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Published: June 27th 2007
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Would it be redundant if I were to say that my friends and I had ANOTHER fantastic weekend? Well, my apologies, but yes- we had another fantastic weekend.
This time (just us five girls) made the adventurous journey to Montezuma, a bohemian town on the southern coast of the Nicoya Peninsula (which is the North Western peninsula of Costa Rica). It was our first trip to the western side of the country and, sadly, our last trip together in CR. But we geared up, stocked up on snacks(I stocked up on drammamine) for the looong journey everyone kept warning us about, and we were off once again. The trip to Montezuma was made up of a 2 1/2 hour bus ride from San Jose to Puntarenas, where we purchased tickets for the
1 1/2 hour ferry ride over to the peninsula, got back on the bus for an hour, then off, and then back on another little bus for a very bumpy and steep 1/2 hour ride into the center of Montezuma. Some time between the ferry and the last leg of the journey we were thinking ¨this place better be good.¨
It is.
Although
the ultra laid-back Montezuma seemed to have so much in common with caribbean Cahuita, it still manages to be completely unique and maintain its own quirkiness. The downtown is another two intersecting dirt roads but restaurants,bars and shops line them. A few vendors sell their goods on the sides of the streets and tour operators try to reel you in as you pass. We could tell right away Montezuma is a bit more touristed than Cahuita, however it is more hush-hush than the big attractions of CR.
When we got off the bus it was already dark and a Canadian man who resembled crocodile dundee in his hat and rugged snake skin boots pointed us in the direction of our hotel.
We checked in, settled in and went out. We dined at the restaurant on the beach which Dundee recommended and after almost falling asleep at the table waiting for our food, we made the decision not to return. But afterward we spent some time playing in the water on the beach and I was excited to see the Pacific for the first time in my life! and then disappointed that it wasn´t the actual Pacific but the Gulf of
Nicoya instead I went back to the hotel and wept in the hotel hammocks. Well, maybe I didn´t actually weep but we did relax in them before we hit the hay.
The next day we slept in until 8 am, bought breakfast from the minimarket and met our guides for our Isla Tortuga trip. After they got all of the beached boats in the water, we boarded and enjoyed the 45 minute ride to the island. Isla Tortuga is a 320 hectare island (shaped like a turtle if you couldn´t tell by the name) which lies northeast of Montezuma, 3 km offshore of Curu.
Our tour included the ride to the island, lunch, refreshments and...um....don´t kill me family.....snorkeling (oh the horror!) How could I, the daughter of Kitty and Randy Jackson, born into a snorkeling family, participate in a leming tour?? Now I bet you´re picturing me in the inflated neon yellow lifejacket flailing around in the water screaming through my snorkel like all of the other lemmings. Please erase that from your minds. This is Costa Rica, remember, not the US. This tour was more like -here´s your gear- oh there´s not enough ? it´s not your
size? Oh well. You have around 45 minutes or an hour. You can come and go from the boat if you wanna grab a beer or something.
I was so relieved.
We jumped on in and snorkeled around. The visibility wasn´t so great and there wasn´t a reef but we still got to see a lot of gorgeous colorful fish, octopus and pufferfish. I took my waterproof camera in with me and got some shots.
An hour or so later Duglas(pronounced Dooglahs) our guide, took us back to the island but not before stopping by fisherman´s boat who made ceviche with the oysters fresh from the water which we ate right there in the boat out of the shell.
Wandering a bit on the island took up some time as we waited for the crew to finish cooking up fresh fish on the BBQ. Just as we had started to fall asleep in the sand, the crew came over to alert us that lunch was served. The lunch was so delicious that I had to take a picture(which doesn´t do it justice). Marlin cooked in onions and peppers, accompanied by bread and potatos in a yummy sauce. (Are your
mouths watering?)
The rest of our time there was spent swimming, lounging and playing volleyball. The island was great and the trip for the day was only 40 dollars for everything. We were pleased but we were also excited to get back to Montezuma so we could make our way to the waterfalls which we read so much about.
I wish we had done a little more research before so confidently setting off. We marched onto the trail, heads held high, towels wrapped, sandals tucked. It wasn´t long before we realized something was off when there was no more trail and we were suddenly wading upriver through the Rio Montezuma. We decided to keep going and somehow find the trail again. But to no avail. We kept going and going, jumping, slipping and falling, scraping limbs and climbing rocks. It was also beginning to get dark and the only people around left a while ago because we told them not to follow us at the beginning as we knew we weren´t going the right way.
Our moral was down and crazy thoughts began to run through our heads. This was serious. Do we turn back or should we continue
Self-timer gone wrong
the group's bodies and my head before we left for Isla Tortuga trekking into the unknown??
(hehe) Dramatics aside, the journey was very treacherous and exhausting. But once I heard rushing water I knew we were close. We made it to one of the three Montezuma waterfalls!!! Vicotrious!! It didn´t matter that we only had enough time to quickly snap a couple pictures, jump in and jump back out. At least it refreshed us for the just as, if not more dangerous way back. Soaked and muddy we perservered through the forest and river until we finally reached the road at dusk. Looking back on it we smile and laugh (hysterically some times) and are glad we survived 😉 I think I´ll be writing in to Lonely Planet regarding their ever so lovely description of the waterfall 'trails´.
We celebrated our last weekend together in a Montezuma restaurant and danced the night away to salsa and reggae. Sunday morning we caught the 8 30 am bus and rode back to San Jose the same way except this time we were lucky enough to get to ride on the FERRY FROM HELL. I won´t go in to too much detail but imagine if hell had a temperature, this ferry
was about a billion degrees hotter. 1 1/2 hours of dripping sweat. I guess that´s what we get for being blessed with the luxurious ferry on the way there.
How sad to end our traveling adventures. Emma, Sophie, Lydia, Sam , and I (Jack, too) have been through a lot of great times together and have shared amazing experiences. Only we know all the stories, jokes, situations and hilarities of our times together but we are all excited to try to recount them to our friends and family when we return home so soon.
And who knows? Maybe one day we'll have one grand reunion here in Costa Rica to make all new memories.
Here´s to hoping 😊
Carynn
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Marni
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So nice to see what a great time you are having!!
Hey....what a beautiful part of the world you are in! We are enjoying your blogs. The kids say hello to Rynnie!! Travel safe!! Marni