I've spent the last 2 weeks in Montezuma, Costa Rica doing absolutely nothing! I originally booked a trip here this long with intentions to do exactly nothing. I didn't do any excursions and I didn't go out to eat too much!
The town of Montezuma is incredible small. The downtown area is maybe 2 blocks. There are a handful of restaurants but many were closed as it is rainy season and not as many tourists.
My biggest struggle here was dealing with bugs!! I almost tapped out a couple of times and left early because I had some uncomfortable incidences with bugs. I am leaving here, now fearless of critters (but I still get the heebee jeebees). I've learned that they will leave you alone and it's easy to coexist. I actually think cockroaches are kind of cute now! (but just stay far far away from me and stop wiggling your antennae at me)
I chose to spend this time figuring out what I want to do with my life and also take in-person Spanish classes.
I'm still not sure what I want to do with my life but I ended up spending a lot of time with my Spanish instructor!
We met up to get to know each other and discuss how his lessons worked. We ended up having a lot in common and got dinner together to chat more.
On another day, we spent time together talking about politics, cultural differences and similarities, and shared music. He taught me how to salsa, bachata, and merengue. I taught him how to line dance.
It was hilarious because the dances he taught me are similar to swing dancing where you have a base move and you choose from a list of other moves to try, to the sound of the song playing (it was a much different way of listening to music than I was used to). I told him that the line dance is a dance specific to the song. I don't think he quite understood the concept because when we would dance free style, he would throw in random pieces from the line dance and honestly it was the most awesome thing I've ever seen. So creative!
On top of our culture exchange, I got to take a few lessons from him. They were so helpful!! Really made somethings I've been struggling with, click! I am hoping to continue lessons with him as I am strongly determined to know Spanish!
Tomorrow I leave for the capital, San Jose, where I will be staying for a night before I travel to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. The bus from here, Montezuma, is 6 hours long and requires a ferry ride. From San Jose to Puerto Viejo is 4.5 hours, so I chose to break up my trip in the city.
I'm a little nervous. There is more pressure to know Spanish and I'm not quite comfortable yet. But it's 340,000 people and I've been in much bigger cities so I'm hoping it's not too much of a culture shock of confusion! I'm curious to see how they've built their city.
I feel similar to how I felt before I landed in Costa Rica. Unsure if I was going to be able to make it past the airport. But it ended up being much easier than I expected. I'm hoping this short stop will be similar. I have made it this far already! To get here I had to take a bus, taxi, ferry, bus and do everything in Spanish. And I made it just fine!
I will be spending 3 days in Puerto Viejo which is on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica and I've been told is a very unique and different culture than the places I've seen so far. I'm most excited to try the food!
It is a surf town that is a heavily influenced by Jamaicans and it was fairly secluded until 1970 when an official road was build to the town.
After Puerto Viejo, I will be making my way to Ecuador! Just in time for Día de los Difuntos (day of the deceased), which is celebrated on November 2nd. I'm excited to try guaguas de pan (bread shaped like babies in a blanket) and colado morada, which is a fruit drink.
On to the next adventure!
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