Costa Rica: Santa Teresa

After flying into San Jose and visiting Manuel Antonio, the second part of our trip was spent in Santa Teresa, a small town on the Pacific Coast in the Southwest region, which attracts both beach lovers and surfers.

Day 5 – Travel day, Beach & Pool

We spent a full morning making the trip from Manuel Antonio to Santa Teresa. We stopped on the bridge (just after Jaco) to see the crocodiles. After we got to Puntarenas, we took a one hour ferry ride, and then continued driving until we reached Santa Teresa. After checking into our hotel, we spent the afternoon at the beach and pool.

Day 6 – Body Boarding

Santa Teresa is a very hippy, surfing town. The waves were unbelievably strong and huge. Our second day in town, we decided to rent a boogey board and for $7 it provided lots of laughs (and hurts too). While we got beat up at first, we slowly got the hang of it. It was fun to watch the locals ride the massive waves. We ate dinner at a restaurant on the beach!

Day 7 – MonteZuma Waterfall, Beach, Pool

We drove to a nearby town, MonteZuma, and spent the morning there. The town is popular because of a large waterfall and more beaches. In addition to walking (climbing) to the waterfall, we were able to climb up passed the waterfall and found a rope swing and another cliff. We realized later this was the same cliff that Tom Brady jumped off that made headline news. While it was very scary, I knew I would regret it if I didn’t jump, so after a little hesitation I made the jump. Colby and I got to jump together and if I didn’t have to keep climbing up the rocks I probably would have kept going! After leaving the area and driving back to our hotel, we enjoyed the afternoon at the beach and pool.

Our tips:

• The roads in Santa Teresa are bad – they are all gravel. You will drive and drive and drive and still be on gravel. If you go to this area, you do need a SUV.
• Several tourists told us they paid a local to go see the waterfall in MonteZuma, but do some research and you can get in free (like we did).
• The waves are massive. Santa Teresa is not a good beach to get in and enjoy the water, but if you like watching surfers or want to surf yourself this is a great place to go.
• We didn’t make a huge effort to see the sunset, but wish we had!
• The ferry ride is $1.50/person or $25/car. Make sure to get there a little early. If you have a car, get in the car line – then go buy your ticket – and then get back in the car. We were very confused on how the process worked!
• We stayed at Otro Lado and really enjoyed it: 3 minutes walk to the beach, free parking, delicious free breakfast, cleaning service every day, and an awesome pool!

I didn’t start sharing our traveling adventures on the blog until the end of 2013, but you can see some of our trips below as well as how to travel on a budget here.

• Pacific Northwest
• Western Caribbean Cruise
• Arizona
• Hilton Head
• South America: Argentina
• South America: Torres Del Paine
• South America: Lake Region
• South America: Santiago + Coast
• Costa Rica: Manuel Antonio

The rest of the trip is to be continued…….