Costa Rica : Part 2

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7 hours after leaving Liberia - I eventually got my first glimpse of Montezuma.

I had no interest in hitting any of the other beaches along the Nicoya Peninsula, beaches like Playa Tamarindo & Playa del Coco was, according to other travellers, nothing more than condominium cities filled with hordes of shops and were far to ‘gringofied’.

I had some hope that Montezuma had not suffered the same fate (too much at least). Getting there was an easy enough process - The only bad thing is the length of time to get there and the numerous changes to reach the final destination.

I got there a bit after 6pm and went hunting for a place to stay. I found a little cabin like place and secured a private room on the bottom floor for USD 10.00. A good start! The ‘town’ itself was little more than a few streets filled with tiny little beach shops, hotels & cabins and tour offices. Famed for being a hippy town - the streets were filled with dreadlocked individuals selling handmade jewellery, dream catchers & the usual assortment of bongs & pipes. I found a local eatery and had dinner with a Grandmother & her Granddaughter I had met on the bus. I sat there in awe as we swapped backpacking stories. A vision of backpacking with my Grandmothers flashed before my eyes for a split second….NEVER!

I spent the rest of the following day sleeping & swimming on the beach and walking in and around the tide pools until sunset. However, my original plans of staying in Montezuma for 3 days didn’t materialise - I couldn’t stomach the costs! I drew the line at paying USD 3.00 for a scoop of ice-cream or USD 6.00 for a milkshake. I was still in Costa Rica wasn’t I - Not some upmarket Caribbean Island getaway! Right?

And whilst the beach itself was lovely, a great chance for me to relax and ponder life’s questions - my brain could only tolerate so much ‘pondering’ before it needed other forms of entertainment. Truth be told - I sat on a rock overlooking the ocean for over an hour telling myself - that this would be a great spot to meditate and think about the two burning questions I intended to figure out on my travels. Number 1 - What did I want to be when I grow up? (Ahem!) and Number 2 - Who do I want to share my toys with?. Needless to say I spent most of that time thinking about the fact that I hadn’t thought about it and telling myself that it would be a good time to start thinking about it - without actually thinking about anything……other than what I was going to have for dinner!!! (Sigh).

I had a headache!!.....And an unopened bottle of rum in my room!

The best cure for a headache is of course, a rum & coke and my new favourite snack of all time - a packet of salted plantains, the Central American alternative to potato chips. Yum!

That night (my last in Montezuma) I treated myself to a very expensive shish kebab & movie USD 14.00 - ouch. I’m currently obsessed with Mamma Mia, the movie that was playing with dinner - all that singing & dancing gets makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside (or was that the rum & coke?). No really! I didn’t fancy an early night in reading a book that night - so what better way to spend the evening than in the company of other Abba fanatics….Hmmm!!!

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