february 2023

February has mostly revolved around my trip to Costa Rica. this post will serve as a sort of guide/reflection on my time there.

Costa Rica

The whole country has only about 5 million people, has no standing military (because of this guy) and contains about 5% of all animal species on Earth (~500,000).

Sidenote: The guy who disarmed Costa Rica, Jose Figueres, said he was inspired to do it because of this book.

getting there

Most international flights land in San Jose (the red arrow), which is the capital. I was going to Santa Teresa on the west coast (the blue arrow).

I flew from Vancouver → Toronto then Toronto → San Jose and stayed there for two days before taking a shuttle/ferry to get to Santa Teresa.

Santa Teresa

This town’s Wikipedia page is frighteningly bare. Here’s what I knew before arriving:

Jay-Z and Beyonce were (allegedly) in a club there on New Years Eve
Gisele and Tom have a house there
Jack Dorsey was there in late February

Someone told me the city was founded by three Israeli families in the early 1990s.

Tips

Having been there for ~two weeks, I can share some advice about the town:

the road

you’re going to have to trust the drivers
- there is one road with no sidewalks and no lane markings
the majority of the road is paved but the rest gets very dusty (at least in the dry season)

the food

in general there is an over-saturation of generic looking instagrammy food locations and a minority of local, affordable places that are cheaper and usually just as delicious

a safe bet is usually orange juice!
- it’s often freshly squeezed
places I liked
- soda pura vida
  - el facon
  - chicken joes
  - convivo
  - ani’s (for breakfast)

general

not everyone speaks english
the exciting nights are thursdays
- there is one club that you pay 5,000 colones to get into
carry cash (alot of it) or a reliable card
- stuff costs the same (if not more) than in Canada
  - 5,000 colones = ~$12 CAD
bring a headlamp, lighter and portable battery (unless your accommodation has a generator)
- from what i understand, the system that provides santa teresa with power has a single point of failure that was broken several times during my stay
they mostly use powder detergent
- (don’t confuse the fabric softener with the detergent like i did)

the heat

As a Canadian used to living several thousand kilometers above the equator, arriving in Santa Teresa in the dry season can be jarring. Your life pretty much revolves around three things:

shade
water
AC

In fact, when I got back from my first day out I had literally developed a brand new mole (sunspot) in the middle of my nose. I thought I had skin cancer; it faded pretty quickly.

So importantly:

BRING GOOD SUNSCREEN. I thought I could get away with sub 50 SPF sunscreen and was violently proven wrong.
bring an insulated water bottle (> 1L)
stay somewhere with AC

surfing

I started out surfing a 7’10” board, but after my first few outings I realized I wanted a shorter board.

This has been a perpetual challenge for me. Ever since learning on the massive soft-top boards, I’ve been confused when to move to a shorter one. I’ve always disliked the longer boards. I can never fit them under my arm comfortably to carry them to the beach. It’s much harder to turn them in the water. It’s hard to feel in control of them.

I decided to switch to a 7’2” (despite the advice of the surf shop owner) and it made everything better. I felt more mobile in the water (and on land). I could avoid waves and paddle around them more easily. I was getting past the break more often. And despite losing surface area, it didn’t feel any harder to stand up and balance on the board. Weird.

All that to say, I wish I had switched to a shorter board sooner.