller boat and only 2 could fish at a time), we finally made it out to sea.  I shall cut to the main events.

fish 1

fish number 2

just pulled in number 3

in action...

nr.4

and 5 tadahhh 

 Julia caught as many fish as the rest of us combined.  In total it was North Wales 4, England (me) 1, Germany 5.  Yes FIVE!  Grrrr.  She put her rod in the water, waved it about, then pulled another tuna (either mackerel or blackfin) out of the water.  Rich caught a beautiful Mahi Mahi fish and then came the special event.

The Grooms on their last day of Freedom

Mahi Mahi or "Dolphin Fish"

Rich and Heff on the prow

No...it's not Jaws....

When people go sportsfishing, they can spend up to $1500 to catch a "bill-fish".  This would be a swordfish, marlin or sailfish for example.  At $36, Hefin's investment was a steal.  All at once, the pair of us had massive tugs on our rods (sorry I had to get that innuendo in) and the reels raced away.  My fish jumped out the water, snapped the line and disappeared.  Hefins's....well he managed to keep his attached.  As it turns out it had the line wrapped around it's bill, the hook having snapped early on in the fight.  What a fight it was, in the end his arm was in pain and rightly so.  Our (in comparison) small 5-6kg tuna were pretty strong, but this was at least 30kg of sailfish he had at the end of his line.  These things can swim bloody fast and it wasn't asking to be pulled onto our boat!

....it's a bloody great sailfish!

It took a good 10 minutes to eventually land the thing and when we dragged it on board, well, we were shocked.  The video we have of it leaping out of the water is cool, but these photos tell some of the story.  It was about 6 foot long from tip of bill to tail and absolutely knackered by the time it came aboard.  We took some photos then let it go again (having unwound the line from its bill).

It looks like I am enjoying myself....even though I wasn't catching anything

Finally I get a nibble

Strong tug on my rod

and yes...there is my Mackerel Tuna (one of 6 we caught)

Our captain told us that it happened fairly regularly, tourists catching sailfish.  So we didn't quite understand how important this catch had been.  When we got back to Casa Marbella, Jim told us the opposite.  That in 8 years none of his guests had ever caught a billfish and that it was pretty remarkable.....all I can say is that Julia and I are both, pardon the pun, hooked on sports-fishing now.

Los Saroians and Andres the Captain

Side-Show Bob and Andres carry out fish to the chopping block

This was a LOT of fish to be eaten

(Hefin) "What the bloody hell am I gonna do with all these fillets?"