Montezuma, Monday

Mon 27th 2033 Sitting on uncomfy chair on new hostel terrace, feel a little BNM but a) I'm here not hiding b) I just arrived so not terribly surprising.

Been engaged in what feels like massive bout of booking and associated stress and not entirely in mood to write this but will grind it out and maybe take a rest now and then.

To write up the booking first, I have booked non-refundable dorm in Quepos (base for visiting Manuel Antonio park) for 4 nights from Wednesday. I am *assuming* the boat won't have sold out; if it has I may have a mildly epic and shit day of bus from here to Paquera (perhaps changing in Cobano), then ferry to Puntarenas, then bus P-Quepos. If all goes to plan it should be near trivial to get a bus from Jaco to Quepos when I get off the boat. *If* the boat has an affordable option to go all the way to Quepos I may splurge on it.

I booked for 4 nights rather than 3 because there's an intriguing and cheap off-grid place near Quepos (few km, but mildly epic to get to) which had availability on those dates. I'd rather not have been in a dorm when I leave here but it will be a private double (albeit v "rustic" ) in the off-grid place so it's semi fine, and it would have been double for a private room anywhere in Quepos. I decided to skip Jaco as a place to stay, it's not cheap (albeit affordable) for a dorm and again privates cost double and it doesn't sound that great.

So last night I was sitting in refugio with my second beer, not IIRC feeling too much of a loser, and this very nice slightly hippyish (not a great description) guy called Jamie sat near me and we had a quite enjoyable and wide-ranging chat for maybe 45 mins or so. Got back to hostel about 2230-45-ish, he had to go so I didn't cut it short - I would have been up for buying a third beer, he said mamatea open til midnight.

This morning had breakfast and changed hostel, had to leave my backpack in the relatively insecure area in the hostel kitchen but (spoiler alert) it was fine. Went out to walk up to waterfall 6ish-km up beaches to north/east as other day, taking my daypack with trunks and a towel and a hell of a lot of water (more than nec, because I just dumped all my bottles of water from fridge/dorm floor in the daypack). I wore the two tone blue plastic top which as I said I was going to risk as a "beach" shirt given I hadn't brought cheap simple short-sleeved plastic T-shirt, which in hindsight I should have.

However, as thought yday while at top of falls, I took my orange merino top with me as an experiment and changed into it when I started walking up beaches (wearing trousers etc as usual). It was not super cool or anything, but it was also not actually tremendously more uncomfortable than the other top etc.

I changed into trunks and back into two-tone top and applied a load (cost a fucking fortune no doubt) of sunblock (from the new biggish bottle BTW, so this won't "interfere" with the pseudo-experiment of seeing how many days of head/neck coverage I get out of the nominal 50ml bottle) when I got halfway up the beach with the fall at the end.

Walked up to falls, for some reason the sand suddenly got literally unbearably hot up towards there - I was all "wow, this is hot" and rapidly transition to "argh, my feet are actually burning" to desperately climbing onto a log for relief only to feel my hands burning in the sand as I overbalanced and supported myself with them. I desperately limped/skipped over to some shade and put my shoes on without socks. This was semi-necessary anyway as to get around the rocks at base of falls it would probably have been uncomfortable barefoot.

A few people around falls (tiny bit of chat, in English - I could maybe have done better but did OK I suppose). I went up to the bit above the pool where there were some spidery black crabs (some of moderately impressive size) in the cracks. Sat down there a bit and it was fine and sort of cool but also occasionally a tinyish crab would crawl out of a hole in the rocks under my bum which was a bit freaky and would make me stand up. When some other guy who was standing there moved away (he recommended I try it) I spent a minute or two near where the fall came down sitting/standing in the spray there.

I wasn't clear how to get into the actual pool at the base but a couple who were there navigated round the rocks and following their example and the advice of a guy (friend of theirs? he offered me some pineapple but I declined as I wasn't *certain* it was just a friendly offer and all my money was deeply inaccessible in trousers in dry bag inside daypack) I navigated down to the pool in shoes then took them off and went in (with couple, but fair amount of space).

Water cold but not unpleasantly so, no more than waist deep. I spent five minutes by my watch sitting under the falls (super powerful "massagel kind of effect) and then got out; couple didn't stay much longer than that to. I swam *very* badly (not necessary) back across pool to get out just for a tiny bit of practice.

I then saw some people at top of fall and climbed the bit I didn't quite like the other day (it was fine, not really risky/hard) and had *tiny* chat with them at top and the view was pretty nice (no photos as buried inside bag) and it was just cool to get up there. Subsequently spotted some earth steps up which also went a little more easily up to same top area. There was an overhanging slab of rock at the top which in theory would have allowed you to crawl out and look over not just at the edge but over the open-air falls, but I wasn't foolhardy enough to go out on it - and I didn't see anyone else on it either, FWIW.

Fingers tingling so gonna have a break.

Oh, I obviously could have delayed booking dorm in Quepos until I've had a chance to book the boat tomorrow but I didn't want to risk prices going up and stuff selling out. FWIW I picked the cheapest hostel (not much in it) in part because the second-cheapest had a pool and I don't much fancy being somewhere with that Tamarindo hostel pool vibe.

Oh, the guy at the new hostel turned down two of my USD20 bills because they had a tiny (mm or two) tear at the base - he said something about banks charging a dollar to replace these or something, I wasn't fully paying attention. I was internally peeved but don't think I showed it and I swapped them with some others. I should be able to palm these deeply shoddy bills off on other people - eg if I use them to pay for the boat tomorrow morning, since there are lots of places selling the same thing I assume they will be less stroppy as they don't have me over a barrel.

Incidentally overhearing largish group of card players and also thinking back to other hostels, it feels like there might be a certain camaraderie among people who cook in hostels. However, even if true, I don't really fancy trying to get into that. But never say never. I have occasionally in the past cooked in quieter hostels (partly to prove I can do it, partly for the satisfaction of having a substantial meal) and may do again. But I am just not sure I'd feel comfortable trying to "navigate" around in a busy kitchen.

So after leaving falls - didn't spend huge amount of time there, but enough, and I made a bit of effort etc so pleased-ish with myself - I walked back along beach. This turned into (exaggerated, but it did *feel* shit and I was a bit of a whiny bitch) a miserable grind. For some unknown reason a private part of my anatomy felt like it was red raw and I got a horrific suspicion it was sunburned despite not having been exposed, or failing that that it had been excessively sand+salt-abraded somehow. This made the walk back unpleasant, I was barefoot to start but put shoes on with no socks to cross a rocky patch between beaches and because I was just focussed on slogging back to the hostel I didn't put my socks on and I ended up wearing my right (IIRC - it doesn't hurt right now) "upper heel" into a slightly bloody mess due to friction with the shoe and had to stop and put socks on when I was "almost" home. I rocked up at the hostel in trunks, shoes+socks and slightly damp long-sleeved top feeling ultra-comical (not that anyone really gives a shit of course) but also too fucked off to care.

I got key, bag was OK, went into room and stripped naked and sat on the bed. I had taken some leftover wholemeal bread from sandwiches other day with me to beach (I had to take it from under bed when changing hostel of course, I had planned to each it at beach but given the death march feeling which kicked in I never got round to it) so I ate that in the room - not that I was starving, but it was welcome - and drank some water and started to feel vaguely human. I went and had a shower (incidentally this hostel and maybe last two make no pretence at hot water, there's no suicide shower, just a shower head with cold water, but of course it's so warm and muggy here than there's no hardship in a cold shower, and the "cold" water is probably 20Cish anyway) and started to feel like I might actually live.

Got dressed - private part seeming to not give me too much gyp, so fingers crossed it will be fine and I can go ahead with my mildly foolish plan to climb up to upper falls at tres cataratas tomorrow and "bathe" there for the day - and went into town. I had planned to eat at the possibly-cheap soda in town (turns out it's called Las Artesanas or something) as trogging out to Las Palmeras and asking for casado de bistec if not on menu and feeling a bit cheap for not ordering an overpriced drink didn't appeal. Menu outside had casado for 3.5k which isn't too bad (albeit it says "+10% service" , which feels shit, and no drink included - but I thought I'd get a black coffee for 600) but there were no tables free and everyone looked super tourist-dithery. I went and got 1.75l of (slightly sugary) te arandando blanco (or should that be te blanco arandando) at Mamatea - manfully resisting temptation to have a beer - and drank it on beach (I had planned to buy something like this after dinner and take it back to hostel, but demonstrated my adaptability) and went back to soda but it was still chocked and a big group waiting outside too. I wasn't super hungry - had breakfast and that bread - so decided I'd treat myself to some snacks from Mamatea, which I brought back and left in my room (I wasn't super hungry as I said, and also felt a bit nicely-ish bloated after the biggish bottle of te arandando) and which I will probably have soon-ish, or maybe take some tomorrow up to falls.

Not ultra healthy but not too bad.

So plan for tomorrow is maybe to get up 9-930ish, there may be free coffee here, then go into town and look about booking a boat (with the iffy dollar bills - oh, and I should probably try not to keep any 20s in my binder clip wallet, at least over several days, as that may be how the tears got in - the USD bills are paper, unlike the CR ones, and the UK ones back home) and assuming that's OK I'll take daypack with decent supply of water and trunks+towel (and probably wear the cleanish but salt-water-y two-tone blue top up there) and do the falls (fingers crossed, but I do kind of want to give myself this minor challenge) tomorrow. Given it's close-ish if I don't feel too shabbily dressed after I may go to Las Palmeras or I may have a go at getting a table in the soda I failed to get into tonight.

I think that's about everything bashed out. I do feel a bit awkward sitting here with this table of n (hard to see; 4-5?) people chatting away a few metres off, and they don't all know each other super well as I've overheard them ask where each other are from. I don't think it's really massively awkward and for better or worse I have been "playing" on my phone as well. I think I'll nerve myself to get up, say "goodnight" as I pass and go to room and snack and just enjoy a bit of privacy etc.
Just FTR they are all talking English, if it wasn't obvious, though I think they are all continental Europeans of various stripes.

Actually I won't say "goodnight" , it would probably be weird given they are currently talking. Gah. Fucking hate this shit. It should be trivial, it hardly matters, but I don't know what to do. Is it rude to just get up and walk past without saying anything? Or is it rude to interrupt the conversation to say "goodnight" ? Fuck it, I'll just say nothing unless they happen to speak to me. I've been sitting here on my own all this time.

2229 Don't think I said earlier that post-waterfall I did go into the sea a bit (well under waist deep) and sat down and let the surf buffet me around etc.

There was a gecko or lizard of some kind in the room earlier, I didn't get a photo as it has disappeared. My room is right at the front and some people are talking out front and it's very slightly annoying (I can't quite make out what they're saying, fortunately) but not a huge deal.

Might have been nice to do bit of laundry tonight but I was knackered when I got into room and then tied up with accom booking/plan making and writing this up and don't really want to be making washing squelchy noises in bathroom when it might disturb or at least attract attention of people in nearby rooms. I might try to do a tiny bit tomorrow anyway. Also need to "tidy up" backpack as the inconvenience and security aspects of being in dorm mean things just get shoved in and taken out any old how.

If I didn't say earlier room is a little cell-like but not too bad really, and it is cheap-ish. A couple of bloody hooks/nails to hang stuff on wouldn't go amiss though. (There is one screw protruding in the doorframe, I think more by luck than judgement.)

Actually there is quite a bit of noise from people walking up some presumably adjacent stairs and maybe even in the room(s) above. It's fine, it is just a little bit crappy. Not really complaining.

FWIW given there are 14ish rooms judging from door numbers (and some of those will be dorms) the group of maybe 4-5ish (certainly single digits) at table earlier cooking/playing cards (shithead)/eating clearly wasn't "all" of the guests - place may not be full, but I am assuming it's not that empty.

Tue 0012 Bed.