Exotic…soothing vibes….good people…and the beach.
What more could you ask for? All of these attributes and more describe exactly what Montezuma, Costa Rica is like. While touring around the country for a month, I would have to say that so far this is my favorite small town…it’s extremely soothing…maybe even a little too soothing…
After picking up our bike rentals for a mere 5,000 Colones, Alex, Trevor and I decided to explore the outskirts of the small town of Montezuma on our own. One of the locals told us of a massive tree just south of our location and we were quite eager to go on a little excursion to check it out.
I present the humungous strangler fig of Cabuya Costa Rica!
Picking up our bikes and ensuring that we fixed all of the small mechanical problems (seats falling off, pedals coming loose, filling ALL the flat tires and oiling the chains so that they were not “too” rusted) we finally began pedaling south to its supposed location.
After pedaling for about 7 kilometers down a gravel paved road, crossing 4 makeshift bridges and an iguana or two, we finally arrived at the base of the tree covered in mud and a bit jarred after slamming through puddles. The locals weren’t exaggerating at all when they said the tree was massive. It must have spanned at least 20 feet wide and seemed to have never stopper reaching for the sky.
I couldn’t help myself and had to climb to the top! You see me?
Placing the kickstands up on the bicycles, we put all of our belongings down and began taking photos of mother natures massive work of art. Attempting to get every angle possible, I even climbed her a bit so that I could see everything from up top.
This magnifiscent tree was extremely neat, housing many different types of animals, plants & insects. While making my way up, something flew out and above my head scaring the living hell out of me. Little did I know this was also the home to a fair amount of bats! So so cool!
While climbing up I found these bats nestled in one of the many “hidden” spots.
They were a bit agitated by my presence so I made my way from them as soon as possible. :-). Preoccupied with examining the tree for nearly half an hour, we walked back to the other side by the road where our bikes were and discovered something unfortunate…our daypack had gone missing.
It’s simply amazing at what a little tree can turn into! What a beauty!
We searched the surrounding vicinity for about 10 minutes but could find nothing. Whoever had stolen the bag was extremely stealthy but then again we were extremely ignorant for leaving an unmanned bag by the side of the road in Costa Rica…it was just begging to be taken by thieves.
La estación de policía…this is a reliable joint…or at least that’s what they were smoking…
Jumping on the bikes, we booked it as fast as we could down the road to see if we “happened” to run into the thieves. I personally knew the bag was long gone but you never know what luck may be thrown your way. Checking every road and beach back to town, we wound up short of success and just gained some very tired legs.
Panting up to the police station, I knew immediately that they wouldn’t “be able” to do anything but for insurance purposes we needed to fill out a report. Taking out a half sheet of paper, we managed to communicate with the police and write down all of our information and turn it in although they spoke not a lick of english. Long story short, the thieves made off with over $500 USD in cameras, clothing & cash. Luckily we had our passports and all other important information in our main packs back at the hostel.
Moral of the story:
No matter how good of a vibe you may get from a place, never leave your things unattended in Costa Rica!
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