We weren't much in the mood for a big travel day after our extremely cruisy days in Montezuma, and lucky for us we would be spared for another couple of days. Santa Teresa is just around the peninsula from where we were. It would simply be one bus transfer and Bam... We're there!

We woke, like so many other days, and packed, then grabbed our bags and shuffled our way down the road to a new coffee shop that managed to not infuriate Adrian. Seated on the patio, with a coffees on their way, we jumped on Skype to make a couple mandatory Father's Day phone calls back home and waited for our bus to arrive.

At 10 am it rolled up. After another 15 minutes waiting around, we boarded the bus and we're off. It was a quick stop to transfer buses in Cobano, and within minutes we were rolling down the dusty dirt roads on our way to Santa Teresa.

The whole trip took about an hour and a half and we were dropped a mere 50 meters from the entrance of our new hostel, Casa Zen, and how very fitting was the name. The garden at the hostel was lush and plentiful, adorned with scores of Buddha statues. Colorful hammocks hung from just about every post, and up the wooden stairs was a balcony where Yoga was practiced several times a day. The best part was the fun, energetic vibe of the owner and patrons, and the fact that the Pacific Ocean lay another 100 meters down the dirt path. I would easily get used to this place.

The sun was being a bit timid upon arrival, so instead of throwing on our swimmers as would normally be the case, we settled for a nice long walk down the beach. After 30 sandy minutes we cut in to the road, our growling tummies were directing us to the nearest market to pick up some supplies for the next few days.
Once back at the hostel, we threw on our bathing suits and hit the beach for some sun, sand, ocean waves. We killed a good couple hours on that patch of beach until the clouds began accumulating in the sky and winds started picking up a bit. We thought it was best to take advantage of the change to cooler weather with a long run.

Despite the cloud cover, we were hot, sweaty messes when we got back to the hostel. It was an immediate shower and straight to the hammocks. I finally got a nice chat in to my brother who had just celebrated a birthday and my Pops, whose day it was.

After bidding farewell, I joined Adrian in the kitchen to finish off cooking our tacos for dinner. It was 6:30, and the Sunday night movie was about to start, "Big Trouble in Little China". Despite my best effort, I can't recall actually having seen that movie before. I want to believe that something that ridiculously atrocious I would have remembered, but perhaps my mind has chosen to push it from consciousness. Damn, that movie is bad! It's hard to even laugh at, it's so bad! Although, Kurt Russell is still a badass in my book.

We finished the evening with a couple glasses of wine and some delicious dark chocolate that we had purchased earlier in the day, and turned in for some reading, eventually turned sleeping.

We woke up early the following morning, and took a stroll down to the corner for a couple delicious coffees. We took 'em to go and headed straight for the beach to check out the surf and decide if today was the day for surfboard rental. Unfortunately, or probably fortunately for me, the surf was messy and blown out, and we thought it probably wasn't our day.
By 9am, after another lengthy walk we circled back around and made it back to Casa Zen for breakfast. We feasted on delicious fresh fruit and yogurt. After another Skype call, this one to wish Adrian's brother a happy birthday, we were off to gather our things, rent a couple bikes and explore Santa Teresa/ Mal Pais on two wheels.

It was a hot sweaty bike ride down to explore Mal Pais. We found our own little slice of heaven far down the road where you couldn't see another soul for miles. We had the beach completely to ourselves and spent an hour or so chilling and swimming. On the way back, we stopped in for a much needed smoothie to bring down our body temperature a bit.

The rest of the afternoon was spent beaching it outside Casa Zen. We had a simple lunch and proceeded to relax in hammocks while reading and blogging. More of the same; it may not make for exciting reading for our blog followers; but it does makes for awesome living.

The only notable bit of excitement occurred that evening after we roused ourselves from our hammocks. We went for another little run 20 minutes or so down the road and then turned around. On the way out I had a bit of a nostalgic experience. Can you think back to your early years and try and remember the last time you completely stacked while running at fast speed?

...Yeah, probably hasn't happened since you were like 6, right? Well me, in all my glory, had a major trip on the VERY rocky, uneven dirt road. Of course, I go to catch myself and trip on another rock. In the end I fall and slide face first on my shoulder and hip in front of a small crowd of locals. Aside from a bruised hip and a cut up hand, it was just my ego that took a beating. Luckily, Adrian was there to help dust me off. And he didn't even make fun of me!

We got back to Casa Zen in time for a quick shower. We grabbed our half bottle of wine from the previous night and pulled up a vacant log on the beach for a stunning Costa Rican sunset. Ah, these are the moments that make us reflect back on all the incredible places we've been and all the breath-taking sunsets we've witnessed across the globe. We are very fortunate people!

When the sun sank below the horizon, we made our way back to the hostel for dinner. A quick night walk wrapped up this Costa Rican beach stint. We would be waking up early the following morning to head inland to the mountains. It is so very hard to rip yourself away from such an amazing beach, but there is fun to be had in the mountains, so off we go!!

So long Nicoya! Don't be a stranger now!