Montezuma's Revenge

Today we left the cloud forests for the Pacific coast. We walked to the bus station at 6:10 am with our packs on to catch the bus to San Jose along with about 35 other travellers. The regular bus was broken so we all piled on the less broken bus for the 3 hour trip. About 10 ft out of town the pavement ended and we were on single lane gravel roads going down the mountain. The sights were spectacular, but unnerving. There are no guard rails, lots of gulleys and sheer drop offs. Navigating down the mountainside was a slow task - it took about 1.5 hours to go 35 km! Once we hit the bottom of the mountains the paved road reappeared and we started to make better time, that is until the bus driver pulled off into a Soda and had his lunch. Most people got off to go to the washroom and get a snack, but instead of getting back on the same bus, another bus came, and after much confusion we all piled on that one. We left the previous bus driver eating his dinner and continued on to a little place called Barranca. After more confusion we all got off and got on a local bus for the 20 minute trip to Puntarenas. An hour later we arrived at Puntarenas and got a taxi from the bus station to the ferry terminal were we got tickets to Paquera.

The ferry ride to the Nicoya peninsula was a pleasant 1.5 hours. Once we arrived at Paquera we boarded another bus for the 2 hour bus ride to Montezuma, during which we had our afternoon siesta. Arriving in Montezuma, everyone got off the bus and started off in all directions looking for a place to stay. We decided to go upscale and get a bungalow at Hotel Los Mangos for $65 per night. Its not quite worth it when we compare it to our hotel in La Fortuna, but its right on the ocean and the pool is crystal clear.

We plan on spending the next few days in Montezuma on the beach and exploring the local countryside.

Pictures on Picasa.