Montezuma

Folks,

We had a lovely weekend in Montezuma on the Pacific coast. The elections are still in the balance – and it looks like summer has arrived at last!

Journey to Montezuma
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Enough jokes about Montezuma’s revenge! This, if you don’t know, is a euphemism for traveller’s diarrhoea. Anyway, we had a lovely time in Montezuma, and didn’t have any untoward stomach problems!

Montezuma is on the very south of the Nicoya peninsula, across the Gulf of Nicoya. So we had to get a bus to Puntarenas, a taxi to the ferry, a ferry to Paquera and another bus along largely unpaved roads to Montezuma. It’s a long journey, and in hindsight perhaps too long for just a weekend.

However, the ferry crossing was very beautiful. At one stage as you cross the gulf, you can’t even see where the open sea is, and you’re surrounded by really green mountains in against the blue sky and sea, with a beautiful warm breeze for the crossing.

Montezuma
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Montezuma is very beautiful. It’s an old hippie town, although for me there is little sign of that now. It has a series of very beautiful beaches. We literally spent hours in the water over the two days. Because it’s a bit more touristy, there are a lot of restaurants, and we had really beautiful meals on both nights.

The weather was beautiful, and Saturday evening was particularly memorable as Jack and I sat in a bar on the beach drinking cocktails and beer watching the sun set and the full moon rise. The sun actually sets over the hill to the west, so you don’t see it set over the sea, but the sky was a beautiful pinky-grey. Then the full moon was so beautiful and rose as night fell while we were having our drinks.

The restaurants have the simple outdoor decorations of candles placed in sand in ordinary paper bags around the perimeter of each bar, and the effect along the beach bars is beautiful.

Election count continues
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The election count for the presidency continues, but the result now seems clear. The wealthy pro-American Oscar Arias has opened up a clear lead, and will also be over the 40% level needed to avoid a run-off election. A major issue in the result has been the amount of support for Ottón Solís and his sceptical attitude to CAFTA which he wants to have renegotiated.

CAFTA is the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and is a treaty between the United States and El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. All the others have now ratified it. It’s tied up in the assembly here, awaiting the outcome of the election. Arias is in favour, but Solís feels that it is one-sided in favour of the Americans and wants to have it renegotiated. It’s been the major political issue since we arrived. But an Arias victory should mean that it is implemented soon.
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So that’s it for another week. The weather was beautiful over the past week. I think summer has finally arrived. Everyone has told me that the weather has been wetter and cooler than normal for this time of year, and it seems that it may be due to the La Niña climate phenomenon – which I’ll research and update you on another week.

Pura Vida,

Éamon

Today’s headline in La Nación: Trucks avoid weak controls for heavy vehicles on roads.