A tropical day is pretty well 6 till 6 so we were leaving at first light. It was up at 4.30 am for our 5.30 taxi. It was not a long journey but as the road was like a stream bed and height up and down was about the same the horizontal distance the taxi to the bus station was the only way to start the day. By 5.50 the waiting room was getting quite busy. We pulled out only a few minutes after 6,in time to see the sun rising over the hills. This is one of my rare sunrises, I tend to specialise in sunsets. Apologies for the internal reflections from the bus windows and the electricity cable.
The journey was scheduled for three hours again not because of the distance but the nature of the roads up to Monteverde as I have discussed before. After about two hours we joined the Pan-American highway and turned East. Most of the backpackers on board got off. They were heading West for the coast at Tamarindo or on North to Nicaragua. We head east before turning south for the ferry port of Puntarenas. Unfortunately the bus terminus is some distance from the ferry so we chum up with two young girls going our way to share a taxi. As we are driving to the dock we see the 9.00am ferry sailing, so 11am it will be.
Having got our tickets for the one hour crossing which cost just over pound each we sit and have a coffee and a bite to eat. The girls who have only recently been travelling together are from Germany annd Denmark. We have a good chat until it's time to board the ferry. Because we had to take care of our suitcases we missed them on the boat and just assumed we would meet up on the next bus.
They must have caught the first bus as they were not on ours. Something of a brief encounter without the soot in the eye.
Tambor is a village on the peninsula across the water. I hope Tambor 1 and 11 didn't sink. As you can see this is a Ro-Ro ferry and was pretty full by the time we left. We sail past a few unoccupied islands which look very tempting but are given over as nature reserves so landing is prohibited.
Photographing birds in flight is a challenging activity even for ones this large. They are the dominant marine species around here and in case you have not recognised it from the photograph it is the Brown Pelican.
There followed another bus journey of about two hours before we arrive at our destination for the next 5 days, Montezuma. Firstly let's have a look at the place and our accommodation. Our front garden with our terrace to the left, hammocks for the use of, centre and sea immediately right.
This is the bay a few steps to our right but the main beach with the breakers is down to our left.
This beach is popular for having fun in the surf, sunbathing and meeting with the locals. This iguana is about 60cm long, those are coconut husks behind him.
The squirrels compete with the iguanas in the palm trees. Without seeing her face I think you can tell this is a female.
This bird looks to be a member of the kingfisher family but it's hard to be precise with the silhouette nature. You can make out the pale yellow breast when you enlarge it.
Some detritus also gets washed up by the surf.
The surf on this beach is superb it is challenging but fun, just big enough to thrill but not big enough to threaten. I have never seen Helen enjoying herself in the surf so much. She's even doing a bit of belly surfing.
But look out, there's a big one coming!
The other attraction besides sand and surf in Montezuma are the falls. It is quite a tricky walk up and besides the streambed past the first falls until you reach this big one.
Just to prove that we made it, here we are .
The challenge for the local youths is to leap into the water from as high up the rocks as possible. I had a good swim in the pool and under the falls but opted out of the leaping for reasons of discretion. Tourists have been killed attempting the jump. There were no accidents today despite some very ambitious leaps.
Nice photo Helen. Better than my birds in flight!
Montezuma is one those places that is hard to leave. A bit like parts of Goa and Palawan. The Lonely Planet guide book starts by saying "it's not perfect " but then goes on to say why it nearly is.
But leave it we must so we are catching the 9am taxi speedboat to Jaco which is due east across the gulf on the west facing mainland. The journey will take an hour and the instructions say dress to get wet. We shall see. Hope the suitcases float.
The journey was scheduled for three hours again not because of the distance but the nature of the roads up to Monteverde as I have discussed before. After about two hours we joined the Pan-American highway and turned East. Most of the backpackers on board got off. They were heading West for the coast at Tamarindo or on North to Nicaragua. We head east before turning south for the ferry port of Puntarenas. Unfortunately the bus terminus is some distance from the ferry so we chum up with two young girls going our way to share a taxi. As we are driving to the dock we see the 9.00am ferry sailing, so 11am it will be.
Having got our tickets for the one hour crossing which cost just over pound each we sit and have a coffee and a bite to eat. The girls who have only recently been travelling together are from Germany annd Denmark. We have a good chat until it's time to board the ferry. Because we had to take care of our suitcases we missed them on the boat and just assumed we would meet up on the next bus.
They must have caught the first bus as they were not on ours. Something of a brief encounter without the soot in the eye.
Tambor is a village on the peninsula across the water. I hope Tambor 1 and 11 didn't sink. As you can see this is a Ro-Ro ferry and was pretty full by the time we left. We sail past a few unoccupied islands which look very tempting but are given over as nature reserves so landing is prohibited.
Photographing birds in flight is a challenging activity even for ones this large. They are the dominant marine species around here and in case you have not recognised it from the photograph it is the Brown Pelican.
There followed another bus journey of about two hours before we arrive at our destination for the next 5 days, Montezuma. Firstly let's have a look at the place and our accommodation. Our front garden with our terrace to the left, hammocks for the use of, centre and sea immediately right.
This is the bay a few steps to our right but the main beach with the breakers is down to our left.
This beach is popular for having fun in the surf, sunbathing and meeting with the locals. This iguana is about 60cm long, those are coconut husks behind him.
The squirrels compete with the iguanas in the palm trees. Without seeing her face I think you can tell this is a female.
This bird looks to be a member of the kingfisher family but it's hard to be precise with the silhouette nature. You can make out the pale yellow breast when you enlarge it.
Some detritus also gets washed up by the surf.
The surf on this beach is superb it is challenging but fun, just big enough to thrill but not big enough to threaten. I have never seen Helen enjoying herself in the surf so much. She's even doing a bit of belly surfing.
But look out, there's a big one coming!
The other attraction besides sand and surf in Montezuma are the falls. It is quite a tricky walk up and besides the streambed past the first falls until you reach this big one.
Just to prove that we made it, here we are .
The challenge for the local youths is to leap into the water from as high up the rocks as possible. I had a good swim in the pool and under the falls but opted out of the leaping for reasons of discretion. Tourists have been killed attempting the jump. There were no accidents today despite some very ambitious leaps.
Nice photo Helen. Better than my birds in flight!
Montezuma is one those places that is hard to leave. A bit like parts of Goa and Palawan. The Lonely Planet guide book starts by saying "it's not perfect " but then goes on to say why it nearly is.
But leave it we must so we are catching the 9am taxi speedboat to Jaco which is due east across the gulf on the west facing mainland. The journey will take an hour and the instructions say dress to get wet. We shall see. Hope the suitcases float.
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