After doing some research, Siobhan and I decided to take an overnight, weekend road trip to the beach town of Montezuma in the southern part of the Nicoya peninsula. The distance according to Google Maps is a mere 112 miles (!) and is projected to take just under 2 1/2 hours. Lies! We rented a compact SUV with 4-wheel drive and set out on a Saturday morning with a fairly early start. We did not know it at the time, but our choice to pay a little extra for an SUV over a car would turn out to be critically important.
About halfway to Montezuma we arrived at a small town called Jicaral, where we had a choice of a couple different roads that could ultimately lead us to our destination. Foolishly ignoring the advice of a police officer, we went for the "more direct" inland route as opposed to traversing the coastal roads. After a short time on the bumpy, partially-paved, pothole-ridden road, it quickly became apparent that we were in for a long journey. This realization was compounded by the fact that the map we had was inaccurate, and that there were almost no road signs and a lot of unmarked forks in the road. We finally got our bearings when we arrived at a beautiful, secluded beach, but simultaneously realized we still had a tough path to cross to reach our destination.
Leaving the beach, we headed inland again and were starting to feel like we were making good progress. Next thing we knew, the SUV in front of us plunged into a two and a half foot deep, quickly flowing river and slowly made its way across to the other bank, a good 30 yards away! We stood on the bank, stunned with mouths open, and began to process our predicament. After watching another truck make it through (which offered to help tow us across for $20), and a moped, we decided to try it ourselves, despite the fact that doing so was not covered by our insurance. Just before doing so, an English-speaking couple warned us not to get out of the car if we got stuck, because the river is home to a number of crocodiles (which we later learned have eaten their fill of dogs, pigs, and small cows over the years). Fortunately we made it across and did not have to deal with that scenario. (See the video for an in-the-car experience.)
On the other side of the river we encountered a small soda (a little restaurant) and talked to the people there in Spanish to get some directions. They told us that all three of the roads (including the one we had just used) leading away from the restaurant had river crossings, and that we still had a decent distance to travel. We were encouraged to take the coastal route, so set off in that direction. Within a matter of minutes we had to do two more river crossings, one of which was particularly fast-moving and dicey, but yet again our SUV made it through. After narrowly escaping a couple of muddy patches, our car suddenly emerged from the jungle and shot right out onto a nearly-deserted beach. We started driving down the beach to try to find another way out, but soon came across another SUV that was parked in front of a small river that was flowing into the ocean. Testing the waters on foot, we found them to be waist-deep and impossible to cross as the tide was rising. Not wanting to backtrack with waning daylight, we (and the other group of people who were American tourists) decided to park our SUVs back in the jungle and walk along the beach in search of a town. The tide had come in even further at the river crossing, and was now up to my chest, requiring us to carry our bags over our heads. After an hour walk we arrived at a very small coastal town, which fortunately had a restaurant and hotel rooms just off the beach. We made the decision to head back to our car around midnight to drive it along the beach to the town; it would be low tide at that time. With nothing else that could be done at the moment, we enjoyed the ocean sunset, had some dinner and got some sleep before our retrieval mission. Around midnight we awoke and did the long walk down the beach to retrieve our car. It was a clear, beautiful night with a lot of stars, but it was also quite nerve-wracking to be alone on the remote beach in the dark. In the end we found our car unscathed, and were able to easily ford the rivers at low tide and bring our car back to the hotel. We went back to sleep for a few more hours, planning to make it to Montezuma early in the morning.
The drive to Montezuma was not without a couple of directional concerns, but with the help of some local advice we arrived at our destination in mid-morning. We parked our car in town, explored the beach for a little while, and then set off to hike up a river to a jungle waterfall. It was quite a high and powerful waterfall, with a nice swimming pool, and we made it there early enough to avoid the crowds we passed on our way out. Getting back onto the main road, I saw a sign for a butterfly conservancy, which I knew would appeal greatly to Siobhan, so we hiked up a scenic road overlooking the coast and found the conservancy. The tour of the butterfly conservancy was fun and informative, and Siobhan managed to get a lot of quality, close-up pictures. The rest of our afternoon was spent having a good, Costa Rican meal, and relaxing on the beach with a Litro of Imperial. Overall Montezuma was a very nice, laid-back town with a respectable mix of local culture and tourism, and we wondered if it would have been a preferable place to stay over comparatively-busy and tourism-dominated Tamarindo.
On the ride home we never dared to stray from the coastal roads, and the drive definitely worked out much better. That being said, the roads were still in horrendous condition in many places, featuring two-foot deep potholes, winding mountaintop passes, and the traditional lack of road signs. Despite these obstacles we made pretty good time on the return trip, and did not take any wrong turns. Considering that our successful drive home still took well over four hours, we can safely conclude the 2 1/2 hour projection offered by Google Maps is a joke.
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