You could surf, explore natural tide pools, snorkel or go horseback riding in Montezuma. But we went where the tip of our noses led us.
We went on a 40 minute hike to see the waterfall to the right, and there was a guy who climbed straight UP inside the waterfall. You could swim in the waters there. Some fish was biting my ass.
Another unique waterfall to lies the left, on Playa Cocolito. One of seven in the world that goes straight into the ocean. The path to it was a bit unclear and we ended up using MANY hours walking the beach and some rocky terrain all the way to get there. Said to be 2 hours walking there, but we counted longer and did not have enough food or water with us. Luckily a man was sitting in the shade, guiding us to a family that had water we could fill in our bottles to make it further. People are very helpful in Costa Rica and will often contribute if you seem lost (in which we often did). With blistered feet and no clue, we finally got back to Montezuma just before the dark and enjoyed a BIG meal.
Another day we decided to go for a picnic in Cabuya. The taxi driver, a certified naturalist took us to a place by a river. On the journey there he showed us a tree that could walk (just like Lord Of the rings hehe). It also strangled other trees to death. Of they must stay awake at night in terror! We saw scarlet macaws and a lot of other birdlife by the river. Just after we mentioned how it looked like something straight out of Jurassic Park, we heard a loud growl with echo for miles. It turned out to be howler monkeys.
There are small restaurants called sodas all around Costa Rica. We fell in love with Sano Banano. Their avocado toast is legendary! Marianne taught me there is something called avocado mafias. Is that a real thing?
I also enjoyed Pitaya icecream at the "Icedream" soda. The purple was so vibrant, and it's so good that even the icecream guy from Lilo & Stitch can't drop that one to the ground.
I found a beautiful shell on the beach and gave it to Wilkie because he makes jewelry for a living, so I asked him if he could create something personal with it. People in Montezuma are so open, you can just hang with anyone!
We were jamming with the pizza-lady to "Celebrate good times!", and brought the pizza to the town square to enjoy the live music while eating. This little square seems like a home to anyone no matter how far someone have fallen out of the embrace of life. Wilkie came over and sat by my side with a smirk. He had in his upper left pocket on his shirt the finished necklace. I had stars in my eyes as I looked at it. It had a thin wire shaped like a tree, and a spiral on top.
"The tree of life" he said.
I asked about the spiral on top. He said "Life goes in a spiral like that".
The music filled the square, and Wilkie asked of we were gonna join the latina-dance party later at the bar. I had promised myself to sleep early, but my body gave into the dance. A little too much, because damn we crushed it in there! People were impressed. We dance-vibed with some more people. The dancing was a never ending spin into more experiences as the following days came by.
Always a new show, always something new to immerse yourself away into. Alive, every night with passion.
Yesterday I had my birthday, and the local musician Kongo played a song for me on the ukulele, because my friend Milo pitched it in. The birthday song in the form of reggea was so dope! Milo also taught me that the music genre here is Cumbia. A style of latin music that combines African, Amerindian and European styles with instruments such as flutes, drums, accordions and maracas. I will use some chants from this in my own song when I come home to produce it.
They made a bonfire for me on the beach, and we had deep talks and our foreheads together in friendship to connect.
The clouds covered the nightsky, but we were pretending to blow them away to see the stars. The clouds to our amusement opened right in front of where we blew and we laughed.
I felt like being in the Avatar movie.
Speaking of which, tomorrow we are going to Tambor to try and see bioluminescent algae glowing up the ocean, also called sea of stars.
Starting at the tip of Nicoya Peninsula, which is one of the 5 "blue zones" in the world (a place where people live exceptionally long and healthy lives) Montezuma was just like I Imagined in my head. A small and vibrant bohemian town with a chill and playful atmosphere. ChatGPT recommended it to us based on our preferences with not so many tourists, some backpackers and jungle meeting the beach. And I am already so glad it did!
We woke up at 4:30AM, probably due to jetlag and decided to explore the town and capture the sunrise with the drone.
We already saw super colorful birds (one even joined us for breakfast) and the temperature in the ocean was perfect. The water came and snatched our shoes so we walked in shame to get some watershoes instead of those plastic flipflops that penetrate your feet.
While strolling from a bar we met Wilkie. A kind local who informed us that there was gonna be a bonfire party this night at the little plaza. We thanked him, jumping in excitement. We were told by someone else it was a party to celebrate the alignment of planets, and it was 400 years until the next time.
The party was crazy! With soap bubbles, characteristic people, dancing light suits and the perfect rythmic and soulful music with the drums! I find that I love native drums!
Later they lit up the big bonfire the DJ moved to the beach. It all seemed so spontanious. Suddenly all the setup was just there on the beach with the starry sky as its audience.
Me, Marianne, Wilkie and another cool guy named Jason was hanging out by the bonfire. Jason said it was best without shoes to feel the contact with the sand. They later showed us a secret place where bioluminescent algae used to be. We only saw one algae, but were amazed either way.
We remembered Marias message to be suspicious, so we did not show our new friends where we lived just in case. Outside our door we met Kongo, the star of the local band. He nicknamed me Moonshine, Marianne Sunshine and we named him Bongo-Kongo because he had the drum. We had to pretend to be walking somewhere else and then come back to our Airbnb haha. Best to be careful the first day. It was a long day. Wow! So much adventure already and we have 3 weeks left!
I told Marianne we have to be careful to not go to bed super late and wake up super early the whole time out of excitement, because then we are gonna eventually die. It feels good to be hungry for life. And Montezuma is the best meal!
We traveled for almost 32 hours, but time flies when I am with my friend. I am also never worried what is gonna happen with us. Because of her I can meet anything, and it would just be 100% worth it. We are partners in adventure. If we don't find our hotel confirmation (that happened in Oslo) we laugh, if we end up in a situation we are 100% f*cked, we laugh. We are comfortable being uncomfortable, and that makes deep adventure highly accessible.
The first thing I notice when the plane lands, is the smelll of a new country. It had a sharp scent, like if perfectly spiced food were steaked over open fire and served with vibrant pink flowers. You could smell that the biodiversity is strong here. We felt a bit unsafe walking in the middle of the night from the airport to our Airbnb. We are quite dedicated to save money on taxi and decided to walk 20 minutes.
Even in the big naked city, San Jose, the capitol of Costa Rica, it felt exotic. Especially due to ONE tree on the way that contained some strange noises. We did not know if it was a bird or a monkey (or a crazy person) but it sounded wild to us.
We got scared of a puppy because we thought it was a wild dog. We finally found the sign to the apartment.
The first thing we experienced as typical Costa Rica is that the keys have to be turned the opposite direction than other countries to unlock doors. And they don't flush toilets here, you have a bin for the paper because the severs are too small.
The morning after we met our host Maria. She said we had to be more suspicious than walking alone at night. She felt we were her daughters and she was a really strong mother figure we connected instantly with. It's so beautiful to know you can have even more good family around the world. We decided to try and remember her advice to be suspicious.
We asked her how to get to Montezuma (5 hours from San Jose). She gaped wide "WHAT? That is something people book a long time in advance. The only bus that went was 6am today". Looking at each other in "oops", she contacted the company who had shuttles. They luckily had TWO available spots in the shuttle with someone else. I am a lucker, always.
Our ride to Montezuma started. To say they are driving like savages is an understatement. Their word for "speedbump" is "The dead people" and they drive more in a straight line when on alcohol so that about sums it up. They also don't have streetsigns so you mostly have to say the name of the house or something nearby to find your way. My question is how do they know all the places so well? O_O
"Life is a repeated cycle of getting lost and then finding yourself again. Sometimes you do it to yourself on purpose, consciously or unconsciously. Every time you get lost it is so that you can learn something or experience something from a different perspective."
-Jay Woodman.
I went from spilling drinks because I was shaking so much out of anxiety, to generating my own robust happiness to the point I was almost neglected access to a bar because I was too high on life (with zero consumables involved). How did I get there?
Before I knew I could choose my own feelings and how they affected the substances in my body (Oxytocin, dopamine etc.), life was an emotional storm with all sorts of debris like foggy subconscious action, tsunamis of overwhelmingness and wildfires of worry. I had severe anxiety for 2 whole years, and did not know how to align the workings of my body with the life I wanted to have and emotions I wanted to feel.
I was in constant opposition and got severe symptoms.
That changed when I spoke to a life coach, and he told me anxiety is decreased when you are aware why you get it and every trigger. I started to build consciousness around how I responded to things and how it wired my neurotransmitters over time to become who I wanted to be. I was learning to be human by choosing my thoughts actively, and by accepting the fragileness that comes from this spiral of learning. I am learning through that spiral that the best way to relate in a world where everything is in constant opposition, is to lead each subconscious into the conscious and hold it there by making it part of your identity or belief for long enough so it becomes who you are. Clarity or illumination was the word that transformed my foggy storm into near constant climax. However, through growth, there will always occur new nuts to crack.
We get constant pressure and fear from outside and inside, and the only true way to be blissful is to lead each bubble to the surface in the most efficient manner. Or join the yin and yang's with some sort of glue as a way to make sense of each particular thing. It's a dance of eagles and snakes.
I discovered through traveling that the world is full of tools or concepts of ways of life, to master the balance of what we literally are made of and how that affects the world around us. My belief is that we can balance the inner and outer environment with lasting impact, through these aware story transformations.
Let's gather the biggest toolkit by traveling the world in search for all these concepts!
I'm a Norwegian artist and vagabond looking for sagas from all corners of the world, to base music short videos on. I hope you feel at home on my site.
