Montezuma – part 1…

Well we are back from the Nicoya Peninsular, and what a trip it was, absolutely WONDERFUL!

Here is a map of where we went, Monteverde – Puntarenas – Paquera – Montezuma

We were up at 4am on Saturday morning, packed and walked into town to catch the bus, it takes about 25 minutes at a good pace. Five minutes in, we remembered we had forgotten the phone charger! Rich ran back, (good man that he is!), and caught up with Luca and I, just as we climbed the hill to the station 🙂

The bus left on time at 5:30am, and we had an awesome trip down the mountain as the sun rose, the views were gorgeous. Luca slept most it, and we got chatting to a fellow passenger from Boston, Diana. We arrived in Puntarenas a little after 8am, aiming to catch the 9am ferry. You can walk it, but it takes about 30 minutes, and sharing the cost of a taxi made sense.

As we were bargaining with the taxi driver and interpreter, Diana discovered her purse with her cards and ID were gone! Obviously a highly stressful situation! The interpreter assured us he knew where the bus had gone, and would take us. There was no way we were leaving Diana to do it alone, so we piled in and dashed off to find the bus, in the hopes the purse there.

We found the bus locked, and no sign of the driver, hmmmm…..Diana and Luca searched through her stuff again in the hopes the purse would appear, nothing….

Quickly assuring us that he knew where the bus driver was having breakfast, the interpreter urged us to go with him. Despite some misgivings, off we went again, dashing through the streets. Anyone who has been to Puntarenas knows this is an adventure in itself! We get to the cafe, and then another, no sign of the driver. Once again the interpreter assured us, that going back to the bus was the best idea, that we would find him there this time, as he had to drive another bus at 9am.

By this point, it was all becoming highly dubious, the fare was mounting, it was getting very close to the ferry leaving, and really, there was a high possibility these guys were having us on !!!!! I felt though it was worth trusting them one last time, so back we went, and guess what, there was the bus driver! Into the bus Diana and Rich went, but alas it was not there. What to do?!!!!!!

It was steaming hot, stress levels were high, Diana was trying to decide what to do, but it was all becoming a bit much! We decided it was best to all go the ferry and decide from there. Once again we piled into the taxi, but by this time the taxi itself had had enough! It absolutely refused to start!

Out we all got, Rich and the interpreter pushed it while the driver attempted to jump start it, it worked! We all jumped in and off we went, by this time it was getting close to when the ferry was departing, it was a mad dash through the streets again to catch it.

We made it! As we were lining up to buy tickets and talking about what Diana should do, she looked into her bag again and there it was, her purse!!!!! How strange is that! Just sitting there, not at all where she remembers putting it! Of course, it made us all wonder if the taxi scenario was all a set up, who knows, seems a terribly elaborate one, for a few extra colones! By this stage we did not care, Diana had her purse and the drama was over! She could relax and enjoy her holiday. Phew!

This is the ferry terminal in Punterenas:

We had an enjoyable ferry trip over to Paquera,(a little over an hour),

and caught the bus connection right away to Montezuma, (close to 2 hours). We said goodbye to Diana in Cabano ,(about 25 minutes from Montezuma), as she was heading to Santa Teresa. By then we had had a good few hours to get to know each other. We met as strangers, left as friends, and hope we will meet again some day. I love a happy ending 🙂

We got to Montezuma, and found Hotel los Mangos quickly, a very cool spot, aptly named, there are mango trees everywhere! Here is the link to it:

https://www.hotellosmangos.com/

It is run by a Greek guy, he is lovely, has owned it for 27 years. I got a chance to practice some of my very rusty Greek 🙂 The property is all in need of a bit of an update, it quite rustic, but really it does not take away from the experience, for us just enhanced it 🙂

It is one of the few with a pool at a reasonable price. The cabins are lovely but more expensive. We chose the hotel room, it was on the top floor behind the orange towel, was all we needed. The shower was rarely hot but not an important thing for us…

We hit the pool straight away. Significantly hotter in Montezuma than Monteverde by at least 10 degrees!

A monitor lizard hung with us by the pool. Rich and Luca named it “Camo” 🙂

then out for pizza and then into the surf for the first time…

We were all exhausted by the end of the day, so in bed and asleep by 8pm!