First Days in Montezuma

Greetings from Playa del Montezuma on the beautiful Nicoya Peninsula! It’s late afternoon, and a thunderstorm is threatening, but I think it’s moved beyond me without actually raining. The weather has been typical coastal climate, not unlike Florida’s Gulf Coast. Prevailing winds (and storms) come from the west and move across the Peninsula towards the mountains of the Central Highlands, which is where San José, Costa Rica’s capital city, is. It was actually chillly in my B&B last night! But here on the coast—forget it. I arrived on a tiny 5-seater from San José this morning, then had a 20 mile taxi ride to Montezuma. About 7 miles outside of Montezuma, the roads turn to gravel with lots of potholes. But, hey, I’m from Alaska—nothing I haven’t seen before!

We found my “hostess,” Kerri Bowers with Proyecto Montezuma, with little trouble, and I waited, and waited, and waited for my apartment to be cleaned. After some lunch, my landlord brought me up here, and it truly is a lovely spot, as you can see from the pictures I’m posting. There is one bedroom and the kitchenette is next door along the porch. The windows have no glass! Everything is open to the elements, which are very kind elements. But you have to not mind the ants and other small bugs, though. Oh, and there’s little if any hot water in the shower, but it’s probably 88 degrees or so and it doesn’t really matter.

The worst thing about the location is that it is FAR from town, at least to someone who doesn’t have a vehicle at her disposal! And the road—ay, carrumba—there’s one section that, if it were a ski slope, it would definitely be a black diamond. I think of it as Heart Attack Hill and I haven’t even attempted it on foot yet.

The village is very, very cute. There’s a laid-back feel to it, and lots of people speaking both Spanish and English. The shop owners do not speak much English, so you really would have to have a smattering of Spanish to get along here. The people are mostly young-ish tourists, some old-timers such as myself, and most are wearing bathing suits all the time, even at night, I’ve been told. The village is right on the beach, as you can see from the picture of the horse standing at the end of the main street.

Tomorrow I start my teaching schedule, which will include two classes of adults (4-5 per class) and one class of children ages 7-13. This class is a two-hour block for English and music, and I plan to do some Zumba with them when they get antsy. I take a one-hour intensive Spanish class everyday, although I can already tell that I’m improving just in the last 20 hours or so.

The logistics of living here, just because we’re so far out of town and on a very steep road, are going to be difficult to sort out. Most of the volunteers in this gated compound leave in the morning and ride in together then don’t come back until night! I don’t know whether I can be out that long without some kind of respite. The grocery store is another element that needs to be considered. I need toilet paper (none was provided! And thank God I brought a towel with me!) and bottled water, and some food items unless I want to eat every meal out, which I don’t. I sure hope the ATM works—it ate someone’s card just as I was arriving this morning—because now I find out that most of the restaurants do NOT accept credit cards! The Costa Ricans have a hard time understanding the need for them—either you have money or you don’t, and if you have it you carry it with you…kind of like how America used to be 60 years ago, I suppose.

In addition to travelling in order to make a difference, and not just consuming energy and goods in search of pleasure, I chose to throw myself into this adventure to shake up my comfort zone. It’s so easy for all of us, young or old, to take for granted what we have, the way we live, and the choices we make on a daily basis. I wanted to move somehow beyond that person, and see what I could find underneath; I may go kicking and screaming, but I will be changed from the experience!