NICOYA PENISULA DAY 1 / PUNTARENAS TO MONTEZUMA

15.1.15

The owner of our house in Ecovilla is coming for a long visit, so its a perfect time to step out of Ecovilla gates and explore more of Costa Rica. We have been dreaming of the Caribbean coast but the recent weather updates from our friends have turned our interest towards Guanacaste. We have been staying at our friends house this week and last night she called to let us know she was coming few days early because of the terrible rains in the Caribbean coast. The next morning we received an email from Rick's Apartments in montezuma, which was previously booked, that the reservation has opened up so we took it as a sign and headed towards Guanacaste. We made it right on time to Puntarenas for a 2 o'clock ferry. It cost us about 24$ for the car and 4 people. The ferry trip was fun and easy with beautiful views of the Nicoya Penisula. Within an hour's time we were about to enter the southern zone of Nicoya Penisula, one of Costa Rica's most secluded gems. From the hilly interior, the mountains sweep down to the pacific ocean, creating some of the most pristine and remote beaches.

We arrived in Montezuma before dark. Our apartment was in Delicias a town near all the famous beaches. We booked it for a month to be able to explore the area, once at the apartment we quickly realized this wasn't a good place for us. It turned out our neighbor was a criminal not allowed back in the States, had strange people visit him at night, his dog almost bit leo in the face and he chain smoked cigarettes. Besides these issues the internet didn't work, the shower was cold and the electrical outlets were exposed. His caretakers, a young Nicaraguan couple spoke no english and they were way too young to take care of the house. That evening we decided we will leave this place in the morning. We hoped we would be able to get our money back, but little did we know Paypal has no protection for vacation rentals. We still haven't received money back and I doubt we ever will. The owner (from Canada) has stopped responding to our emails or phone calls. We had the other neighbors call and explain that what we said was all true but it didn't face him. We found his place on Craigslist and here is the website: https://www.facebook.com/RicksApartments and there is not a place where we would possible be able to leave a feedback.

I would recommend that when you travel, either rent from a rental agent (never direct from the owner) or from Airbnb, Homeaway or VRBO at least on these websites you can read the reviews and the owners usually care about keeping up their reputation intact. If you rent from their original website they most likely writing their own reviews. To be secure rent for a night first and if you like it pay for the month, learn from our mistakes. Although we are very upset about being gringoed and cheated we won't let him ruin our vacation.