Montezuma: Day 1

Even though it's my day off today I got up at 4.50am... to catch a bus to Montezuma!
The first part of the journey was a 2.5 hour bus ride to Puntarenas. This was cool because I hadn't seen a lot of the countryside yet, having flown into San Jose directly from Orlando. I met a French guy, David, at the bus station and chatted to him in French for most of the journey - great practice for me!

From Puntarenas I caught a ferry over to Paquera which took about an hour. It wasn't as scenic as the trip through the Malborough Sounds but was still pretty and I got some photos!

Our ferry - the Tambor II

Docked

This is David who is traveling from South America to  Canada for 2+ months.

Not clear but that's a gull chilling on a floating board. Guess he got sick of flying.

This is the arrivals terminal!

After docking we jumped into another bus and got a hair-raising ride to Montezuma! The road was about one and a half lanes wide with drops on one side for the majority and we went careening around corners.We did arrive safely in Montezuma, if rather abruptly - you're driving through scrub/jungle and then you turn a corner and you're in the centre of town!

The ocean from the bus

A shaded area outside on the way.

These plants were used as fences a lot, simply by attaching barbed wire at intervals. Most of them seem like a kind of stunted tree and are still alive.

 Once we did arrive however it was clear the journey was worth it!

The beach, metres from where the bus dropped us.

 I walked back up the road with David, who is also staying at my hostel. It's called Luz en el Cielo which means 'light in the sky' and there are hammocks everywhere!

 After dropping off my stuff I headed back down to town (about 50m away, it's not a big place) for a quick dip after traveling and to grab some cash and snacks.

 This guy was just gathering some coconut juice in the shade - a smart idea as it was insanely hot at midday!

The coconuts were just lying around as well!

These are the main two streets - it's reasonably touristy with a small supermarket, a few tour operators, some street stalls selling trinkets and cafes.

In the evening some people from the hostel and I headed down to grab some dinner at one of the local sopas before moving on to an open mic night.

Most of us got casado which is a traditional Costa Rican dish with rice, beans, salad and a meat of your choice. It's delicious, filling and generally pretty cheap.

 At the open mic night the performances ranged from Bob Marley to Ed Sheeran to the Bare Naked Ladies to some local music. All of it was performed commendably and everyone had a great time.

The first we saw of the open mic night!

She sang a couple included a Disney one from the Little Mermaid

He had to have the Little Mermaid explained to him!

Our group - we kept getting additions though

The dessert I shared with Sarah - gelato and fruit! Delicious!

 Some of the locals got up to dance because "the music touched my legs"

 And of course we had to join in!

Guess which two got up and performed? [hint: not me!]

Sammy singing!

Marley singing!

As I'm typing this I can hear the howler monkeys, the crickets and the waves while little lizards are popping in and out of sight in the rafters. And on the walk home I saw fireflies for the first time! Fireflies! It's a little silly how much a periodically glowing butt excites me but there it is.

Tomorrow I'm getting up early yet again! But of course it's worth it - I'm going on a tour of the waterfalls, national parks and ecological reserves around the area. Oh yeah, and it's on horseback!