Shuttle and Ferry to Montezuma

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Geo: 10.0333, -84.1833

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Got up at 5 am and began drowsily to struggle our 7 bags of luggage
for our ( lol 7 week Costa Rica trip spread among 5 Pacific locations)
down the stairs. On the second trip down sad to admit it but I tripped
and fell down the bottom three slick tiled steps. Of course, this was
all my fault for trying it in the dark. Miraculously, after laying
there stunned for several minute I took stock and found that I had just
sprained my ankle and bunged up my shin. Yay! No broken bones !
Fortunately Laura had a cloth ankle brace in our kit that I have on as I
write this from heavenly Montezuma.

On numerous past trips
we have chosen to go into central San Jose and catch the Transportes
Cobano service to Montezuma. This trip we splurged and enjoyed being
picked up right at the gate of Costa Rica Airport Lodge El Cacique and
happy to wait inside the locked gate at dawn for it to arrive. Left the
key (important!) and propped the door propped open long enough to get
the luggage out. Interesting to see a number of walkers, joggers and
bicyclers at that time of the morning riding down the street between the
park and El Cacique, out enjoying the cool Alajuela temps! Thanks,
Johnny. As often happens, I realized in hind sight that I should have
FIRST gone down and switched on the light for the first floor TV room
before attempting to get the luggage down the stairs in the dark.. Oh
well.
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Johnny had more than once kindly offered to get up and
help with the luggage (we NEVER travel light) but we declined his very
kind offer.

Door to door Shuttle: One advantage of staying
with Johnny is that either one can hire him (given enough advance notice
) to provide a private shuttle service, or one can go with other
various shuttle services or take the bus. We had done some research on
TripAdvisor and decided to give Montezuma Expeditions a try. With no
explanation or apology Montezuma Expeditions Shuttle arrived 20 minutes
late for their 6am pick up for us and 40 minutes late (we were told)
by the next travelers that were picked up. As happens too often in our
experience in many countries the young driver was playing his music
talk show radio program far to loud too early . However he drove quite
safely and politely allowing the early morning workers to cross ahead of
him at intersections as well as moderating his speed down the curvy
road to the Puntarenas Ferry. The cost of the ferry is included in the price of the shuttle.

We were able to roll the bags onto the ferry, Laura had some help from a gentleman that saw the problem she was having getting through the narrow gate onto the boat. Because there were already cars loaded onto the ferry, we had to put our bags at the back staircase. Once the boat was under way, Robert went back down and was able to move our bags to the "area de mascotos", or animal area. When it was time to disembark, he was down there ready to move our bags and I was coming down via the "need special assistance area."

Laura used the "lift" to get down from the main deck with the small bags and Robert was down on the mid level. The lift attendant signaled for me to come with one of the big bags as well as the small bags. Robert slid the other bags down the stairs and off we went. The driver from Montezuma Expeditions was waiting and once we were all there off we went.

As with many of the drivers, passing on a curve is fun but we did not have any problems. We were just outside of Tambor, picked up another passenger when another vehicle's driver coming from the direction of Cobano signaled to our driver. He rolled down the window and they had a brief conversation. There had been an accident on the road and it was blocked and so we got a real "montezuma adventure" on a very narrow, and winding road to the outskirts of Montezuma. There were some places with very deep ruts, cavitation and every once in a while a driver from the other direction. All in all, a great adventure and we arrived at Luna Llena before noon!

Millie was on duty, ran into Yamileth on her way home and got ourselves checked into our room after saying hello to Lis. Got ourselves settled in and then had a nice nap to catch up with our sleep from the past two nights. Robert had his foot elevated because it had begun to hurt after all the luggage hauling.

Sat outside for awhile to enjoy the view before we headed down for dinner. Luciano was working the desk when we went to get the password and had a nice visit with him. Walked down to the town and things are the same as they ever were. A few new restaurants but had our first dinner at Montezuma Bar and Restaurant which is right at the edge of the town and great view of the water. Nice dinner and back to Luna Llena for a nice glass of water complete with ice and then read in bed for awhile and then some much needed sleep.

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Photos

Ferry from Puntarenas to Paquera
This is the lift to allow passengers needing assistance to come down to the car level of the ferry. Laura is at the head of the line with the lady behind her bumping her for some reason, maybe she thought I would give way! Not a chance!