My last few days in Costa Rica were supposed to be spent in Playa Santa Teresa on southwestern tip of Nicoya Peninsula, but I never made it. Instead, I ended up somewhere better.
After enjoying the beautiful rainforests, mountains and waterfalls of Monteverde and La Fortuna, I needed a little beach time in my trip. Following the advice of many other backpackers, I set my sights on Santa Teresa but changed my mind last minute in Monteverde thanks to a hostel friend that lent me a travel guide to flip through. As I scanned through the area of the Nicoya Peninsula, somewhere else caught my eye.
Montezuma is a quiet secluded town and has only a dozen or so buildings in the town center. There are a handful of hostels and Airbnb’s in the area and only one grocery store. The beach is generally empty scarce a few of the backpackers, surfers and campers that have settled down in the area. When you picture Montezuma, think of it as a small surf town you’ve seen in movies where the residents are half locals, half expats all living in paradise.
The first afternoon I arrived, I dropped my stuff down at my hostel and headed to the beach with my hammock and drone to relax and meet some friends from my bus into town. There is an abundance of palm trees to hammock among to enjoy the sea breeze and watch the waves hit the shore. As I launched my drone to grab some video and photos, one of the locals approached me and started asking all these questions. He’d spent his whole life in Montezuma and told me that he’d never seen a drone there before; needless to say he was fascinated.
One of the reasons I changed my plans and went to Montezuma was for the waterfalls just outside of town. After making sure I had the right directions to find the trail from my hostel, I headed out in the morning of day two with my new Swedish friends from the day before. It’s only a 20 minute hike up the road to the trailhead and the trail is a moderate climb to three sets of falls. The second set is the most popular and many tourists and locals climb up to jump off into the refreshing water in the tropical heat.
Another day well spent and another group of friends made at the waterfall, we headed back to the beach play a little soccer before it the sunset. As the sun started to drop, a storm rolled in but we continued to play on the beach until it was dark and we were all soaked and cold from the wind. My friends and I parted ways and I trekked back up the hill to my hostel, crawled into bed and fell asleep to the sound of jungle rain falling on the roof.
The next morning was my last and I awoke early to get in some time at the beach once more before boarding my bus back to San Jose. It would be a several hour trip including a bus transfer and a ferry across the Gulf of Nicoya but would only cost me a few dollars; like many of the other public buses in Costa Rica.
LA FORTUNA WATERFALL
ARENAL VOLCANO NATIONAL PARK
TABACON THERMAL RIVER
COSTA RICA PHOTO GALLERY
