Montezuma

Where did I leave off? We left Quepos and Manuel Antonio and headed out to Uvita. Looking back upon it, I’m not really even sure why we went south. We had considered going to the peninsula at the bottom of Costa Rica to see the internationally acclaimed nature reserve there. It didn’t take a lot of convincing to change our plans and say, “Let’s just go to the beach.” We took a 5am bus, heading north to Puntarenas, then caught a ferry to the Nicoya penisula. The city to the next to Montezuma was where Templation Island 2 was filmed. Montezuma has been quaint but nice. It’s my last beach city before I fly out on Monday, March 21st. There won’t be any more pictures until I get home and can organize them.

Ras’ update is below:

last i left you all, we were in Santa Elena, a small town a few miles from Monteverde – of the renound cloud forest. this is the place that you can do any touristy thing in costa rica, minus the ocean. this is where the zip lines began, where you can visit volanoes, go white water rafting, horseback riding, ride atvs, blah, blah, blah.

we visited the santa elena reserve (very beautiful, though we?ve seen more animals in other places), went zip-lining with SelvaTura (very fun and worth the $40, having never done anything like it before), and we visited the cheese factory that was founded in the 50?s after a group (50 some odd people, if i remember) of quakers from alabama decided to relocate, mainly stemming from their anti-war stance and the mandatory draft in the US at the time, and decided to move to costa rica.

as timing would have it, we left on friday morning. friday afternoon, the only bank in town was robbed by 4 gunmen. one was frightened away before even entering the bank, so it was down to three. when the 20 year old security guard saw men with automatic rifles entering the bank, he opened fire, and killed two of the gunmen. the 3rd, and last remaining, came into the bank, and opened fire – instantly killing 6 people in the bank and wounding many others, including the bank guard. the police were instantly on the spot, the red cross assisted, and so ensued a 28 hour stand off between police and lone gunman. finally he gave up and allowed the police to arrest him.

by the way, this is the 3rd time in 10 years that this particular bank has been robbed. it was also interesting to note that the newspaper repeatedly mentioned that the assailants were from nicaragua.

from there, we headed to the pacific coast (having to return to san jose first), leaving from monteverde at 6:30am and arriving in quepos (just over the hill from miguel antonio) late that afternoon. we had dinner at a restaraunt with a big screen tv, and were amazed to see the live reporting of what was happening in santa elena.

a few days staying in quepos, spending the day at the manuel antonio beaches or reserve, was quite nice. it?s amazing how touristy coasta rica really is. apparently is has been spring break back home, so everywhere is filled with pale, or crispy pink, highschool and university students down here for their time off. you often read how travelers complain about the fact that there doesn?t seem to be much local culture or identity – and i can see why. the push for tourists has transformed many places into tiny holiday destinations for those who flirt with 2 week vacations. It you?ve ever been to Thailand, the beach at Manuel Antonio is reminiscent of Pataya.

from there we moved up the coast a bit for a few more days in the sun. this time the destination was jaco. a nice stretch of dark sand, good waves, hemmed in on both sides by tall, green mountains rising up from the sea. certainly another place geared for surfers, and full of spring breakers.

next brought us to montezuma, on the nicoya peninsula. a bus, ferry, and another bus brought us to a small enclave of traveling jewelry salespeople, and sunrevelers. The travel guide metions the hippy influence on this town. There weren?t as many hippies as I thought there?d be, but some of the shops did remind me of places in Eugene, Oregon.

it?s now saturday morning, day 3 here, and tomorrow my traveling partner in crime for this trip is going home. tomorrow, soutthida heads to alajuela, then on monday flies from san jose, costa rica, back to the states. time to get that starbucks job.