Montezuma Part I: Arrival

Sorry it took me so long to post, it's just been crazy for the past few days.  Plus, I had to go through all my hundreds of pictures and try to whittle it down.  Here we go!

MONTEZUMA PART I: ARRIVAL

We left the house at 10:30 to catch the shuttle that would take us to the boat.  While waiting a giant iguana creature crossed the road!

Cars had to stop and everything.  It was a whole ordeal.  Then the shuttle came!

We hopped on and went about 15 minutes to the boat pick-up/bus station.  

Not like any bus station I've ever been to.  So, the boat only takes an hour, but they tell you two because you're waiting at the station forever!  We ended up waiting for almost an hour!  I was in a crabby mood, I'll admit.  Luckily, there was a bar:

Can't you tell from Aaron's face what I joy I was that morning?  Then the boat finally arrived!

Now this is a beach landing, so you have to take your shoes off and get into the water to get onto the boat.  No dock, no anchor, the guys get out of the boat and hold it steady while they load you and your stuff on board.  I imagine this is how Columbus got on his boat to sail to the Americas (okay, the Santa Maria was probably a bit bigger than this, so probably not, but just go with me).  No pansy-ass dock to hop aboard.  I felt very hard-core (and frankly, very wet).

Now we're on the boat:

Every time I'm on a boat, the song "I'm On A Boat" pops into my head (I wonder why).  If you've never heard of The Lonely Island or SNL's Digital Shorts then you're missing out.  They are hysterical!  Check out I'm On A Boat, so you can get a tiny taste for what's it's like to be in my head (a boss on a boat with my flippy floppies).

After about an hour, we arrived at Montezuma:

It was beautiful and the water was a powder blue color that was unreal.  We got our bags and we went looking for our hostel.  We're staying at The Downtown Montezuma Hostel in the center of Montezuma.

It's about a block away from the beach and really close to the bar, restaurants and grocery store.  Montezuma is a one stoplight town (except without the stoplight part), so it took us about two seconds to find our place:

It was a super chill, hippie sort of hostel (kind of like a microcosm of the town).  In the communal "living room" there were hammocks and Christmas lights and lots of books.  The rooms were very basic (bed and shelves), but clean and came with an all powerful fan (necessary!):

So far, I haven't seen one bedspread in the entire land of Costa Rica.  You just don't need them...EVER.  On every wall of the hostel, there were these cool, hand-painted signs with really deep sayings.  This was the sign in front of our room:

Pretty far out, man!  Here I am reading on the balcony:

The view was so killer:

Overall, we had a pretty good experience at the hostel.  Elena, the manager, was super accommodating and made pancakes and coffee every morning.  All the other guests were also really friendly and considerate.  There was a large communal kitchen and living room, where people were always lounging.  If lucky, you got to snuggle with Molly:

Obviously, you stay in a hostel to save money, not because you just love wearing flip-flops in the shower (yes, you ALWAYS wear flip-flops in the shower at hostels), but we had a good time.  In case you were wondering (being nosy), we spent $35/day ($105 total) on our room.  It was a private room, but with a shared bathroom.  The dorm beds were $14/person, so for a few bucks more, we got our own room.  Not too shabby.

After we got settled, we decided to get some grub.  We headed to the closest soda to us, called Soda el Balcon del Mar.  

Behind Aaron's dome is the ocean.  The owner, Carlos, was the sweetest guy and we actually got to know him over the next few days.  He's an amazing cook and his prices were super reasonable.  This became our go-to spot for a yummy meal.  I got a fish casado:

Aaron got fajitas:

Both delicious and super fresh!  He also makes his own sauce:

We have no idea what it was, but I've never had anything like it.  It was slightly spicy, but also really refreshing.  I can't imagine a food it wouldn't be amazing with (maybe ice cream...nope, it'd still be good).  On top of all that, he makes these fresh fruit juices.  I loved the pineapple:

It's literally just fresh pineapple and ice (you can add a spoonful of sugar if you like).  Perfect on a hot day! 

Now we're full and hot and need to get wet.  Elena (hostel manager) told us about some waterfalls not too far away, so we took a 10 minute walk past town on the main road.

Then we made a right turn and walked through a forest for a couple minutes until we hit water:

Now, this was all gorgeous, but we were so hot, we needed to find water and jump in before we burst into flames.  This murky green stuff wasn't what we were looking for.  The big waterfalls were another 30 minutes away and we just weren't up for it.  We regret it now because we heard they were amazing and you can climb up to the top and jump off!  We got to about this point before we turned around:

It just looks so much farther!  Ugg!  Yea, we're lazy turds.  Anyway, we made our way back and headed for the beach.  

Check out this crazy bird we saw:

This picture sucks, but it was huge and unlike any bird I've ever seen!  We also saw some cool shells and dead creatures:

I've been waiting forever to go beach-combing for shells!  Then we just couldn't take it anymore, so we went for a swim:

Ahh!  Just what we need to feel right as rain!  Why is that a saying?  What's so right about rain?  Anyway, we went back to the hostel, showered and then hit downtown.

This is basically it.  It's a super short street with some shops, a few tour companies and a grocery store:

Look what I found:

I guess they haven't received the memo that these are no bueno. 

At the end of the street is Chico's Bar, the main bar in town.  

If you take a left there are a few more shops and restaurants.

That's the whole town.  Tiny, but endearing and so picturesque!  You can't take a bad picture in Montezuma, even me with my crappy iPhone!  

Then we hit Chico's for some R&R.  If you walk to the back, past the bar and the restaurant, you can sit outside:

We missed the sunset, but the entire sky was pink:

It was a sight to see!  Then when it got dark, we played a little pool (Aaron played and I tried not to embarrass myself.  I'm terrible).

Again, everywhere you go, there are dogs, even in the bar:

You can bring your dogs to the bar???  My kind of place!  Kane and Capone would go nuts!  

The bar got busy around 10 (it IS the main bar in town) and there's a DJ and he played a lot of actual American dance music.  We met some really cool people from Phoenix (Hi Susan!) and we had a blast.  Stay tuned for DAY 2!!!