The public bus took about 5 hours to get to Santa Teresa with an hour ferry journey across to the peninsular – not bad at all for the $10 ticket !! The roads are terrible and most people seem to get around in 4x4s or ATVs (quad bikes). The last leg of the bus journey was a real experience and introduction to typical Costa Rican roads - we traveled at a top speed of about 10mph constantly dodging potholes on dirt tracks....for about an hour! Santa Teresa was very laid back. The whole town is just a long stretch of sporadic buildings along a dirt track set back from the beach by a layer of forest / buildings. This is surfer heaven – the pacific waves are huge and most people either seem to be surfer dudes or couples on vacation. This place is close to paradise – empty beaches, warm water with 30 plus degrees and constant sunshine. Its baking by 8am!!
This is the first place I encountered mozzies since leaving London. For the first couple of days they were feeding on me until I got in the routine of getting DEET-ing up before the sun went down. It was all going well until the last night when I was so hot... and having my own private space... I slept naked. Must have been several families of the buggers who spent that night feasting on my ass (obviously juicy)... I will not make that mistake again and probably not etiquette in a dorm anyway....
So I don't have any wild stories from my first week..... it was all about unwinding and reflecting on my whirlwind departure and without distractions giving me space to contemplate my year ahead. I have plenty of time to party hard!! I was quite anti-social the week I was there... I had a private room in this cool place close to the beach so spent my days doing early morning or evening runs along the beach, reading books.... and generally relaxing on the beach or in a hammock. The arrangement of the hostel with my own room in a separate block made me feel a little separated from the others who were all staying in the main building in dorms. 
They were generally either couples on vacation or surfer dudes and it was all about the surf for them which I found hard to relate to and didn't really click with them. I'd tried surfing before when I was in Swansea and although I had great fun giving it a go I never really got the buzz. However it was amazing to watch from the beach though – the standard was incredible in huge surf. There was wildlife everywhere in Santa Teresa. The second day I opened my door in the morning to find monkeys swinging around in the tree outside my room (with huge looking balls as you can see in the pic!!) which was awesome.
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