Bus
We took the public bus to Montezuma this morning. It took a little while to get there because we had to transfer buses in Cobanó. I think that backpacking is more "adventure" than "vacation."
Once we got to Montezuma we started looking for a hotel. We wanted one that was cheap so we looked in our Fodor's travel book about Costa Rica (thanks mom!) and found a place called "Hotel Lucy" that was supposed to be cheap and clean (our two criterion...in order of importance). They had one room left (good news) but with only "una cama" (one bed...bad news). We thought we might as well take a look at it (maybe it would be a really big bed). It wasn't. It also had a silk tent thing hanging over it from the ceiling. I like Chris a lot but not that much.
Most places were booked but we found another "hostel" type place that was cheap but had two beds. It wasn't very nice. At all. The kind of place where you don't know if showering will make you cleaner. (Sorry mom!)
The beach in Montezuma is pretty. There aren't good waves for surfing (it is in sort of a bay, look at the picture I drew on the map). Here's the beach:
Waterfalls
After getting to our hotel and eating, we went running to go find the waterfalls. We didn't take a tour or anything and it took us a while to find where to go. Once we did, we ended up taking a way that was a lot more work than it had to be but it was fun (and steep) hiking through the forest. I really wish that I had brought my camera but we didn't since we were running. We thought that the waterfalls would be close enough that we could just go back there later or the next morning with a camera before we left. Unfortunately, we didn't have time. While we were walking there, we saw a squirrel monkey in the trees on the side of the road! That was really cool. Again, since we didn't have a camera, I don't have a picture (sorry Lauren!).
The water falls were really cool. The first one was cool because you could walk behind it. If you have never been behind a waterfall, try to do it sometime. It is really cool. The water was hitting the pond underneath so hard that there was a mist of water flying up through the air. It was really bizarre to see water flying up!
After seeing the first waterfall, we hiked along a trail to the second water fall. It was above the first one. (It fell into a pool and the water from The second waterfall was the one that, supposedly, you can jump off of. Well, I guess you can jump off of either but supposedly the second one is the one that you can jump of an maybe live.
This should give you a clearer picture:
This was a little later in the afternoon, maybe three or four, and not many people were there. We didn't see anyone jump off the second one or the first (but I think that is kind of implied). A local guy showed up and said that he had jumped off of the second one several times but he wasn't doing it that day. There was no way that I would even consider doing something like this without seeing it be done. Neither of us did it.
Back at our hostel, there were some guys from Argentina and I guess one or two of them had done it. They were there earlier in the day when there were a bunch of people doing it.
Later
It is funny how small this country is. We often see people we met several days earlier in a different town. We saw a Diogo, a Portugese guy from the hostel in Monteverde, and a couple that we had seen on the shuttle from two days earlier. The next morning, we actually saw Jeff and Grant, two guys from SoCal (what my California friends call "Southern California") that we met in La Fortuna. Unfortunately, we didn't really have much time to hang out with any of these people again since we've been bouncing around so much.
There were some girls staying next door from Europe (two from Germany, one from Switzerland) who were pretty cool. We spent most of the night talking with them and the Argentineans . Around 10 or so they were all going to go to Chico's, a bar that was supposedly the happening place at night in Montezuma according to numerous sources including Diogo and some guys from West Virginia that we met in town. Those German (and Swiss) girls were hardcore. They had to catch a 6am public bus the next day. I asked them if they were going out and one of them just said "we'll sleep on the bus tomorrow." Unlike Sámara, I made the smart decision and didn't go out. I needed to get some sleep to get over this cold and, due to the cold, didn't really have the energy to be much of a party animal. If you know me well, you are probably asking, is this a more mature and grown up Elliot that doesn't give up his health and much needed sleep to hang out with beautiful women? I don't know if I would read into it too much since I really just want to get rid of this cold but maybe I have grown up a little this trip. Hopefully not too much. I don't want to grow up yet.
The Argentineans did try very hard to persuade us to come along with them and the girls (hmm...I wonder why).
When they all got back (I don't know what time, I didn't even get out of bed) the Argentineans were all really loud and drunk. (Maybe the German girls were too but we couldn't hear much over the Argentineans). That didn't really bother me that much; they had fun and I kind of expected to wake up. What was frustrating, however, was that they decided to pound, on our door as loud as possible for quite a while. I really have no idea why and I didn't feel like getting out of bed. It was funny because the next morning we were talking a little loud and they "ssshhh-ed" us (there was an open ceiling connecting the rooms). We didn't really think that they had the right to "ssshhh" us after pounding on our door during the night. So maybe it wasn't them pounding on our door. That means it was the German girls...we're just telling ourselves now that is what happened. :)
Friday
We really wish we didn't go to that party...it really didn't end very well and wasn't that much fun. We got up around 7 to eat breakfast and then get on the shuttle to Malpaís. Some German guys we met in Sámara (Mo and Felix) said that the surfing there was really good.
The shuttle was really a taxi to Nicoya (since we were the only ones signed up from Sámara) and then a shuttle from there to Malpaís. In true "tico time" fashion, it was an hour late! We were the only ones on the shuttle going to Malpaís - the others were going to Montezuma (nearby) and we split once we were closer to the two cities. The ride was really bumpy on some pretty bad roads. There were huge potholes everywhere and we drove through some huge water puddles a foot or two deep.
In Malpaís, we grabbed some lunch and then found the hostel that the Germans in Sámara had stayed at and said was nice.
Malpaís is a little sketch. We went looking to rent a surfboard but a lot of places weren't open in the late afternoon and one wanted an $800 deposit ($400 for each board)! No thanks. Finally, we found a guy who would rent us boards without an outrageous deposit as long as we promised to bring them back (our IDs were back at our hotel and this town seems like the kind of place where someone might not bring back a board). He also needed them by 5:30 because he had to go somewhere.
The surfing was pretty tough. The waves were huge, frequent and powerful. Even to just paddle out a decent ways took all of the energy I had. A wave would knock you back a ways and by the time you got ready to paddle out farther, another wave was there ready to knock you back a again. We also tried a shortboard for the first time which is a little more difficult to stand up on but was a little easier to paddle out on. It was fun but hard. I don't know if I have ever seen waves that big.
We would like to stay here and surf another day but it's not going to work out. Our flight leaves Monday afternoon at 2:30pm and we can catch a bus from Jacó to San José that morning that would leave early in the morning and get us to San José plenty early. To get to Jacó, we would need to take a boat from Montezuma, which only is in the morning. Which means we have to take a public bus or private shuttle from Malpaís to Montezuma. The public buses are much cheaper so we take those when we can. The public bus from Malpaís to Montezuma are in the morning and afternoon. We want to see the waterfalls in Montezuma so we are going to take the morning bus.
Here is the plan to get out of Costa Rica by Monday afternoon:
Thursday
We got up a little later today (around 9) and by the time we ate breakfast and such the waves weren't good for surfing so we just swam. Also, by the time the waves were breaking far enough out again to surf, it started to storm. Bummer.
We met a girl from Slovakia who was living in Baltimore and visiting with her friends from there. They all seemed pretty cool. We were all going to meet up later at some reggae party that a bar on the beach there was having that night.
I really should have gone to bed instead of go to the party but I went to the party anyways. It didn't end so well with some local guy getting mad at us (long story) and us leaving.
Wednesday
Sámara
Like I said before, we are now in Sámara, a small beach town on the Pacific Coast. After a day and half or two in Monteverde, we decided that we were sick of really touristy spots and wanted to mainly surf and swim in the ocean the rest of the trip. It rained a bunch in Monteverde and was actually somewhat cold during the night. After a night or two of being cold and wet I started to get a cold. This made me want to leave Monteverde even more.
Here in Sámara, we are staying at a pretty nice hotel called Hotel Belvedere. It is run by some German people who moved to Costa Rica. It has air conditioning and free breakfast but is definitely the most expensive hotel we have stayed at so far ($65/night). It is nice to get some good sleep though to get over the cold.
We been surfing a little here in the unbelievably warm water and have been swimming a bunch too. The waves are big and the beach is beautiful.
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