Montezuma

Ah, what a perfect weekend! The only thing bringing me back to this city of San Jose is the kiddies at Rayito who I've missed, otherwise I could have stayed in Montezuma forever. 

Laura, Madeleine and I left early Saturday morning at 7:30 am to catch the bus from the city. We got to the Coca Cola bus station with a few minutes to spare but realized we had the times wrong, and had missed the 6 am bus. Not wanting to hang around San Jose with all of our belongings until 2 pm, we found out there was another bus we could take. We walked to the other station and got onto a bus which took us to Puntarenas, a cute little beach town where we caught the hour and half long ferry to the Nicoya peninsula. We then were hurried onto a shitty old school bus where we had to stand for almost 2 hours on our way to Montezuma. We met a guy who told us that Montezuma was really cool but if we were in the area we should check out Santa Teresa. The bus stopped in Cóbano and we decided to get off and get onto another bus which finally took us to Mal Pais/Santa Teresa.

We walked into town and settled into Tranquilo Backpackers hostel which was really nice, especially for only $10 per night. They had a great outdoor kitchen and it was nice to cook some of the food we had bought at a small organic farmers market which we stumbled upon on the beach.

After dinner, we sat around the hostel and drank a few beers while debating on whether to go out or not. One of our dorm mates, Mike from Baltimore, convinced us to check out the town so we walked with him to the local "club" called La Lola to check out the party they were having in honor of the surfing contests in town that weekend. We walked for almost 30 minutes when we finally hit this small bar on the edge of town pumping salsa and meringue. We practiced our dance moves for a while and then embarked on the trek back to the hostel. 

We heard that Santa Teresa is a great place to begin to surf, so the next morning we rented boards and headed out onto the beach. Struggling already only on the short walk from the street to the water, a Tico spotted us and offered to help us out. He gave us a few pointers and then brought us into the water and pushed us along with the waves. Smelling a bit like Guaro and being not all that helpful, I'm pretty sure he was a little drunk, but his intentions were good none-the-less. Laura got the hang of it right away and was standing up on a lot of waves! Madeleine and I on the other hand were not so lucky, standing up a few times, but mostly just practicing falling and eventually just sat on the boards and enjoyed the view.

After our arms felt like they were about to fall off and our knees were swollen from falling on the boards, we returned our surf boards, picked up our belongings from the hostel and waited for a bus to take us to Montezuma. 

We got to Montezuma and checked into Hotel Lucy, which was also only $10 a night and was absolutely beautiful! They even folded our towels into swans every morning! Shortly after arriving, Ryan and James met us at the hotel and we sat around outside and played drinking games with the sound of the waves in the background. Around midnight we headed into town expecting the towns one bar to be poppin off to find it closed and the town practically deserted. (It was a Sunday...) We came across a guy who we asked if there was anywhere else to go out, or at least a place to buy a few beers. He walked with us for about 15 minutes outside of town and we stopped at a large black tent on the beach that sold a variety of typical corner store items. We bought a few beers and headed back towards our hostel where we sat on the beach and enjoyed the night.

We woke up Monday morning to a beautiful blue sky and headed towards the Waterfalls. Ryan had gone to Montezuma a few weekends before with some friends and knew all the trails really well and he led us to the top. The hike itself wasn't too far, but it was a little scary! The trail was steep and you really needed to use the roots and the trees to pull yourself up in many parts. One part you have to use a rope to lower yourself down at a spot where Ryan later told us that someone had fallen off of and was seriously injured.. needless to say we were all extremely careful. 

Once at the top, the view was amazing! There was a pool to swim in and rope swing on one side, and the top of the waterfall on the other side where you could jump of into another pool. Ryan jumped first, having done it before. We were all a little hesitant about jumping (about 45 ft) but James, Laura and I soon followed, and I am so happy we did! 

Laura Paura.

Me jumping off.. or what appears to be running off..

Madeleine sat this one out..

Ryan. 

James.

After hiking back down from the waterfalls we went to the beach in front of our hostel and relaxed till dinner. That night we hung out at the hostel with some Cacique (Costa Ricas staple alcohol). We had a great time, but unfortunately some of the other guests at the hostel did not and when checking out the next morning we were asked not to return..

In the morning we bummed around till our  bus left at 2 and began our 8 hour journey home. It was one weekend where I did not miss San Jose at all and we all wanted to stay in Montezuma for.. well, forever. It was a perfect weekend in a beautiful place with an amazing group of people.

Paradise.