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Published: June 27th 2010
Greetings from Costa Rica! We are currently in Montezuma, which is a tiny surfer town consisting of a handful of shops and restaurants, nestled in an ideal little nook on the peninsula with montains and jungles above and miles of empty beaches just a few steps outside of town. Montezuma may seem small in stature but it more than compensates with its character and quirkiness. On every corner you can find shirtless impossibly tan hippies selling all sorts of woven bracelets and homemade jewelry, a town crazy who stumbles around yelling random phrases such as "Soy mas fuerte tan tu" or ¨"Obama para siempre! Gringos!" (Rough translation: "I´m stronger than you!"/ "Obama forever! White folks!"), and a flame thrower who mesmerizes us with his ability to juggle sticks of flaming wood while flipping and turning and twisting like a twirling dervish in the center of town.
Not to mention the dozens of friendly and overly affectionate stray dogs who will follow you around for the afternoon if you give them a nice pat on the head. They are all far too skinny, and as a result I´ve started to keep snacks in my backpack to offer them whenever we walk through
town. Speaking of animals, we´ve also seen several giant, muy grande, enormous lizards. I´m talking mega-iguanas, mini komodo dragons. Just cruising around like they own the place. If these lizards were people, i can totally imagine them with oversized shades, gold chain necklaces, and a too-cool for school attitude. "Yea I see you looking at me. Can´t say I blame you babe. I´m a stud.¨"
But by far the most amazing animal we´ve seen was a jesus lizard during our crazy waterfall hike through rapids. Dubbed a jesus lizard, because the little rascal can walk on water! It was insane. This guy stood up on two legs, leaned back and took off across the river like a man on a mission. Running over the water like it was the jesus lizard highway. We were so impressed we all simulataneously broke out into applause. Six gringo tourists, clapping and cheering on a lizard, waist-deep in water.
Today we did a horseback tour of the beaches and forests leading up to a waterfall that dropped into the ocean. The scenery was stunning, the sun scorching (we now all look like farm hands with our horse-ride tans), the trails steep, slippery, and rock
laden, and the tour guide was speaking spanish directions at a hundred miles a minute (very little of which we could understand), all of which combined to make for quite an interesting trip. Ryan´s horse had a pretty intense stumble on a rocky downhill path that put us all on edge for us and the horses, but it was Stephen and his horse (whom we dubbed Jeffrey because his demeanor reminded us of a young precocious english boy who was used to showing off and getting his way) who finally slipped on a beach boulder and slid towards the ocean, scraping the horses front foot and sending Stephen flying onto a rock flat on his back. No good. The only other times I´ve been nervous thus far is on the bus ride here (the tiny one-lane muddy roads twisting through the trees are ridden with potholes big enough to swim in and I every time we´d speed past another car I felt certain we´d collide). Oh and there was also yesterday at the beach, when the ocean riptides almost got the best of three of us. That was scary. And when we traipsed across a raging river and slid down
a ravine by grasping onto the roots of trees to get to an amazing waterfall (we later discovered a much easier trail, but still we enjoyed the adventure). Yet our little brushes with danger only remind us that we are alive, and so is everything around us, and for me, that is what Costa Rica is all about. The real deal. The long stretches of empty beaches, our open and airy hotel that blends into the forest and is surrounded by bursts of plants in every shade of green (who knew there were so many!), running through the waves with friends, and traipsing through town in the rain, drenched and followed by a posse of perros. This is my costa rica experience thus far, and I´m loving it.
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Cindy
non-member comment
Wow!
What an amazing place! The pictures are great and I love hearing of your adventures. You could have left out the horse stumbling, raging river and the riptide part - but I am glad you've made it safely this far! Keep having fun - don't worry about Nonnie - she is on vacation, too (check your email sometime). Love you! Remember to send me your return flight info at some point - Mom