Montezuma – Day 3: Romance and Bonfires
MONTEZUMA
Day 3: Romance & Bonfires
January 24, 2023
That same night, I went back to my dorm – my bed right beside this old guy who, in between very wet-sounding farts, couldn’t stop sneezing and coughing. It took me a few hours to finally get some shut-eye – mostly cause he’d given up on the same endeavour.
Half asleep but thoroughly irritated, I somehow managed to get myself up just in time for breakfast. As fate would have it, Jorge – the very same guy from the night before – sat right next to me as he blew his nose ad nauseam. I kinda wished him gone. Perhaps that’s why it was more than a little unsettling when he suddenly lost consciousness right in front of my eyes, thereby fulfilling my daydream-turned-premonition. Then he started rolling his eyes and smacking his lips. As a neurosurgeon wannabe, part of me really wanted this to be some sort of seizure, but given that he was probably suffering from a common viral illness and looked visibly dehydrated, I knew it was far more likely to be a mundane fainting episode.
As the hostel’s growing audience gasped, I had my movie-like moment. I told everyone to step aside and heroically stepped in, trying to muster as much medical prowess as I humanly could after almost six months of inactivity. I immediately put him in the recovery position, asked the receptionist to call an ambulance, and assessed his airway, breathing, and circulation – a rudimentary assessment at best, given that I had no equipment whatsoever.
It took him about thirty seconds to come around, at which point he was back to baseline, fully alert and oriented. I carried out a basic examination and a focused neuro exam, the only notable findings being that he was cold and clammy but otherwise fine. I insisted he go to hospital. His refusal unleashed the receptionist’s rage at me for having called a taxi (turns out there are no ambulances going to Montezuma) for nothing. That was her priority – not the guy who’d been unconscious just minutes earlier. I pulled the doctor card and, after taking a brief history, wrote a referral on a piece of scrap paper for him to take to emergency, having instilled in him a healthy fear that this might be something more than plain dehydration.
With him and his friend on their merry way to hospital, the receptionist finally commended me for my quick and able response, adding that she’d had something similar a few years back and had been diagnosed with two embolic strokes. The very same lady who was gonna make me pay for the guy’s taxi if he didn’t use it. The friggin’ audacity. This is the part of the job I really don’t miss.
Coffee, Ink, and Doing Nothing
Admittedly, it felt good to finally practise some medicine, albeit briefly. It was, in fact, the perfect way to start the day. First work, then fun. And a lot of fun was definitely on the cards.
At this point, I had some pretty big plans. I was meant to visit the Montezuma Waterfall in the morning and then spend my afternoon surfing – something I hadn’t done since El Tunco and something I’d completely neglected back in San Juan del Sur. That said, I was once again in need of a rest day. I’d seen my fair share of waterfalls, and I convinced myself I could continue my surfing journey some other time – perhaps at an actual surf camp someday in the future.
I spent the day writing and downing countless cups of coffee. It was pure, absolute heaven. In the evening, Jorge, who told me he’d been to hospital and had been referred to another one in the capital for further investigations, invited me to dinner as a way of thanking me. I cordially declined – on account of having a date with Blanca.
Driftwood and Starlight
I have to admit that despite having gotten along so well with Blanca, I was still a bit nervous about our date. She was so confident and headstrong it was almost intimidating. But, as always, it’s the challenging ones that I find intriguing.
And so, we met in the small square by the beach and had a couple of Imperial beers – her telling me all about the restaurant she owns back in Málaga and showing me her signature dishes. When I told her I’m not pernickety about food and that I eat pretty much anything except cilantro (why does it even exist?), she promised she’d get me to like it somehow, inviting me to her restaurant once I got back to Europe.
When I asked about her trip, she told me she’d been in Montezuma for the past three weeks and still had two more to go, volunteering at a turtle hatchery. During the day, she helped out with cleaning at their lodge and then did a three-hour shift taking care of the turtles, which, she explained, mostly involved staring at them and making sure nothing happened.
After hanging out for a while, we followed the music down to the beach, where a big crowd had formed around a huge bonfire. It was Miguel’s birthday – a local Blanca had met during her stay. We bought our way into the celebrations with a six-pack of beer, which granted us access to a seemingly limitless barbecue. From beef and pork to chicken and fish, they had it all, and in ridiculous quantities, every single bite leaving us drooling. It was also nice to finally hang out with some locals, having had little opportunity to mingle with Ticos up until then. It was good vibes only – pure pura vida!
After we’d dug in and settled into a solid food coma, we went for a short walk along the beach. She had some weed, which we indulged in. All chilled out and relaxed, I went in for a kiss. It was such a perfect moment – not just because she was gorgeous and a great kisser, but also because of the entire setting. Us sitting on driftwood, surrounded by sand, palm trees, and the stillness of the sea, a gorgeous sunset and then being covered by a blanket of stars that felt almost dreamlike.
It had been a long, long time since I’d dipped my toes into romantic affairs, but honestly, I can say that this was a perfect moment. Better still was the fun that came after… Hehehe.