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Very delayed on posting.  My b.

Last weekend I traveled with five of my friends to a very tiny beach town called Montezuma on the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica. It’s somewhat complicated to get to – first you take a bus to Puntarenas, then a ferry across to the peninsula and then a bus to the town.  All in all, six hours.

Because traveling in Latin America is never uneventful, even our cab ride to the first bus was memorable.  The bus we wanted to take was at 6AM  which required us to get up at 4:30 to get in a cab by 5 to get to the station on time.  Damn is that early. When you wake up that early and have to do things like pack and eat and plan to travel, it sort of feels like sleepwalking.  You’re not quite awake but you’re not quite asleep either.  You are also very calm.  We got the cab at just the right time and began our drive to the sketchiest bus station I’ve ever seen.  Three of us in the back, one in the front  (the others were taking a different cab).   The city was erie and silent and we were coasting on half-asleepedness for the first 15 minutes of the ride.  Around this time, we stop at a light (or stop sign? can’t remember) with about 3 cars in front of us.  The first car was a tiny 1980s hatchback with 2 doors and room for 2.5 people.

We all slow down and the first car at the intersection stops appropriately and then gets ready to go.  It rolls through the intersection and out of no where a city bus driving at least 40 mph T-bones the tiny hatchback driving it about half a block out of the intersection.  I was sitting in the center of the back and watched this entire horrific scene play out.  It was straight out of a fucking movie.  As the bus hit the car we all quickly awoke from our sleepy states and blurted out various expletives.  I believe I said “holyyyyyyyy shit.  hoolllyyyy shit.” Once the bus came to a screeching halt, the car or cars in front of us disappeared.  But we did not.  Instead, we joined the situation and our taxi driver made a right and stopped next to the ball of metal that was once  a car.  He put his hazards on and got out of the car.  Passengers from the bus were filing off the bus, some trying to help the situation, others waiting to the side looking at their watches.  Our cab driver joined the people trying to help the situation.  A group was trying to open the passenger-side window/door to assess the situation of the driver.  No one could get the damn window open so our driver smashed it open with a quick kick.  He grabbed his cell phone and radio and began calling his boss and the police to alert them of the situation.  During this time, we were blocking the intersection entirely and in Tico fashion, the cars and trucks behind us began honking.  I had no idea what was going to happen next – are we now involved in this for an extended period of time? Should we get out and do something? Should we move the car? Am I still asleep? We all looked to our left at the car and realized we couldn’t see the driver.  S/he was not slumped over, not leaning back in the seat…s/he was no where to be found.  We came to the conclusion that for the first time in our lives, we most likely witnessed someone die before our eyes.

After opening the passenger window our driver got back in the car, spoke to us and his radio and we continued on our way.  About 3 minutes later we heard ambulances.  We were all shaken up at this point, I can remember that I was visibly shivering still.  We go to our bus station as it was opening and we tipped him the equivalent of $2 (taxi’s never take tips) for being courageous enough to step into the situation.

The bus was fine, the ferry was beautiful -we ran into co-op kids from Northeastern on the ferry, one being my friend Megan! Strange. The second bus was chaotic, hot and confusing.  We knew we had to get on that bus, but didn’t know exactly where it was going, how much it cost, or when to get off.  We got on with standing room only and about 25 min into the ride seats became available.  It was at least 90 degrees and there was no wind.  About 45 min into the ride it occurred to me that maybe we should figure out where to get off for our hostel.  It was the last stop.  Montezuma is only accessible by this one dirt road that our bus took.  The last .10th of a mile was the scariest bus ride.  I was sitting in the second to last row and could watch as we made our turns down the hill the bus tilt back and forth, lifting its sides at least half a foot if not more off the ground.  How we did not fall over is beyond me.

Our hostel was beautiful and the town was even more beautiful.  Lots of people with dreadlocks.  Mostly gringo tourists.  There is a string of beaches with different names and the first day we went to the Playa Grande which is a half hour hike through terrain next to the beach.  Not worth it.  But the hike was fun.  We had good pizza the first night and tried to go to this restaurant Organico about 3 times and each time they told us they were closed – which didn’t make sense but whatever.  The second day we hiked up to a big waterfall, then hiked up a very  frightening hike to the second, larger waterfall who’s water leads to the smaller one we first reached.  Scary hike, scarier cliff jumps into the water below.  I did not partake.  After the waterfall hikes we hit the beach and found a location with great waves and stayed there until about 7pm.  We were right next to this on-beach hotel that had a happy hour where 4 bucks buys you two large mixed drinks.  I had the best drink I’ve ever had called Monkey Business. I had about 3 of them.

On Sunday morning I woke up at 7:30, looked at the bus schedule and realized that if we wanted to get back to San Jose before dark (you do NOT want to be anywhere near that bus station after dark…even during the day you dont) we would have to leave at 8:00.  In a half hour.  I immediately woke up my room and we decided to scramble and leave to get to the bus on time.  At 7:55 my friend reminded us that we forgot to alert the other three about our sudden change of plans.  So with 3 minutes remaining I told them they had to get ready as quickly as physically possible and meet us down at the bus.  Crazy and hectic but we all made it there with time to spare (Tico time again..bus left at 8:20 or later).

Although it was crazy getting and leaving there, I would go back.  Definitely my favorite place so far.  And I got very. very. very. tan.