What lures people here? Well, personally I love a chill beach town, and you thrown in some healthy hippie restaurants serving homemade hummus, lentil creations, and all sorts of whole-grain everything, and I'm there like dressing on salad. The thing that really built Montezuma up to what it is today is it's reputation as Montefuma, which translates to smoke mountain, nick-named because of a different kind of plant lovers (read doobie smokers) that also flock here.
View of the beach at Montezuma - Baby pushing a boat. Someone´s got to work.
Yummy plantain & salsa dish and veggie quesadillas - Monkey eating a stolen tortilla. Silly Monkey.
Like most good chill, hippie beach towns, there's not much to do there. Kyle and I walked that town more times in our 4 days here than probably anyone, and did some heavy-duty wave jumping and hammock reading. Life's tough. Many visitors seem to stick to these past-times and random a-traditional talents like walking on their hands, juggling, and hemp jewelry making. After staying in a strange smelly, artist hostel for a night where the Italian owners listened to Salsa music vidoes and banged on their bongos, we changed to another hotel just down the beach with an ocean-view. Both rooms cost $20/night.
We also managed to get out of our hammocks for a few adventures:
Hike to the Waterfall
Walking across rocks in a river to get to a waterfall proves more challenging in the rainy season. I'm sure the wild river animals hang back and watch the silly gringos trying to hop from rock to rock and wade through the water, I know I would.
Bike to the Jungle
We get on bikes as much as we can, which so far has been twice in 6 months. Trust me that picking the right place and rental bikes is a selective process. Roads without bike lanes and bad brakes does not a happy trip make. A dirty, but super scenic 5 mile ride we made it to a great National Park called Cabo Blanco. A bit pricey at $10/person, but it's well-maintained and being the off-season we saw few people and loads of animals.
Here's some video highlights from the jungle and more info about the Coati creatures we come across.
I totally dig Montezuma, and time got super lost on me (and no I wasn't smoking the doobie). I'm sure I'd have stayed longer if Kyle didn't have ants in his pants wanting "culture." (I think we stayed 2 nights longer than he planned.) But who needs culture when you've got super hippie veg-food and a lending library with all the Harry Potter books? I could have stayed in my hammock vegging eating veggies for a while.
We're silly and adventurous, computer geeks and yoga peeps.
August 18, 2008
mumsie
August 19, 2008
Bessie
February 15, 2010
Hugh
February 16, 2010
Bessie
March 18, 2010
Lisa Moore
My family and I are traveling all over Costa Rica and are currently in Mal Pais. We will head to Montezuma for a fun filled day and while there, I am going to try and find a jewler that has a shop in Montezuma. I was hoping you would help me find her. I know very little other than she is not to far from the waterfall and swimming hole. She works with many different stones and may sell them from a shop or she may have a restaurant and sell her wares from there or another business. I was hoping you could help. It is vague, so I understand if you can't.
Best,
Lisa
March 19, 2010
Kyle
October 26, 2010
Charlene Knapp
Charlene
October 26, 2010
Kyle
As for costs of living, it is certainly cheaper than the US. Montezuma might be a bit more expensive than the rest of the country, but it can still be done on a budget.
As for the raw food retreat, it sounds interesting, but we have no specific knowledge on it.
May 15, 2011
Glen
January 11, 2012
Tamarindo Beach Paradise