Montezuma - Costa Rica

Getting the hell out of Jaco just as fast as I could, I took a bus, a boat, and another bus to Montezuma, a small outpost on the southern most tip of the Nicoya Peninsula billed as a backpacker place with a hippie vibe. After the serene experiences of Jaco I suppose I could have gotten off the bus at a stockyard in the middle of a swamp and it would have been an upgrade, but, standing in the town center, I could tell Montezuma had a vibe I could gel with.

Montezuma is more of a pueblo then an actual town, with a small park as it's epicenter, the bulk of the town is spread out within a few square blocks comprised mostly of restaurants, hotels, and a few small bars. Longhaireed street venders in hemp clothing lined these blocks pawning off there self made jewelry and crafts, always greeting you with a 'buenas' and a smile. It was small and simple, and that was it's charm, not pretending to be to be a big resort destination. It would if it could I suppose, but the steep zig zagging dirt track that leads you here has thwarted any developers plans for building up the area.

Just north of this 'center' there is a small beach that fronts a rocky break and a few backpacker Cabinas and tent sites. I found quarters in a sparse hostel that gave me a room big enough for a twin bed, a fan (on the wall) and, if you held your breath, a person. But it was right on the beach and $10 a night, so I couldn't complain.

Accompanying this welcoming vibe, were welcoming people, and within the first 15 minutes of being there, I had made four friends. A Swiss couple I met getting off the bus, and an American and Israeli when looking for a place to stay. We became a tight group from the start and had most of our meals together and most of our exploring as well.

The Swiss couple and I took a day hike to some nearby waterfalls which were a very impressive sequence of three cascades, one with a 40ft jump if you were feeling adventurous. Then the next day, we all set out to explore the series of beaches along the southern tip of the coast that eventually would lead us to Playa Grande, noted as being the best beach in the area with calm waters and coral colored white sand. We hiked for almost two hours, through forest reserves and along rocky headlands in search of this post card worthy stretch of beach only to find that it was nothing more than a long line of trash covered brown sand that was apparently also a nude beach. And when I say nude beach, I mean gay nude beach seeing as they both seem to be synonymous anyway. We spent the better part of the afternoon shielding our eyes from oily old Italian men with young Tico boys who waved to us (not with there hands) as they strolled by. Not what we were expecting, but an experience to log in our journals anyway.

After a few days in this place, I began to give serious thought to staying on here and finding a job. It seemed to have everything I wanted, a chilled out beach town with a mellow vibe (but not a surfer scene), with some nightlife and other activities if you got board. I asked around a bit and found that there was not real work to be found in town and that most of the boat activities (where I was looking to find employment) came out of Jaco. Well, there went that idea. So, when the Swiss couple said they were moving up to Malpais, a 2 hour bumpy ride up the coast, I decided that would be my next stop too.