Montezuma

*Let's just start this post by saying, don't go to Puntarenas. Just don't. The beach is average, the water is murky, and the town is a lil ghetto. Fortunately, we only stayed the night here so we could break up our trip to Montezuma. There were a lot of people in town because there was a carnival/fiestas all weekend. Rooms were hard to come by and prices were extremely inflated. We ended up staying at a "pensión", which is basically like a boarding house, I think. The night life was kind of fun; they had about a mile of food stands, bars, and pop-up clubs next to the beach. It wasn't really my scene, though. Here's some pichas:


This sign should simply read "WARNING!"


Okay, let's analyze this one. Six people, one room. Jessica and I were each lucky enough to have our own bunks on the bunk bed. Three girls slept across the queen size bed, and our poor friend Heidi was nice enough to sleep on the floor (on the pillows that everyone else was scared to use.) So this is a picture of my bunk. Notice how I am sleeping on a beach towel and a dirty shirt. There were no sheets provided! We felt kind of filthy after sleeping here. I'm not even going to get started about the [community] bathroom.


Yep, that's what you think it is. Found on the porch of our "pensión".And you thought I was just being a pampered American whiner, didn't you?



Thankfully, our final destination was Montezuma. It's on the Nicoya Peninsula, across the gulf from Puntarenas, so we took a ferry to get there. After the ferry, we got on a bus, thinking, "oh, it will be a simple 10 minute ride." No. It was like an hour and a half of standing in the aisle of the bus, careening around the corners on steep dirt roads. Our arms were so tired by the time we got to Montezuma! But these are just the things that happen when traveling here, and you have to make it fun.


A rooster on the bus!

When we reached Montezuma, we had to find a place to stay. There are so many cute little cabins, but most of them were full. We ended up staying at a decent little hotel with clean bathrooms, sufficient sleeping space, and we even had sheets! The craziest part: it was cheaper than the place in Puntarenas.

Montezuma is a pretty quiet, relaxed town. There is only one real bar and just a handful of restaurants. They have a good grocery store, though, with bread from a local Italian bakery. We used the bread to make yummy cream cheese and veggie sandwiches for lunch....affordable and delicious! This was actually really exciting to me, though, because I hardly ever get to make food (especially super healthy food) here.

Okay, I'll stop talking about sandwiches and talk about what we actually did. The beach is really beautiful, so we wandered down it for a while. The waves are pretty big, though, and there are a lot of rocks near shore, so actual swimming can only be done in a few places. It was still super nice to just hang out on the beach for a while. We actually all fell asleep at one point. That's literally the dumbest thing you can do at the beach, but we were all so relaxed and content.


The beach at Montezuma


Piña y cerveza


I would like to thank my faja Bill for this leatherman juice pro tool. Seriously, you have no idea how much I have used it (especially this weekend.) It comes in handy for manly things like chopping fruit and opening wine bottles.


The ocean at Montezuma


Bandit! My lil beach dog love muffin. He found us two days in a row.

For dinner, we took advantage of the kitchen at our hotel. We made a simple pasta and garlic bread. So yummy!


Good food & good friends :)


Wine with dinner...so classy.

The highlight of the trip was definitely our hike on Sunday. About fifteen minutes outside town, we found a trail that led up to some waterfalls. It followed a creek through the jungle. We swam in the water below the waterfall. What an amazing day!


The sign says: "Danger! Several people have died here. Do not climb or jump."


Cool spider, with chicas in background.


Just a stroll through the forest...


Waterfall!


Oh hey


On the bus back to San José, there was a sign on the bathroom that said "YES TO PISS". I'm sure it didn't sound so awful in Spanish, but that's what the translation said.

Okay, that was kind of foul, so I'll leave you with this:


A beautiful bird that joined us for breakfast.