Trip to Montezuma

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Long time since my last blog so Happy New Year to everyone. Since my last entry we had a 5.1 earthquake hit. It was my first one that I recall feeling. All the times I´ve been to San Francisco and they occurred, I never felt one. This one nearly knocked me off my feet, but it was just one big jolt and then I didn´t feel anything else. Other friends felt a slight tremor afterwards for about 10 seconds. Davide felt nothing. There was no damage.
Last week our friends Steve and Kathleen took us up to see their house that they are building up in the hills above San Ramon in Los Angeles Sur. I am posting a photo of the view from their house...it´s breathtaking. We then drove up the road about another 10 kms to a place called Villa Blanca, a hotel set on more than 1,000 acres in the cloudforest, to have coffee and dessert. On a clear day you can see the Arenal Volcano, but I suspect most days are misty and rainy because of its location, as it was on this day. But the rain made it very cozy--the lobby and restaurant of the hacienda are very warm and there were fires burning in the huge fireplaces. If you want to see more info on this place, their website is: http://www.villablanca-costarica.com/.
This week we headed off to Montezuma on the south of the Nicoya Peninsula. It´s only about 100 miles or less over there, but it is an experience to get there. We decided to take public transportation since it is so convenient and it was, even though it took 7 and half hours to get there! But it was worth it--it started with one bus ride of an hour and a half from San Ramon to the port city of Puntaranas, then a taxi ride from the bus station to the wharf where the ferries launch. The ticket booth was closed, so we had to wait an hour for it to open, then stand in line for 30 minutes to get our ticket and finally on the ferry. You´ll see a picture below--they just barely got all those cars on there. Two of them were hanging off the end of the boat. An hour and a half across the peninsula to catch another bus that takes you to Montezuma. By this time, it was hot and sticky and dusty. The buses are not air conditioned and the ferry wasn´t either. And some of the roads are paved and others aren´t. We might as well have been on a camel as on the bus. The roads also twist and turn up and down mountains a lot of the way. I was pretty beat by the time we arrived.
Montezuma is a nice little resort (mostly tourist trap), very 1960´s-ish, a hippy community. Montezuma is also nicknamed Monte¨fuma¨, not because of any volcanic activity, if you know what I mean. We hung out, it´s full of arts and a mix of different cultures which make for a very interesting place. The rainforest extends right down to beautiful beaches and the bars and restaurants reach right down to the sand. Our hotel was beautiful and secluded. There´s no road to it--the only way to get there is a 10-minute walk down the beach.
We got back yesterday and it was nice to be back to the temperate climate after the heat of the beach. Back to our calm little life of beans and rice and our sock coffee maker.
Hope everyone´s well and having fun back in the States.

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Photos

View from house
Here is a view from Steve & Kathleen´s house they are building.

Villa Blanca
Me, Davide, Steve and Kathleen in the lobby at Villa Blanca.

Ferry leaving
Ferry leaving Puntarenas with cars barely hanging on...

Street in Montezuma
There are only 2 streets in town.

Local bar
Bar on the sand.

Hotel pool
The hotel pool was beautiful.

Hotel gardens
So were the gardens...

Comments

[AndrewNCostaRica]

Nice
Nice pictures Alex!! -Andrew