Beachtown Bliss: Montezuma, Costa Rica
Written by Bessie on Sunday, August 10, 2008 in Costa Rica
Feelin' happy
There's a small coastal town in Costa Rica that grew to what it is today because of nature-lovers, surfers and hippies decades ago. Montezuma used to be accessible only by a delicate blend of gravel roads and ferries that took hours to get to, and now adays there are regular speed boat taxis (and still buses on gravel roads) that make this town all too accessible, but still delightful in my eyes. Feelin' happy
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.
Comments on "Beachtown Bliss: Montezuma, Costa Rica"
aren't they neat?! so many hidden treasures!
I just found this site via Untemplater. My fiance and I visited Montezuma last year and love it as well! We actually stayed across the peninsula in Malpais, but rented some quads and adventured over to Montezuma one day. What a cool little town with a ton of cool secluded beaches. I hope it stays that way...
Thanks for visiting! Yea, I go back to Montezuma in my mind fairly often - it's a great place to chill, explore, and eat healthy. I'd spent a semester in Costa Rica & fist visited Montezuma when I was there in 2003, and it's developed quite a bit, so it's bound to get more people, but at least Costa Rica has some laws that hopefully stay in place that limit their development. They definitely need those - it's a place people wanna be.
Hello,
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
Well, there isn't much near the water fall and swimming hole as you have to hike there. We did buy a ring from a jeweler in town (that I still wear), so you might want to check the shops in Montezuma.
Sweet! I LOVE the nature sounds! Thanks for sharing! Keep on enjoying! :)
by mumsie at August 18, 2008 09:25 PM