Montezuma

On the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula is a little town called Montezuma. Apparently this little town attracts Oregonians like butterflies to flowers. We six Oregonians recently spent a weekend in Montezuma at a hotel called Montezuma Gardens Mariposario. This hotel has a cool butterfly theme, centered around its large butterfly enclosure.

Anyway, on the ferry ride to the Peninsula we met a group of students on exchange from Linfield College. Granted, these students were not actually going to Montezuma. They were headed to a town called Santa Theresa. Still, in Montezuma we met 1) the owner of the hotel, Josh Bickle, a former Oregonian; 2)&3) a couple whose names I've forgotten who were visiting from Lincoln City; 4), 5), &6) A woman and her two sons (including a 6-year-old named, I kid you not, Leif!) from Eugene. Add the six off us and there were at least 12 Oregonians in the very small town of Montezuma, Costa Rica last weekend.

I heard two theories about why so many Oregonians were in Montezuma this weekend. The first theory has to do with the fact that this is the rainy season in Costa Rica. Although it has been a fairly dry rainy season thus far, the norm is rain all afternoon and evening. Oregonians can handle their rain, but who wouldn't prefer to do so in a tropical beach setting where the rain is a welcome relief from the heat instead of chilling to the bone? The second theory is that Montezuma is a tree-hugging, environmentally conscious, outdoorsy, hippie type town, as are two of the more populated cities in Oregon (I'll let you guess which two).

Walking east (I think) from the town of Montezuma, you can apparently hike along beaches and behind beach heads for 7 km. My mom and I walked about 2 of these kilometers on our last day in Montezuma. Each beach was different. One had gray sand, the other had crushed shells, another had a finer crush of shells resulting in white sand and another had mostly huge rocks that unfortunately catch alot of trash that washes up from boats. And as we walked we could hear the crazy growl/howl of howler monkeys. If you didn't know what they were, they would sound pretty scary!

We spent part of a day at a wildlife rescue center called Rain Song where they take in injured and orphaned animals. This is where we got to hold the baby howler monkeys in the pictures. These monkeys really like to climb up and cling to your hair. I think it reminds them of clinging to their mother's back. We also saw porcupines, turtles, a white throated capuchin, parrots, toucans, an anteater, a margay (sp?) missing an eye and some deer that licked us with their sandpaper tongues.

The butterfly enclosure at our hotel was pretty incredible too. Josh owns the hotel with his two brothers and his mother. Josh, his girlfriend and two volunteers were at the hotel while we were there. Leif spent lots of time following the volunteers around the butterfly enclosure finding caterpillars and eggs and chrysalises. He got to see quite a few butterflies as they were just emerging from their chrysalises. For anyone who knows a young 18-20 something aged person who wants an inexpensive way to stay in Costa Rica, the volunteer program at this hotel is a great opportunity. These young people pay $200/month and give some time each weekday working with the butterflies. In return they get a room, two meals a day and a family atmosphere. Actually you don't have to be young necessarily. Again, the name is Montezuma Gardens Mariposario. They have a website, so google it.

-Laurie