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Published: November 26th 2015
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Wednesday
Busy travel day today. Our final destination is Montezuma, but we have four legs of transportation to get there. The bus to Puntarenas was scheduled to leave at 6am. .We got an early start and walked up the hill to the bus station at 5:30. The Puntarenas bus was coming down the hill. It left half an hour early! Good thing we were out early; we flagged the bus down for the 2.5 hour ride. The road down to Monteverde was very bumpy and winding, with lush green valleys and grazing sheep. Monteverde was originallly a Quaker settlememt and to stem the tourist flow, they lobbied to stop developers from paving the roads. This worked for a while but the town grew anyway. Further along. the sides of the road were lined with high rock walls, with a few landslides at the side. Huge rock piles lined the roadside in places. Once we got down the mountain, the roads were fairly good.
There have been no venders or entertainers playing for tips on the buses we have taken, as is common in Mexico. Drivers have been careful. At one point I saw a dead
chicken on the side of the road. Unfortunately this started Bob on a streak of bad chicken jokes. Maybe the chicken shouldn't have crossed the road!
We passed through Rancho Grande on our way to Puntarenas. Puntarenas isn't really a tourist town. It seems rather run down and unkempt at the outskirts, but it becomes fairly nice as you hit the ocean. There are a few luxury hotels in this area. We found a taxi right away to take us to the ferry. The ferry left at 9am, so our timing was perfect, with just a half hour or so to wait. The 1.5 hour ferry ride is cheap ($2/person). The boat was huge, with space for cars as well. We found good seats on the top deck, first row center in front. Great view, but the railing slowly lined up with people and the sun became very hot. We moved down a deck to a shaded area.
The Montezuma bus was waiting when we got off the ferry in Paquera. There were lots of booths and venders in this bus area. The bus route was fairly flat now, mostly forest and palms. Went
by some small, but very well kept-up homes with lots of flowers. The final bus stop for Monetzuma was right by the ocean. Our hotel (Hotel Aurora) was just a couple of blocks up from the ocean. Very nice place, open lounge area with hammocks (guess where Bob is right now?!) Lots of growth and trees around the hotel, so it looks like you're in a jungle!
We walked around the town this afternoon, found restaurants and mini-stores nearby. Groceries are expensive in Costa Rica, higher than at home. Lots of venders were making jewelry at tables along the streets. Very convenient location for our hotel. Walked down to the ocean in a couple of places. The beach is rather rocky, but beautiful. A little further north the beach is more sandy and good for walking. Probably end up there tomorrow. We decided to make our own dinner tonight. Got a great baguette, some ham, cheese, chips, and pop. Used the dishes in the kitchen downstairs, then sat at the open bench area overlooking the trees and palms. Lots of people use the kitchen, and everyone washes their own dishes. A very peaceful dinner picnic.
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Golf Captain
non-member comment
Fanta?
Bob - I think you should be drinking wine instead of the orange Fanta!