Montezuma-Quepos

Wed 1st 1742 In kitchen at new hostel. Had bit of chat earlier and have spoken v briefly to a few people, feels fairly nice on whole.

Bit of an odd day. Will just go chronologically. As I write this the boat feels like years ago.

Didn't sleep that well, perhaps too cold with fan on and/or edgy about missing boat. Actually got up about 650-7 as was already awake for a while and figured no point clinging on in bed. Packed, went out to see about coffee, kitchen not open but went back to room or something like that and it was then open and managed to get two cups of coffee.

Double-checked room, handed key in and went to wait by place where bought boat ticket. Said I was waiting for it to guy there, feeling tiny bit edgy as time got past 820 but guy said we were waiting for a few more people and that made me feel reassured. Maybe about 840 but not sure he told me to go with some other guy and we walked just round corner through refugio place onto the beach (guy took my bag at this point, I half wish I'd had it on my back and then maybe he wouldn't have) and along the beach. I had been warned (by RG and by guy at ticket place this morning) I'd need to take shoes off as it's a beach landing, not a big deal - I didn't fall over in surf and ruin phone/camera. They put my backpack in a plastic bag and carried it on for me.

Smallish boat, six passengers and three crew, I estimate boat might have held 15ish full-but-comfortably. Had to wear lifejacket, not a big deal but as I was putting mine on and looking down as a result we started moving and the mixed visuals/movement made me feel a bit queasy. But I was fine once I started actually looking out of the boat.

Quite bumpy (reminded of "Deed you see that beeg rock?" bit in James Herriot) but kind of cool, felt like we were going pretty fast. Another boat probably doing same taxi run sometimes in front and sometimes behind us. No sightings of any marine life en route. Was a tiny bit worried cap would come off but in reality nothing to see ahead (I held cap on for safety - prob have been fine anyway) so I was looking slightly to rear most of time as thus wind less likely to catch brim of cap and whip it off. Orange wool top v comfortable for this stage, though anything else probably have been fine too.

1825 Bit of chat by accident as walked out onto balcony and someone else was out there.

When we landed at beach in Jaco I thought I was done with the transfer I'd paid for and was putting shoes/socks on when guy came over and offered me a sneaky "bargain" deal to go to Quepos for USD15. I declined - partly simply because I wanted to take the cheap public bus, partly as I wondered if he was a scammer. He then said we were 7km from town and that he'd take me to bus terminal for free. I was in paranoid mode and wondered if this was a scam but (despite it being super bright and hard to see screen) I managed to check on Google Maps and we were indeed 7km from town so I figured I'd have to chance it, and then of course I recognised my fellow passengers (very little chat among us in general, incidentally, though pretty noisy on boat anyway) and felt reassured.

Got off at bus terminal which turned out to be just a stop at side of road. I asked a guy there and he asked where I was going and he told me the green buses went to Quepos, we had a bit of a chat intermittently which was nice (understood about 70-80%), he used to be in San Jose but retired and now has a big house here with just him and his wife but his four grown up sons and their families come to visit at Easter and Christmas.

I happened to mention the tallest waterfall in the country to him, thinking it was down south, and he said it was near here. I need to research this, which I will prob do tomorrow night, but I'm sure he's right and if so that was lucky as otherwise I'd probably have missed it.

I was sweating a lot and annoying dark patches visible on orange top. Legs also sweating a bit so not necessarily down to the orange wool top but maybe. Honestly don't know if it's generally hotter here than Montezuma or it was just random and/or lack of breeze. Youngish guy joined us at one point, we all exchanged a few words, I was broadly suspicious of him but he seemed generally nice and I wasn't exactly concerned with all those people around.

Got on bus and there was at least a breeze as we moved. At one point a youngish quite clean-cut guy sat next to me and after a minute or two (I had paid no attention up to this point, he was just guy sitting next to me on bus) he showed me a translation app on his phone with a message in Spanish and English saying something like "Hello my friend, will you be the one to help my wife gotzpl the kimbotz" - the g and k words are made up, because they made no sense so I can't remember them and I could see they were the same in the Spanish and English versions and I didn't recognise them in either language.

[Ha, just had *another* chat - motherlode here - and a woman saw my K1 on table and recognised it and said she has the exact same model. What are the odds? :-) She also said no point paying for guide at MA park, FWIW.]

I said "lo siento" and he didn't seem to get upset and moved away a few minutes later. *Maybe* he physically can't speak, but surely he'd put that in his (begging?) message. And what's with these two obscure words Google (I assume) Translate doesn't know that his wife needs help with? Have to put him down as slightly and not threateningly weird.

Got off bus and found hostel fine. No one here, cardboard sign on wall saying check in 1500, ring bell and wait few mins if no one here or call one of these three numbers. Long story short I hung around for maybe 15 mins and did call once and left a voicemail (so at least my phone probably worked with Claro SIM) and then all of a sudden a woman turned up inside and asked if I had a reservation and we got it sorted. Paid USD60+400 colones for the odd amount over USD60, got lower bunk, place is actually pretty nice and dorm is airconned at night to 24/25C.

I had been thinking on bus (also prompted by watching people cook themselves breakfast at hostel this morning) that maybe I'd experimentally cook for myself here, I hadn't originally thought to do it today but then during journey I thought "yeah fuck, do it today" - I didn't expect there to be much to "do" here today, and that way any more-than-one-day supplies I bought would be usable over next four days (and also I could maybe take them to next place, given it is a few km away).

So - being a bit of a whiny bitch TBH - I headed out about 1-2pmish to get supplies, I hadn't seen anyone in hostel but I figured it would be good to cook in relative privacy to avoid awkwardness, esp first time.

Went to mini supermarket down street, few vaguely iffy looking guys outside, decided not to go in but had to cross road to go to (actually nonexistent) bigger supermarket just round corner, one of the guys stepped back and said "hola amigo" and I said "hola" back and kept walking and maybe he called something else but I didn't understand and had already gone past, and as I went round the corner I felt a pebble bounce off my back. Maybe I imagined it but I dunno. Nothing else happened but bit weird.

Trogged the brief distance into town and the two "supermarkets" on map both v small. Then spotted one actually right near hostel so went up there. It was bigger but I was still being a whiny bitch (heat/laundry concerns, maybe I "wanted" food but it was way earlier than I'd normally eat so can't really blame that) but did buy some stuff. Can't believe a tin of sweetcorn or similar is like 700-1200 colones. Didn't buy that, in the end I got a fresh onion, 12 "ready to eat" hot dog sausages, a red pepper, a pack of smoked paprika (the only spice hostel has is salt, I wished I'd kept the chili packets from my Liberian pizza, but coulda woulda shoulda etc), some rice and a 1.5l pepsi zero (the latter surprisingly cheap at maybe 600ish?). The lot came to about 5500 - I have receipt in pocket and may dig it out in a bit. *Not* cheap, and I'd seen several sodas/restaurants offering casado+drink at 3.5k here, but this is partly an experiment and also  this is food for at least 1.5ish days and it's nice to be able to eat a big meal. Oh, I got a chunk of watermelon too, it's generally cheapish here and as I rather like watermelon but don't buy it in UK as it seems pricey and had been eyeing them longingly for weeks I finally got some - I haven't touched it yet, it's still in (emptyish) fridge here.

Brief chat with some other guy (Brit?) during cooking and eating but mostly left to my own devices, which suited me. Oh, when I checked in the guy told me there were some free eggs in fridge left by departing guest, so I chucked one of those in as I was cooking too. Meal was slightly odd and the hot food plus the "metabolic heat" generated by eating made me sweat more, but it was at least nicely substantial and I felt vaguely stuffed and the cold pepsi was a nice little treat.

OK, got receipt out. 1.61kg (?) slice watermelon 1005.84,  1.5l pepsi 778.76,  onion 261.30, 10g smoked paprika 451.33 (all these prices are without 201.49 tax shown on receipt), red pepper 198.02, rice 940.59 (1kg? not checking packet now), sausages 1752.48.

Then had fairly long chat with another guy (seem to be lot of new people turning up) and went out for walk about 1630. I walked up to where ferry goes to rustic place in a few days and maybe it's the chat I just had talking about him getting mugged and his daughter having problems in a park - none of this anywhere in Costa Rica except San Jose - or maybe it was real or maybe the guys outside supermarket earlier freaked me out, but I felt vaguely edgy even though generally it seemed fairly respectable if slightly round and quite a few people about. Maybe it being an hour or so before sunset didn't help, at least in my mind.

Anyway, I pushed on as far as the ferry. Youngish guy with beer and carrier bag spoke to me in street leading up, I said I didn't speak Spanish and he spoke fairly good English, I replied but kept walking. 50ish metres down street was the ferry terminal and a respectable looking local guy obviously clocking I was a tourist said in English "are you going to <name of rural place>?" and I said "in a couple of days" . I turned round and of course youngish guy still there. He kept saying he had a bad face but was not a bad guy and people/tourists were always edgy and he showed me he had red snapper in his carrier bag and said he was working but had been in prison and I'm *trying* not to appear too nervous but probably failing and he kept following me/walking with me and he showed me the street he lived on and I'm not daring to get phone out so hoping I'm remembering the turns back correctly (I was) and finally he asks where I am staying and I say and he says it's over there (where I though) and veered off down some street. So presumably he *is* a decent guy (and personally his face didn't look "bad" , it's just cos he's a youngish guy and rightly or wrongly I have vague bad vibes from the area/town) and wasn't trying to mug me but I still felt relieved, and TBH although as I say people broadly seemed respectable round there (lot of clean looking school kids coming out in uniform etc) and I will be doing it morning not just before sunset I am a smidge edgy about walking (or even taxiing and hanging around terminal) up to terminal with my backpack.

Had another chat - honestly, just struck chat motherlode here, one is going on in kitchen behind me but as I've already spoken to two of them I don't feel "excluded" - with a German woman tonight who had just got here but has been in CR for a month or more and she said she felt there was something a little bit sketchy about the town. Fuck knows, maybe there is. Maybe I am also being influenced by a not-negative review on rural place I'm booked for saying something to the effect that it's in a bit of a slum but the owner sort of makes a virtue or it (paraphrasing from memory).

Anyway, I had a shower after "escaping" from that guy and before chat with that German woman. I *still* feel a bit sweaty - wearing water-only washed black raging sport top, which I will wear tomorrow for doubtless sweaty day at park then change into clean blue rs top and my clean trousers. I got a chance to ask the staff guy about laundry when I was eating and he said they do laundry for 2k a kilo or there's some soda in town, but I think I'll give this hostel a load tomorrow night. There are signs up saying no hanging damp clothes in dorm (though there are washing lines on balcony, but staff guy didn't say anything about hand laundry being an option, though I didn't ask) and the two sinks are in an open area near niceish bathrooms so no privacy for sneaky hand washing. But I don't mind paying for a proper wash and that should see me through to rustic place and there may be washing (and perhaps given how "rural"/off-grid it is, even hand-washing) options there.

Think that's about everything.

If I didn't say, the sea slug things in the waterfall pools at end of Montezuma beach chain were white.

Free coffee maker (drip home-style filter gadget, not industrial urn style) here so going slightly mad on coffee, not nec sensible given feeling hot but fuck it. Manfully resisted temptation to buy a beer in supermarket earlier.

1924 Seeing mention (astoundingly un-pejorative) of palm oil plantations in RG, I believe I had noticed what looked like deliberately dense-ish palm "forests" from bus on way in.

Guide book makes out you have to buy bus tickets three days in advance during dry season. WTF? I had zero trouble getting on bus in today, so will assume no trouble getting out.

Dorm here is nicely spacious and there is a double socket by each bunk, albeit not right at the head end. Lent my charger to German woman, who came abroad at 5 days notice a month or so ago and has managed to get by without one til now, incidentally.

RG says nothing about Quepos being rough, tho quick web search on subject turns up some 2014ish stuff saying RG used to say it was, although at the time the comments on that thread were mostly "nah, it's fine, the odd scuzzy person round but nothing really to worry about" FWIW.

1942 Trying to research waterfall, may not be *the* tallest but the local one is probably "manatial de agua viva" at Bijagual.

Struggling a bit to find how to get there. However, looking at Google Maps, it is more-or-less as close to San Jose as it is to here. So *maybe* I could visit it from San Jose at end of trip, or of course leave it for a future trip. But I'm not writing it off for now, just making the observation.

Incidentally German woman said her experience on east coast (not super sure where) was that people did *not* speak English. But maybe she was in more rural areas.

2143 Bed. Sign in kitchen says "no phones in dorm after 10pm" , hope no one tries to enforce this as I use mine to read myself to sleep. Anyway, all surprisingly OK today despite weird poss-fine-really sketchiness of the town.