We woke up early the next day and took a bus to San Jose. We left half of our stuff and things at our host family's home and borrowed their tent and blow up mattress. Their suggestion (and that of many websites we looked up) was to camp in Montezuma, so we head to the small beach down on the Pacific coast. From San Jose we took a private bus to Puntarenas. This was a nice little area that is mainly used as a transit point by tourists to other islands and beach towns. From here we caught a large private ferry to Paquera and then another extremely overpriced bus to Montezuma. We reached our final destination around two in the afternoon and seemed to be the only ones intrending on camping. We began to ask around for a campground and were guided to every corner of the town to different non-existant camping areas. We quickly realized we had a problem with no campgounds anywhere in sight and the hotels completely out of price range. We had brought more than enough cash with us for a campers budget but that was not nearly enough to stay in a hotel with the asking prices of the ones here. To add some perspective on the costs a small bag of chips will cost you $5, a small block of cheese $9 and a tiny jar of peanut butter $9. One place offered to allow us to set up our tent in front of their hostel but we had to pay almost the regular price without access to the kitchen which is what we really needed.
So we pitched our tent right on the beautiful sandy beach of Montezuma. It was a tropical paradise for five days. We were surrounded on every corner by palm trees, our view out the small tent window was glittery blue ocean, white sand and sunshine. It was cool at night and hot in the day. We were worried at first with the lack of kitchen but realized that we camped all the time at home without cooked food and if we could do it in Chilliwack, we could do it in Costa Rica. We bought bread, deli meat, butter, jam (pinapple), cinnamon buns, chocolate (of course), hot dogs, marshmellows, fruit loads of crackers and water. Water was the most expensive thing we bought and this was the first time we were buying bottled water this whole trip but salty ocean water was not going to cut it. The first day we feasted on our groceries and enjoyed the sunset from our front yard. We fell asleep quickly (well I did) and Tyson woke up at the crack of dawn to watch the sunrise and swim with the other early rising tourists in the water. I woke up at breakfast time for about an hour and went back to bed until an unforgiving hour in the afternoon. We layed on our front porch with large iguanas, squirrels, birds and other tourists sleeping, swimming and chatting.
We spent five days camping right on the sandy beaches of Costa Rica. No one bothered us, we did not have cell phones, internet nor any other connection with the outside world. Everyday we woke up at our own pace put on our uniforms (bikini and swimming shorts) and watched the sun go through the motions. We opened our window in the morning to the ocean in front of us and mountains on either side. We swam in the ocean, played in the waves, ate raw food or used a fire to cook hot dogs and marshmellows. We laid on the beach and read (well I did) discussed life with other tourists and only head into town when we were out of water or other edible necessities. We walked along the beaches and watched the sand change colour from white to black to a different shade of white.
We talked to a guy who works freelance writing about the happenings in Afganistan, we talked to music people and politics people. We talked to a guy on his way to get a scorpian bite checked out. We talked to families and young pot heads. We talked to people selling empanadas in the mornings and new age medical folk. We talked to Canadian bikers, making there way to South America, Dutch people on their way to Nicaragua and so on.
Tyson managaed to master (as he claims) bodysurfing in our time here. The waves are large and people spend the whole day out there catching them at their peek and riding them to shore. With no equipment necessary, it was definitely within budget.
One night we head into town to buy marshmellows, coke and coffee and stopped at an open mike concert. The performers were very talented with their laid back style. This town is known for it's relaxed bohemian, marijuana infused people and lifestyle. Tyson borrowed a guitar and played several songs which the crowd really appreciated. They were taking photos and video of the talented young artist and plenty of people came up to congratulate him on his talent. So even though the coffees cost $4 plus tip each, the atmosphere was worth it.
On the third day two more tents went up beside our to create a nice little community of homeless people.
That very same night we roasted marshmellows by the open fire, made for us by our lovely neighbors and watched the hermit crabs run around the beach going about their business. After we had set up shop and fallen asleep, Tyson woke me up with a sense of panic. It was tropical pouring outside and our tent was slowly but surely flooding. We had not set up the tarps correctly so the rain was unforgiving and continued to drip through the top and sides of the tent. We quickly gathered most of our things and deserted the tent temporarily. Tyson spotted an abandoned trailer box and as we head towards it we realized that two of our neighbors were already inside. We also climbed in after permission from the resident. Unbenounced to us, their was a man living inside of the trailer who helped us greatly. He gave us a place to rest and offered oranges and candle light as well as english conversation. So we sat inside the abandoned trailer with a man and two young male travellers for about an hour that night. We waited out the rain and apart from losing our very valuable last role of toilet paper, everything else was safe. We drained the rain water from the tent, towel dried the inside and properly set up the tarp. We shared and swapped supplies with our neighbors until everyone was tucked back into their dampy tents. By morning all our neighbors were gone.
We woke up, threw on our uniforms and head back into the office for our last couple days in Montezuma. It was sad to leave the place we had spent five solid days and knew we would remember it forever. Our last night we splurged on hot dogs with mustard, more marshmellows and of course Coca Cola. I don't know if it is the advertising but Coke has become a staple in our diet on this trip and it is not convenient that it is 2-3 times more expensive than at home. Our neighbors left on the last night so it was only us and the trailer guy 100 feet away. We listened to the waves crash as we sang songs and roasted marshmellows. That night we heard a few raindrops and jumped to attention gathering our already prepared bags and tossing them to the middle of the tent. We had also put up a tarp, but of course (because we were prepared) it did not rain. We woke up and photographed the sunrise and had an early morning swim in the cool crisp ocean. Then that was it, we packed up and head over to the bus and it was all over.
As we were waiting for the bus we watched baby monkeys play in the branches and their mothers sneak into hostels to steal food. We saw huge iguanas crawling in the bushed and up trees. We saw other animals I cannot name go about their business while we swatted away flies. The bus was a retired school bus that stalled at the start of a large hill. So everyone got out and hiked up the steep mountain ahead of the bus. Once we all made it to the top, we got back on and head to Paquera where we caught the ferry. The ferry ride was beautiful accross the calm blue ocean. We watched schools of fish swim by and saw deserted islands, palms trees and the beauty of the tropics. We even forgave the fact that the music was blaring in spanish and it left over thirty miutes late.
In Puntarenas we walked to the bus stop to catch another bus to San Jose. We stopped at the grocery store and bought some snacks but as luck would have it the bus did not accept US dollar which is all we had left. So true to our luck so far, Tyson had to run really fast back to the store, convince them to give us our money back and run really fast back to the bus stop. He did make it and we were able to make it to San Jose. In San Jose it was another rat race to try and exchange money to Colones. After we tried every bank and store in the city, we finally convinced someone to do the swap. Then we spent it all on empanadas, coke and ice cream so we will have to repeat all of the above tomorrow. It was night time when we finally got to
Escazu. In Escazu, our host was not home and our key did not work but the friendly neighbors let us in and gave us gingerale while we waited. Our host dropped everything and came home to let us and had to run off again. So we are here alone catching up on laundry and blogging. The plan is to go out to a fancy place and have desserts tonight..hopefully they take US dollars....
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
So we pitched our tent right on the beautiful sandy beach of Montezuma. It was a tropical paradise for five days. We were surrounded on every corner by palm trees, our view out the small tent window was glittery blue ocean, white sand and sunshine. It was cool at night and hot in the day. We were worried at first with the lack of kitchen but realized that we camped all the time at home without cooked food and if we could do it in Chilliwack, we could do it in Costa Rica. We bought bread, deli meat, butter, jam (pinapple), cinnamon buns, chocolate (of course), hot dogs, marshmellows, fruit loads of crackers and water. Water was the most expensive thing we bought and this was the first time we were buying bottled water this whole trip but salty ocean water was not going to cut it. The first day we feasted on our groceries and enjoyed the sunset from our front yard. We fell asleep quickly (well I did) and Tyson woke up at the crack of dawn to watch the sunrise and swim with the other early rising tourists in the water. I woke up at breakfast time for about an hour and went back to bed until an unforgiving hour in the afternoon. We layed on our front porch with large iguanas, squirrels, birds and other tourists sleeping, swimming and chatting.
We spent five days camping right on the sandy beaches of Costa Rica. No one bothered us, we did not have cell phones, internet nor any other connection with the outside world. Everyday we woke up at our own pace put on our uniforms (bikini and swimming shorts) and watched the sun go through the motions. We opened our window in the morning to the ocean in front of us and mountains on either side. We swam in the ocean, played in the waves, ate raw food or used a fire to cook hot dogs and marshmellows. We laid on the beach and read (well I did) discussed life with other tourists and only head into town when we were out of water or other edible necessities. We walked along the beaches and watched the sand change colour from white to black to a different shade of white.
We talked to a guy who works freelance writing about the happenings in Afganistan, we talked to music people and politics people. We talked to a guy on his way to get a scorpian bite checked out. We talked to families and young pot heads. We talked to people selling empanadas in the mornings and new age medical folk. We talked to Canadian bikers, making there way to South America, Dutch people on their way to Nicaragua and so on.
Tyson managaed to master (as he claims) bodysurfing in our time here. The waves are large and people spend the whole day out there catching them at their peek and riding them to shore. With no equipment necessary, it was definitely within budget.
One night we head into town to buy marshmellows, coke and coffee and stopped at an open mike concert. The performers were very talented with their laid back style. This town is known for it's relaxed bohemian, marijuana infused people and lifestyle. Tyson borrowed a guitar and played several songs which the crowd really appreciated. They were taking photos and video of the talented young artist and plenty of people came up to congratulate him on his talent. So even though the coffees cost $4 plus tip each, the atmosphere was worth it.
On the third day two more tents went up beside our to create a nice little community of homeless people.
That very same night we roasted marshmellows by the open fire, made for us by our lovely neighbors and watched the hermit crabs run around the beach going about their business. After we had set up shop and fallen asleep, Tyson woke me up with a sense of panic. It was tropical pouring outside and our tent was slowly but surely flooding. We had not set up the tarps correctly so the rain was unforgiving and continued to drip through the top and sides of the tent. We quickly gathered most of our things and deserted the tent temporarily. Tyson spotted an abandoned trailer box and as we head towards it we realized that two of our neighbors were already inside. We also climbed in after permission from the resident. Unbenounced to us, their was a man living inside of the trailer who helped us greatly. He gave us a place to rest and offered oranges and candle light as well as english conversation. So we sat inside the abandoned trailer with a man and two young male travellers for about an hour that night. We waited out the rain and apart from losing our very valuable last role of toilet paper, everything else was safe. We drained the rain water from the tent, towel dried the inside and properly set up the tarp. We shared and swapped supplies with our neighbors until everyone was tucked back into their dampy tents. By morning all our neighbors were gone.
We woke up, threw on our uniforms and head back into the office for our last couple days in Montezuma. It was sad to leave the place we had spent five solid days and knew we would remember it forever. Our last night we splurged on hot dogs with mustard, more marshmellows and of course Coca Cola. I don't know if it is the advertising but Coke has become a staple in our diet on this trip and it is not convenient that it is 2-3 times more expensive than at home. Our neighbors left on the last night so it was only us and the trailer guy 100 feet away. We listened to the waves crash as we sang songs and roasted marshmellows. That night we heard a few raindrops and jumped to attention gathering our already prepared bags and tossing them to the middle of the tent. We had also put up a tarp, but of course (because we were prepared) it did not rain. We woke up and photographed the sunrise and had an early morning swim in the cool crisp ocean. Then that was it, we packed up and head over to the bus and it was all over.
As we were waiting for the bus we watched baby monkeys play in the branches and their mothers sneak into hostels to steal food. We saw huge iguanas crawling in the bushed and up trees. We saw other animals I cannot name go about their business while we swatted away flies. The bus was a retired school bus that stalled at the start of a large hill. So everyone got out and hiked up the steep mountain ahead of the bus. Once we all made it to the top, we got back on and head to Paquera where we caught the ferry. The ferry ride was beautiful accross the calm blue ocean. We watched schools of fish swim by and saw deserted islands, palms trees and the beauty of the tropics. We even forgave the fact that the music was blaring in spanish and it left over thirty miutes late.
In Puntarenas we walked to the bus stop to catch another bus to San Jose. We stopped at the grocery store and bought some snacks but as luck would have it the bus did not accept US dollar which is all we had left. So true to our luck so far, Tyson had to run really fast back to the store, convince them to give us our money back and run really fast back to the bus stop. He did make it and we were able to make it to San Jose. In San Jose it was another rat race to try and exchange money to Colones. After we tried every bank and store in the city, we finally convinced someone to do the swap. Then we spent it all on empanadas, coke and ice cream so we will have to repeat all of the above tomorrow. It was night time when we finally got to
Escazu. In Escazu, our host was not home and our key did not work but the friendly neighbors let us in and gave us gingerale while we waited. Our host dropped everything and came home to let us and had to run off again. So we are here alone catching up on laundry and blogging. The plan is to go out to a fancy place and have desserts tonight..hopefully they take US dollars....
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for leaving a message:)