Montezuma Day Trip

This is Montezuma, located on the Nicoya Peninsula near Malpais. It's about 30km from Malpais. We drove here from Malpais with Derek and Andy, two Amercian guys from Washington State that we met at the Surf Camp. They had a rental vechile so we came to see the waterfalls.

The beach here was gorgeous. The bluest water that we have seen yet on this trip. We were planning on staying a couple nights here orginally but there is no surf so we just stayed longer in Malpais.

There are three sets of waterfalls here. The first one is a swimming hole; the second is for cliff-diving; and the third has a rope swing.

Here is Derek, Kyle and Andy hiking up the falls with the swimming hole in the background.

This is the second waterfall. We spent the morning here. It was very beautiful, and the boys had lots of fun!

And off they go...

After some diving, the boys contemplate their next moves...

...which involved a numbered diving sequence! Pretty neat!

Malpais Surf Camp & Resort

Welcome to...

Malpais is located on the Nicoya Peninsula. Here we stayed at Malpais Surf Camp and Resort. This place had a variety of rooms from dorms, private rooms, private bunk houses, to houses with kitchens.

We chose to stay in a private room; however when we arrived, we basically had our pick of anything. There was one guy staying there, along with the other couple that we took the cab down with. Pretty sweet! We had a whole surf camp to oursleves!

Along with an on-site restuarant, we also had a pool. It was great relaxing poolside and swimming all day when Kyle was out surfing. He'd join me for a dip after his surf sessions.

Here are some of the poolside sunsets that we saw.

But yes, this is a surf camp, so where's the surf? About 300 metres away. Just follow the path.This is an alligator tree named after the spikes on it.

Trees along the pathways and roadways in Costa Rica are used as fence posts. The barbwire is placed to that the trees grow into it.

At the surf camp you could always hear Howler Monkeys in the distance. Here is one that we spotted while walking to the beach.

And another lizard.

Here is the beach located across from the surf camp.

The beach has it's own personal beauty that set it apart from the rest.

This was the first beach that was full of seashells! So I collected a bunch.

There were crabs on the beach too. Here Kyle has taken a picture of a crab hole with all the markings that they make.

We saw some amazing sunsets during our stay in Malpais. The sun sets in Costa Rica around 6:00 everyday, give or take a few minutes depending where along the coast you are. The sun sets really quickly as well, and the sky changes many times throughout. Don't blink or you may miss the entire sunset.

On one of the evenings that we came to watch the sunset, Kyle grabbed an evening surf session...

Malpais via Bus, Ferry & Taxi

We sure were spoiled while travelling along the southern Pacific Coast; everything seemed so close together. Now in order to get from Jaco to Malpais, we took a bus from Jaco to Puntarenas, then a passenger ferry from Puntarenas to Paquera, then we teamed up with another couple and split a cab ride from Paquera to Malpais. This was a full day trip.

Here's some pictures as we were pulling out of port...

We saw a wide range of boats, from pirate-looking fishing boats to some fancy house boats/yachts.

Here's us on the ferry...an hour ride to Paquera.

And I fell asleep for half of it, as Kyle took pictures from the ferry inside and out.

Along with our backpacks that I used as a pillow, here's the two board bags were now travelling with.

And some views of the Gulf of Nicoya as we cross to Paquera.