Havana (part 1) - Dec 11

Bit of a transit day today, I caught a flight from San Jose to Havana with a decent lay over in Panama City. Didn't leave the airport so didn't see much of Panama, however I could see the highrise buildings off in the distance.

After killing time in their very American airport I finally boarded my flight to Cuba, on arrival I was stressing about whether my bag would arrive with me (I have had bad experiences with connecting flights). I was feeling so relieved that they did that I didn't mind at all the red tape and procedures I had to go through to get into the country. It also helped that the woman who was asking me questions was stunningly gorgeous .. she appeared to be very concerned that I was unemployed, and couldn't understand how I had travelled so long.

I do like these 50´s cars

First impressions of Cuba -

- They do have modern cars!
- Not much in the shops
- Expensive!!
- Nothing quite works 100%

Another thing I noticed was that the taxi driver would come to a complete stop, and look around when ever we came to a railway crossing .. guess the boom gates are quite unreliable. 

San Jose - Dec 10

I caught the early morning shuttle to San Jose today feeling a little worse for wear, the same driver picked me up and we picked up from the hotel the same two American girls that I had on the way in.

Stayed the night with an old friend Leo, a guy who I met in Park City close to ten years ago (he looks pretty much exactly the same), he took me out for some beers (through the nightmarish traffic), and some refrijo (a Costa Rican specialty).

Couple of cervezas with Leo (right) and his buddy in San Jose

Would like to add that Costa Rica has the best looking girls in Central America .. probably a lot to do with the fact they are also one of the wealthiest.

Playa Santa Teresa (part 6 and 7) - Dec 8/9

Had a really cool experience out on the waves today for my last surf in Central America, was sitting out on my board having a chat with an English guy when all of a sudden I see the water close by me come alive .. there were fish flapping about and hundreds of small fish, it was almost like it was boiling .. then the school of fish moves towards me and before I know it I am surrounded by little fish, it was a strange sensation having all these little fish brushing against me. There was so many I could scoop them up with my hands .. no wonder the seagulls love it.

I stayed two nights at Adam's casita .. nice place, it had an outdoor kitchen area.. and a space for entertaining. First night we went out to a bar in town, played pool .. the next night we invited the Canadian girls around for some drinks and cards (ring of fire .. where one of the cards was "spontaneous dance party").

Me, Adam and the Canadians

Think I may have over done it with the daily yoga, my left hamstring is starting to tighten right up ..

Playa Santa Teresa (part 5) - Dec 7

Bugger .. somehow got a ding on my rental surfboard today, despite not hitting anyone or any rocks (that I know), I did wipeout and hit my heel against the board .. surely my heel is not that strong (mind you it is a heel shaped ding) .. anyway the bastards want to charge me $70US to fix it ..

Will have to stay in Adam´s spare bed the next couple of nights to try and recoop costs ..

An iguana up a palm tree .. can you spot him?

Playa Santa Teresa (part 4) - Dec 6

Struggled a bit in the surf today, the swell picked up and it was kinda scaring the cr*p out of me .. tough to paddle out, plus had a couple of decent wipe outs. If the swell rises again, I might be out of my depth.

Appears to be mostly tourists in the water, could be that many of the shops and businesses are run by foreigners (Israelis, Italians).

Feeling a bit lonely today, my hostel now has two guests (a couple), but they stick to themselves .. would like to have some people to talk with.

Yoga was tough too .. doing yoga everday is harder than it sounds, was sweating so much I had to take my tshirt off .. then at the end of the class it was so saturated I couldn't put it back on.

View from the yoga place .. ocean is in front of those trees (my camera was seriously struggling looking into the sunset)

After yoga I went to an Argentinian roast chicken place, was really good.

Then in the evening I popped by Adam's place, where I found him entertaining the two young Canadian girls (Lindsey and Catelyn), we had some beers, then went across the road to the opening night of an american sports bar, once the girls said their goodbyes we wandered a couple of km's down the road to Kika's for some live music.

Playa Santa Teresa (part 3) - Dec 5

Lots of critters here .. saw a massive beetle last night about the size of a fist, plus two iguanas wandering around in the backyard of the hostel. It rained last night quite heavily and when it did I saw crabs and centipedes getting about. Lots of mozzies too unfortunately, it is difficult to sleep outside because of the highpitch squeal their wings make as they fly past your head.

Waves are on the border of my ability here, some of the sets that come in are easily over head height at their peaks. Plus it can be a bastard of a paddle out getting out past the white wash.

Think I will crash in Adam's pad for the last two nights here.

She´s a dusty old town that´s for sure.

Trying to find a place that is showing the Man City Man Utd game .. proving tough.

Playa Santa Teresa (part 2) - Dec 4

Wake .. eat .. surf .. siesta .. eat .. yoga .. eat .. sleep

This was my day today and it suits me just fine, all it was lacking was some female company and it would be a 5 star day.

There is no one in my hostel, just me and the two italian owners .. I kinda like it though, it feels like I have my own beach house.

Note the blue couch - this is where I take my daily siesta.

Waves here are bigger than Tamarindo, requiring me to actually paddle out a bit (which at times can be quite the battle .. with all the duckdiving that is needed). Got a few good rides though, and again I feel I am improving.

Had an impromptu "spanish exam", from Andrea the Italian guy running the hostel (and the attached Italian restaurant), did pretty good with my vocab.

In the evening I caught up with Adam, we went to a yoga class ran by a Sydney girl, with a really strong accent.