Last Days in Montezuma and An Iguana Battle

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On our last full day in Montezuma, we hopped on the bus and headed for town to pick up those last minute souvenirs. We went to Organico for a smoothie since most of the stores were just beginning to open. We wandered in and out of shops where I picked up yet another dress and Curtis a couple more shirts! We also bought a very fresh baguette as we were having dinner later with our neighbours. As we got to the bus stop people had started to gather under the tree. Several were looking above and then we noticed that there were a couple of large iguanas up in the tree. Suddenly, one jumped up a branch and the two started to fight. Someone said it was for ownership of the tree. Not sure why they could not share, it was a big tree! Anyway, as the battle ensued, one iguana ended up falling and catching a branch on the way down. You could hear the collective gasp of the crowd. Thinking the tussle was over we looked away only to hear it start up once again. A few minutes later we were climbing aboard our little bus when suddenly both iguanas went hurtling down from the tree! Definitely would not have wanted to be standing below. We chatted with friends on the bus and bid them safe travels. We headed home with our treasures. We then wandered down to Playa Los Cedros for one more afternoon basking in the sun. As the afternoon disappeared and shadows fell, we begrudgingly headed back, catching the last glimpse of our little beach.

Laura and Michael had invited us for dinner in honour of our departure. We had such a wonderful time chatting with them. The pasta dinner was to die for and it was all topped off with a decadent brownie (a treat for us as we had not had dessert in weeks!). During one of our conversations, I picked up on the word "boa". My first question was, "Like a boa constrictor?". Now each and every child in my class knows I have only 2 real phobias, spiders and snakes. Running into a web as a child and ending up with a big fat spider on your face tends to do that. Snakes, I just detest. The whole slithering and writhing just makes my skin crawl. I did go so far as to have one put around my shoulders but can safely say it did nothing to lessen my fears. In Full Day Kindergarten the premise is to use the interests of the children as a stepping stone to learning. For example, if a child brings in a snail then we may very well change the direction of our day and learn about snail slime. However, my children know and have known for years that if they show me a spider they have found in the classroom it usually results in a large splat. If a spider startles me, or God forbid, crawls on me, the person who is nearest to me will likely end up being hit. Just my natural reaction. Now in our family, Curtis is the resident insect "relocator." The first few days we were there a rather large spider found its way onto the porch. I ever so quickly jumped up and yelled while he simply got the broom and gently brushed it away. He did this on several occasion as bugs of different shapes and sizes came for a visit. He always reassures me that of course they would not come back. The entire time at Solyluna we were both enraptured by the myriad of wildlife right at our doorstep. I loved watching all the creatures as they wandered around through the gardens. Even the rather large Orb Spider and I ended up with a mutual respect for the space of one another. So, you can imagine that the word "boa" and then the word "here" evoked a great question and a rather large set of eyes. It turns out over the last few years a couple of boas have been found on the property! The last one had started to ingest a raccoon. These serpents were caught and relocated. As the story unfolded, one look at the twinkle in my husband's eye and I knew he had heard this story already. In fact he had known about it for some time but wisely chose to keep that knowledge to himself. Not that it would have had any great impact on my stay, it just would have meant I would have been looking for both spiders AND snakes while sitting on the porch each night!

As the candles burned down and night dwindled away we soon headed back to finish up our packing.

Never needing an alarm, we were awakened early by the Howlers and we welcomed the sound as it is one that we will not likely hear again in the near future. We cleaned everything up and donated some of our leftovers to Michael and Laura, bidding them farewell.

Simon and Patricia came to tell us our taxi had arrived. We thanked them for their kindness and everything they had done for us over the past two weeks. Solyluna is definitely a little piece of paradise and we were blessed to be able to stay there and to meet so many wonderful people who have now become etched in our trip memories.

We took the taxi into Montezuma and caught our shuttle. This all worked out well and our driver helped us into a brand new van. He was so sweet and tried to answer our questions. His English was great and he willingly helped me with some Spanish words. He drove us to Paquera, which is the port where we would catch the ferry. He went in and bought our tickets, told us what time the ferry left and showed us where to wait. We waved good-bye and settled in until the boat docked. The ride was 70 minutes to Puntarenas. The seas were calm and the sky a brilliant blue. When we reached the port another driver met us and drove us to San Ramon. He took us to a mall where we then changed vehicles one last time. We were then transported to La Fortuna. The drive was a bit of a nail biter as it was very twisty but thankfully all paved. A couple of gravol later and my stomach landed in the right spot. He dropped us off at our Hotel Villa Fortuna. It is about 700 metres from town and is a very nice, clean, family run hotel. It has 12 rooms with quaint little porches. But the most spectacular sight is our view of the Arenal Volcano which we can see as we sit in our chairs. It is majestic and awe-inspiring for sure. We walked into town and had a delicious dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe and are now ready to settle down to sleep after a long day of travel. Tomorrow will see us exploring La Fortuna and deciding what adventures we will have.

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