Costa Rica part 2: Santa Teresa & Arenal

My sweet little cousin was studying in nearby Puntarenas, so I took off for a weekend to meet her in Santa Teresa.

It took me two buses and a ferry ride to get there.

I stayed over night in Puntarenas the worst little hotel, that was worth exactly what I payed for it--$10. No window in the room, a jail-like mattress with stained sheets and stained walls covered in spider webs. Shared bathroom.

But it did have wi-fi and a small TV.

I had intended on staying elsewhere but it was dark when I arrived, and streets were littered with entire bags of trash, a few dead animals, and some shifty locals giving me rapey looks.

The next day I walked a mile to the ferry stop to catch the first ferry.

I passed many people sleeping on benches and several camp outs composed entirely of trash.

I was surprised my cousin was living there.

Houses were surrounded by gates and had barred windows.

Even restaurants were surrounded by chainlink fences and topped with barbed wire.

Everything looked outdated--which doesn't mean it still isn't good, but it does speak to the economics of the area.

At the ferry, I encountered several people drinking beers with their babies on their lap. It was 7am.

Finally I arrived in Santa Teresa, a surf town on the Nicoya Peninsula.

The town was just one strip of road that followed the shore.

Surf shacks and sea food places lined the beach and little crabs hid in the brush. Shells covered the sand and the ocean was warm.

It was the first time I'd been to the sea since arriving.

My cousin, her friends, and I stayed at Wild Waves Sky Villas, where we had a full house and pool with an ocean view.

Of course, nothing is as good as it seems.

The hotel owner was constantly checking on us, and he was in our "private" pool in the morning.

Oh, that and the fact that his overly aggressive dog took a chunk out of my leg while I was trying to leave...he just sat on the porch and watched it happen. Then insisted it was no big deal.

I couldn't walk for nearly a week and ended up needing medical treatment. He avoided all my attempts at contact.

The next weekend, I went to Guanacaste (Flamingo Beach) via La Fortuna--near Arenal volcano.

I roomed with a random roommate--Martha, who was a 60-year-old ex-patriot. She was full of interesting stories, and we drank wine on the tour.

During the hike, it rained the whole time. The contrast between the life of the newly grown rain forest and the black of the volcanic ash and boulder was striking.

The little town (La Fortuna) was cutesy and extremely touristy.

There were natural hot springs resorts everywhere.

We made some friends from Iowa--and their expensive DSLR's and iPhones all got ruined on the hike, despite that they were concealed in backpacks.

Martha--who lives in Mexico--told me to find her on Facebook, but then she ignored my request. People are interesting, huh.