Montezuma - Beach Time

Picture 1- Top waterfall with Tarzan swing

Picture 2- Tarzan swing to the left

Picture 3- 45 foot waterfall. We all jumped, some of us have gifts to remember it by

Picture 4- Bottom waterfall - Tanya and Jason

Picture 5- Bottom waterfall- Shannon and Scott



We had planned to head to Tamarindo beach, but decided that we should stay in the next place for more than two days... and so we headed to Montezuma. Montezuma is a very small low key beach town on the Pacific coast just east of San Jose. We ended up staying in Montezuma from January 10-14. To get there we had to take another 5:30 am bus, then a ferry, and finally another bus. We made it to the friendly beach town sometime in the afternoon and quickly found a very basic hostel on the beach for $10/person. Within minutes of arriving, Scott and I were called over to a restaurant by the Swedish couple we had spent Christmas and New Years with, Vlad and Suzanna. We briefly caught up with them before they were off to go surfing and we were off to find supper.

The next day Tanya, Jason, Scott and I set out around lunch to hike to two waterfalls. We didn’t know it was going to be a “real hike” and so Tanya and I wore flip flops and soon realized this jaunt would be very interesting in sandals. We made it up and down several rock and dirt cliffs in our flip flops, it was very impressive. The first waterfall was a medium size water hole with about a 70 foot high waterfall. It also had a rock platform to the left which you could do cannon balls and flips off of. If you were careful you could also get onto the rocks behind the falls and jump off. In talking to others we realized there was another two waterfalls linked to this one about a 15 minute further hike away, where you could jump off a 45 foot drop to the pool below. We packed our things and started to climb back up the dirt and rock wall and soon found the next waterfall. We watched some of the locals jump the 45 foot drop before Jason decided to jump. I have always said that if Jason can do it I am usually also down to do it, so I was next. It was one of those things where you look down say no way and then say, “ok I just have to go if I am going to do it” and then just go. Wow it was definitely a two screamer. After some convincing Scott did it, which was surprising as he is very afraid of heights. Tanya was the videographer and caught this all on tape. It was then her turn. She went and when she came up she wasn’t talking. From my jump I knew that any limbs or flat feet would result in a sharp slap or blunt force and from her jump it looked as though she had sat a little. When she finally caught her breath she told Jason that she now had a very sore bottom. We all laughed a little but it was clear that she had a few welts that might become a bruises the next day. Just above this waterfall was another wider smaller waterfall with a Tarzan swing. We all tried the swing and took a swim and then hiked back to the hostel for some dinner. We spent the afternoon in the very large waves with a boogie board Jason had rented,... so much fun. We would ride the very large waves crashing over us, which would eventually jet us right onto shore where Tanya was reading her book... it was total jokes. That evening we booked a two hour group Spanish lesson and surf rental for the next day, a day trip to Tortuga Island for some snorkelling and white sand blue water fun in the sun, and finally a water taxi for our fifth day in Montezuma to take us to our next destination - Manual Antonio.