Costa Rica: Montezuma

Transportation: Took the bus back to Puntarenas and took a ferry to Nacoya Peninsula ($1.00) It was an awesome ride. Tom and I sat up top dreaming about all the epic camp and jump spots on the little islands scattered around and how dope a week long kayaking trip through them would be. (FUTURE TRIP!). We then took a bus from the port to Montezuma (2 hours).






Hostel: Pension Lucy was $10.00/night. Another place I would highly recommend. It was a two story rickety wood building with open rooms and decks overlooking the ocean. It is so close to the ocean, I worry about its stability during a big storm but lucky for us it was gorgeous. Where were hammocks anywhere they could be put up. I in fact spent a good 8 hours straight in one...reading, playing dice, drinking and snoozing all cradled on my back.



Food: Food prices were very similar to the U.S. so we cooked quite a bit for ourselves. Yet, we did go out one night thanks to Molly's mumski and ate ceveche, seafood pasta, and chocolate cake (Something I crave every day here... and helado). We were full for 2 days after.

Not my photo (didn't bring my camera)
But, this is the lower fall

Epic Waterfall: This could be one of my favorite places so far. In the future I see the locals capitalizing on the area and charging a fee, but right now it’s free as can be. You walk along the river about 1 km using vines, roots, and trees to assist you until the path brings you to a giant pool with a cascading waterfall about 70 ft. high. There is a nice place to jump and the water was perfectly brisk. Yet this was only half the fun.






We were watching this local scramble up the falls in a matter of minutes. Tom and I, obviously curious to where he was going, decided to follow. I learned some lessons about rock climbing and pushed my comfort level to the edge all while saying to Tom phrases like:
"What the hell did I get myself into?"
"Oh god, I'm stuck." and
"You want me to put my foot there?!"

BUT WE MADE IT! Not nearly as smoothly as the local but never-the-less. (Later I read in the guidebook...whatever you do, do not climb up the fact of the waterfall... haha sorry mom.)

(Not my photo) but this is the very top waterfall,
you can jump from the ledge at the far end.

The top was UNREAL! There were two more waterfalls, one a good 10-15 meter perfect jump. There were about 6 locals and 4 pairs of tourists all up top enjoying the pools (there was a far easier way to get up...which we learned for the way down). Even though we didn't speak the same languages we were all cheering and rooting each other on to jump the fall.

One night on a full moon and after playing some cards and drinking a couple beers Tom and I scampered out to the waterfall at night. It looked like a black and white photo. The full moon gave us plenty of light. It's wild how timid you feel when the sun goes down. The waterfall felt 100x more powerful. Either way we went skinny dipping...it was liberating and great fun!