Beautiful Nicoya Peninsula

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  Montezuma, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Monday, December 26, 2011

Well, Christmas away from home wasn't too bad after all.  Beaches make everything sooooo much better.  Montezuma was not "Montezuma's Revenge", a very nauseating theme park ride that I remember seeing in 1988 at Knot's Berry Farm in Anaheim, California with my Grandparents...

No, Montezuma and the Nicoyan peninsula was probably some of the finest, lushest beach wilderness I have ever seen.  White sand, with rocky outcroppings and surging, powerful waves, defined practically the entire coastline that I walked.  And I did walk a fair amount!  The only surf break reasonably free of rocks was Playa Grande, loosely translated to "Big Beach", in case you didn't catch that :) 

Big beach was about a half hour's walk through jungles and sand.  Several streams along the way provided a cool respite for my feet.  Iguanas and monkeys patrolled the trees and all I could think was how surreal the whole scene was, almost otherworldly..
Maybe it was the sci fi I was reading at the time, a trashy Halo novel, although it reached the NYT bestseller list.

Big beach was a reliable beach break, again only good around high tide.  There was a surf school there but they only cluttered up the white water.  South east exposure meant the waves weren't huge, generally, although one day presented huge 8-9 footers, not sure what the swell was like on the western side of the Nicoyan, but I imagined-and heard- that it got quite big there :)

The town of Monty had a cool hippy vibe complete with nightly fire spinning shows, although prices on food were quite high, bordering on "back home" levels in some cases (outrageous for a backpacker!).  I managed to score a sweet little room at El Capitan for 8 bucks a night but I made friends with the owner (a retired LAPD beat cop) and I think he gave me a deal. He was a cool dude.  El Capitan had a massive jam session on Christmas Eve which I partook in playing, with complete precision I may add, the digeridoo!  At times we rose above cacophony to achieve a near symphony level sound complete with multiple drums, tambourines, and other elements of percussion.   

There was also a spectacular waterfall just west of the town, about a 20 min walk along a dusty road that wound lazily along the rocky shoreline.  Now, this was a "proper" waterfall.  I went on my own so unfortunately did not bring my camera, but suffice to say that, with sufficient effort swimming into the current, and ingenuity in climbing the remarkably unslippery rocks, I could get behind the falls and sit under them enjoying a free natural water massage!  Given that this was Xmas Day, a large group of people showed up later and I persuaded many of them to paddle paddle paddle and get behind the falls.  I think we had a total of 5 silhouettes behind the water at once.  When you dove out through the water it literally SLAPPED you down into the water-quite a bit of force! 

I also dove off a nice high cliff head first (don't worry ma, I saw the locals do it first), something I haven't done since I was a kid I think.  It was truly an awesome experience. 

I ended up chatting with a Swedish family on the way back down.  Every time I meet Swedes I ask them if they know where Orlonovisk (sp?) is.  Do you know of the town I speak of?  It's hockey town for Sweden, home of the Sedins, Sundin, Forsberg, and maybe Mattias Ohlund.  They always know where it is, and they usually-ok always-correct my pronunciation. 

Finally, Christmas Dinner for me was very special.  I ate goat, BBQd over coals!  Delicious!  Thankfully the locals didn't roast me too!! 

All the best from San Jose, enroute to the east coast I think.

-Matt

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