We have been in touch with Nikki out in Costa Rica and can confirm that all of the group (with the one exception of Dave who's flight has been held up in Los Angeles - who we have been in touch with and is in full understanding of how to meet up with the group) have made it out safely.

Nikki met them all at the airport, and escorted them back to the nearby hotel to meet the rest of the group, and enjoy a night of well earned rest before they make the journey down to Santa Teresa which will be their home for the next 6 weeks.

A full blog update will be on when they are all settled in Santa Teresa.

Well its been a long couple of days for the group and now everyone (bar Dave) has finally arrived into Santa Teresa.

On Tuesday i left the comfort of Santa Teresa where i have been for a week preparing for the group and boarded the local bus for San Jose to meet everyone. The journey was certainly an eye opener after 8 hours of impressive thunder and lightning storms and bad roads causing the bus to crawl through the pot holes at snails pace. I finally arrived into San Jose airport to meet the first of the arrivals. Claire Coombes was first to meet me with a huge grin and clear excitement in her eyes as she navigated her surf board through the crowns of waiting people.

Not long after Peace, Hamish, Hannah, Rachel, Phil, Harry, Noelita and Brendan appeared with tales of delays and confiscated cans of hair spray and bug repellent but supporting big smiles none the less and excitement of their new destination written on their faces.

I took everyone to the hotel to settle in for the night as i headed back to the airport to pick up Ed who had been delayed in Huston. Claire and Manni who had previously arrived into San Jose met us at the hotel.

So with our group "almost" complete everyone got a good night sleep and was up early the next day for our journey towards our destination for the next 6 weeks.

After another long treck by a very sweaty mini bus, ferry and another mini bus the group finally arrived into the comfort of Funky Monkeys Lodge in Santa Teresa greated by blazing sun shine. Everyone was straight into the pool and to the bar for cold drinks and a quick and easy adjustment into life in this pocket of paradise.

George came round and met the group and after an introductory talk i was excited to show the group the beach. So with cameras in hand we set off for dinner walking along the beach heading for Roca Mar a beautiful beach side restaurant surrounded by hammocks and the sound of the breaking waves in the back ground as everyone tucked into the local dish Casado which consists of fish, rice and beans...delicious!

Today is the groups first full day and a chance for them to acclimatise to their new surrounds. I think it may involve a lot of lying round the pool getting used to the heat. So there we have it folks a quick introduction so far, everyone is very happy and prepared for the next 6 weeks of adventure.

I will also be giving the group their new mode of transport later...all new and sparkly cruiser beach bikes, very exciting! Tomorrow will be our first busy day, as we have our first surf lesson with George, then a yoga class on the beach while myself and George prepare a welcome fresh fish BBQ on the beach.

Dave will be joining us later today, i think he deserves to be greeted with a very cold drink for his long drawn out journey as he has flown from one side of the states to the other before getting here. I know he will be happy with his new home when he arrives and every bit of day to day stress will be left behind, as now we are all in Santa Teresa and stress is not part of the life style here.

So i will leave you now as i go and join the group for breakfast. I will send you all an update after the weekend with tales of surfing and sunshine.

Pura Vida - as the Costa Rican say.

Nikki

"Hola y da la bienvenida"

Welcome to another update from beside the pool at funky monkeys in the depth of paradise. Its hard to belive that in just a week the group are all so relaxed and settled into their new environment. Around all the relaxing it has been all go for the group with surfing, Spanish lessons, yoga and zipping through the jungle on a series of cables supporting a somewhat fashionable hard hat!!

For those of you who are not familiar with Santa Teresa or Costa Rica i will set a little bit of a scene for you. Costa Rica borders both the Caribbean Sea (to the east) and the North Pacific Ocean (to the west), with a total of 1,290 kilometers of coastline, 212 km on the Caribbean coast and 1,016 km on the Pacific. Santa Teresa is a small town in Puntarenas Province. It started as a remote fishing village and in the early 1990s, the town of Santa Teresa was discovered by travelers and started growing since then. There is one dirt track road that runs through the hole town with rustic little cafes and hostels on one side and on the other tropical forest which stretches down to the white sandy beaches that supports all year round consistent surf! Currently we are in the wet season but with everyone slowly turning golden brown we have been lucky so far with only a few short rain showers.

The group settled into things quickly and had their first surf lesson on Friday. Conditions were perfect as the large swell from the beginning of the week dropped off and I was pleased to see that the whole group took to the water with ease. After a couple of lessons the group has split into two, George has been working with group 1 on turning techniques and i have been working with the girls in group 2 perfecting the all important pop up!

We have been dominating the early morning surfs with Dave Ford as keen as ever after his trip with us to South Africa and Hamish, Brendan and Phil joining us out back already and their efforts have been greatly rewarded with long rides. Friday was a packed day with surfing, a relaxing yoga lesson set back in the palm trees over looking the ocean and then straight down to the beach for a feast of Red Snapper on Georges beach BBQ. The evening was finished off by beers round the fire with the sunset turning the hole sky orange followed by a spectacular display of stars unspoilt by any light pollution.

Today we all heading up to the tree tops of Mal Pais as the group had their canopy tour. Our highest cable was 246 feet off the ground. The views from the nine platforms set high up in the massive tropical rainforest were spectacular.

At times, we could see as far as the ocean to one side and endless jungle to the other. The group all had a look of exhilaration on their faces and some interesting squeals coming out of their mouths as they left the platforms. Their faces were priceless as they whizzed through the canopy. The eight cables added up to be one mile long, including a 984 foot ride overlooking the Pacific.

Claire C, Harry, Clare S, Peace, Rachel, Manni and Hannah even ended the last cable with a display of acrobatics as they made their final descent upside down.

So the end of another exciting day i am sitting writing this with a grumble in my belly looking forward to tonights BBQ at Funky Monkeys. I think we could all get a little too comfortable with the high standard of food here, it is worth the journey purely for Raffas (the chef) Banana pancakes. Above my stomach i can hear the growl of the howler monkeys in the trees above and Hamish, Manni, Hannah and co. in their Spanish lesson, it sounds like they are getting along well getting to grips with the local dialect. The rest of the group will be back from their surf soon and we will end another day with a cold beer for todays efforts...its a hard life!

Thanks for reading and untill next time.

Pura vida.

Nikki

Hi all, I dont know about time in the UK but over here in Costa Rica it is simply flying past. None of us can believe that it is Wednesday all ready and that the midway point of our trip is approaching us at the end of the week. It has been an exciting past couple of days for us all here as the group have been filtering down to Kina our local surf shop to pick up their brand spanking new boards. The group have been fitted to their new boards to match their current ability and to help them progress with their surfing skills. Receiving a new surfboard is an extremely exciting and somewhat addictive event. Most surfers can remember their very first surf board that they learnt on and I am thoroughly enjoying watching the group progress from beginners into confident intermediate surfers!

So this morning George and I took the group out for their first lesson on their new boards. We swapped groups as George took some of the girls on the inside waves while I taught the rest of the group how to get out back through the large walls of white water by duck diving and turtle rolling. With the groups new boards ranging from 7'2 to 8'6 both George and myself were very pleased as the whole group took to them with ease.

Out of the water the group have been enjoying a variety of different activities. Over the weekend Claire C, Manni and Hannah joined one of the local artists in creating their very own piece of surf art. The girls spent the afternoon painting on drift wood that was found on the beach, a great souvenir.
They continue to build on their Spanish with Veronica the local Spanish teacher which is a great opportunity for them to fit into the local community by practising on the friendly locals and they also have had a surf science lesson with George, learning how to read weather charts and how waves are formed.

On Friday I joined the group for one of their regular yoga sessions with Linia. With a specially adapted session focussing on muscles used in surfing, i along with the rest of the group realised I had some work to do on my flexibility which is an important part of the sport. Our yoga sessions take place just off of the beach with the groups mats scattered amongst the palm trees. With the sound of the breaking waves in the back ground, im sure not many people have experienced yoga in such a relaxing atmosphere, hence why the group always look forward to their next session....which is on Friday woohoo!

The swell has been building in Santa Teresa throughout the beginning of the week and with waves forecast to reach 8 foot over the next couple of days we are taking a break from surfing tomorrow and all heading over to Montezuma for the day. There we put on our hiking boots and walk to a variety of stunning waterfalls set in tropical rainforests, so watch this space for some photographs of beautiful waterfalls and not so beautiful sweaty faces, im sure the girls will make me edit the pics before I publish them though!

So until next time we leave you as we continue to become even more accustomed to our our little corner of paradise.

Pura Vida

Nikki

Hi all!

Another update from Central America where the sun has been beating down on us for the past few days. The weather can be slightly temperamental in Costa Rica during the wet season, with blazing heat one minute and then the next a grumble in the near sky warns us something is brewing. This weekend we have been witnesses to some magnificent thunder and lightening storms. On Friday night after Rafa, (Funky Monkeys chef) had put on a magnificent feast of tapas and cocktails especially for the group the sky started to cloud over and decided to give us quite a performance. With thunder and lightening right above our heads it reminded all of us that we are in a tropical climate as the rain battered down and thunder cracked in our ears for at least an hour. With electricity down through out the town we watched the show out of the comfort of our accommodation. So the performance on Friday night made way for a weekend of glorious sunshine and blue sky's which the group took full advantage of around the pool and on the beach.

So since I last wrote on Wednesday we have been on the road. The group hired out quads on Thursday and headed out for the day to Montezuma. Montezuma is located near the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, 25 miles south west of Paquera and 5 miles south of the town of Cobano. The tiny beach haven of Montezuma features a mix of local "Ticos" as well as a foreign community with a lot of European influences. It’s a long-time favourite of backpackers and eco-tourists who come for the beaches, rivers and scenic waterfalls that surround the village. The road to Montezuma is a fun one as you follow the dirt track which runs through Santa Teresa, through the tropical rain forest and along the coast for roughly an hour as it leads you into the tiny fishing village of Montezuma.

We set of first thing in the morning to arrive right in time for a traditional breakfast of Gio Pinto (rice and beans) and a not so traditional breakfast of banana pancakes (no explanation needed). After breakfast we walked through town and started our trek up the river in search of the beautiful waterfalls we have heard about. About 20 minutes in, hiking up river we reached the first water fall. It was beautiful as you could swim across the pool and stand behind the cascading water...but we wanted more, we wanted higher. So with a local guide we set off higher in search of the next waterfall. The trek was steep and i was impressed with the fitness of the group as we climbed through the rainforest for a further 20 minutes intill we found the second waterfall. We were all very excited at the sight of a rope swing and some rock jumps into a very refreshing pool, a great way to cool our sweaty faces.

Everyone had their fun on the rope swing and small rock jumps. Harry preformed back flips off the rope swing and Hamish and Brendan decided to take on one of the higher jumps into the lower waterfall. I was impressed as they took a deep breath and jumped off into the lower waterfall pool 54 foot below...now in these stories of adventure we are allow to elaborate (or I have been told to do so by Hamish and Brendan) to make the story sound better....in fact the jump was only around 18 foot high and they didn't infact do acrobatic stunts while flying through the air, but well done boys it was very brave of you to jump. With a slightly less adventurous and shorter route back down the group had a quick look around Montezuma for some souvenirs before hoping on the quads and heading back to Santa Teresa before the sun set.

One reason for our Montezuma road trip was the building swells that were preventing us getting in the water. With the swell peaking on Friday and Saturday with 10 foot waves we cancelled the surf lessons on Friday in till the waves had calmed down a bit. This gave the group the opportunity to head along to the local reef “suckies” and watch some big wave surfers in action. As we sat safety on the beach with coffee in hand we watched a few brave surfers take on the huge sets that rolled through, maybe inspiring a few of the group to one day take on the big stuff!

Luckily the swell has dropped off and the group were back in the water today with their new boards. Its another early start tomorrow with another surf lesson and a yoga class. No doubt this week will fly by just like all the others and it will be time to head to Jaco on Friday for the ISA comp!

The group are all sitting behind me winding down after a feast of calzone and im off to join them in one of the hammocks. In till next time.

Thanks for reading!

Nikki