Last day in Montezuma

This morning I set out for the beach and shortly I came upon a Samsung smartphone on the ground. It was cracked and I couldn't turn it on but I plugged it in in my room and asked Sr. Carlos for his advice. I asked at the fancy hotel with the beautiful restaurant next door but she didn't know anything and didn't care. I did find out they had yoga classes every morning for $15. Too bad I didn't know that earlier!

I got to the beach and saw four horses tied up in the shade with no grass to graze on and no one around. I later saw four people riding them on the beach. Maybe it's better for the environment than those awful ATVs that are everywhere here (but not for the horses).

The water was lovely again but I seemed to be the only one in the water (about 9:30am). The waves seemed pretty strong so I didn't spend long and got out, did yoga and read my book on the beach. 

I had lunch at the same place as yesterday,  the Bakery Café,  and again I talked to the owner and the young female server. Four young German women had cake and the owner later told me they are part of the 30 or so volunteers for turtle rescue down the street.

The owner kindly but a bit grudgingly gave me a leaf from his aloe vera plant for my sunburn.  They recommended I take the public bus to Cóbano in a couple of hours to use the ATM and go to an actual pharmacy (unavailable in this tiny village).

Instead I walked to the Montezuma waterfall. I was warned that hiking up to the falls is difficult so when it got tough I turned around. Rosalie told me if you go further there are stairs but the café server said it's a lot further to walk.

          Advertisements right on the "trail"!

I kept walking, being careful of vehicles like a true Tica, and gave a wary dog a treat at the waterfall parking and then to two sweet dogs hanging out with two boys on a beach a half mile down.  The beach had many plastic bottles on it and I didn't have a bag to put them in. I guess the recent International Coastal Clean Up Day didn't make it here. Recycling (and garbage collection) seems weak here, much like the U.S.A.

I came across a plaque on a house with signs otherwise in English:

And that's how I learned of the Costa Rican artist named César Valverde Vega who not only was an artist but also a lawyer, government official, newspaper writer and a novelist:

"César Valverde Vega was a founding member of Grupo Ocho, a group of Costa Rican abstract artists in the 1960’s. This group sought to revive and advance the plastic arts movement in Costa Rica. Vega’s painted murals at the time featured stylized images of women. He became the University of Costa Rica’s Director of Plastic Arts after earlier serving the institution as a professor of art."

https://www.govisitcostarica.com/travelInfo/famous-artists/cesar-valverde-vega.asp