Malpais Area Activities

Costa Rica Waterfall near Montezuma

The Santa Teresa/Malpais area of Costa Rica has a larger variety of fun activities than any other, and the prices are a little more reasonable than a place such as Monteverde. Many of the activities shown here are free. You can spend a month here and do an amazing new activity every day. If your trip to Costa Rica is a week or less, then I recommend you spend a good part of it here rather than driving all over the country on potholed roads and ending up spending most of your vacation in the car.

This guide details not only the ordinary tourist activities of the area where you will find many tourists, but also many free activities that you won’t find listed at the tourist agencies or guidebooks.

Of course, the primary reason that many people come to Santa Teresa is for surfing. The waves are legendary, and although the most popular breaks can be crowded (primarily the ones right in town), there are others that have few, or no people riding them. If you haven’t surfed before, there are many people in Santa Teresa who are ready to give you a surf lesson or two.

Adrenaline Rush

The primary reason people visit this area is for the legendary surfing. It’s a very rare day without great waves in this part of Costa Rica. In addition to surfing, there are so many other beach activities that people do in Costa Rica, such as snorkeling, fishing, hiking, and horseback riding.


Surfing Click here to jump to the ‘beaches’ section of the website. Look for the red surfboard icons to see which beaches are best for surfers. In general, the Malpais side of the peninsula has better, more consistent waves, but the Montezuma side has its great spots as well.	Two Canopy Tours There are two canopy tours in the area. The Malpais canopy tour is longer and higher. The Montezuma one is shorter, but it includes a swim in the world famous Montezuma Falls. These should really be called “Jungle Zip Lines” because the tour is all about zipping through the canopy rather than learning about it. But still, they’re very fun.	Ultralight Flight For the ride of your life, try an ultralight flight from Tambor with Uli. Call him at 2683-0480.


Scuba Diving Many have found the diving here to be the best on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. There are many large fish, rays, turtles, eels, etc in the area. Visit the scuba outfitters in Montezuma to get the scoop, or for Malpais, call 2640-0187 for info.	Cliff Jumping and Ropeswing People die every other year trying to jump the Montezuma falls. Usually they fall while attempting to climb up. So we recommend the third pool of the falls, where it’s much safer, with cliffs from 2m-11m (6-35 feet). There’s also a rope-swing and a tree you can climb out on and do a backflip (or more likely a bellyflop) to amuse your friends.	Sea Kayaking Take a sea kayak trip out to mysterious Cabuya Island and go snorkeling at the fan reef there. This is a spectacular trip and one of the best things you can do in the area. You may even see whales, which are frequently in these waters. Sea kayaking is easy, so don’t worry if you haven’t done it before. You can also launch from Montezuma Bay. Check the tours kiosks in Montezuma for details about kayak rentals and guided tours.


Boogie Boarding If you’re not up for surfing, you can still do this, which is easy and a lot less painful. You can rent boogie boards in Montezuma or Santa Teresa in many places. Just watch out for the surfers.	Kite Surfing Kite surfing is a fairly new sport for die-hard adrenaline junkies. There are two places to learn in the area… one in Santa Teresa and one in Malpais. Contact Franz for details 2640-0400.	Visit a Haunted Beach If you’re a serious adrenaline junkie and the other activities shown here aren’t enough to get your juices flowing, try hanging out at night on Playa Grande, which is a 30 min walk north on the beach from Montezuma. This is the site of an ancient burial ground, and there are many reports of tourists who have been found in a near comatose state from the fear of what they saw the night before. Try this at your own risk! These spirits (described as swirling lights in the dark) don’t want you on their beach at night. This is not a joke. Also, camping is not allowed on the beach, but you can hike at night.

Natural High

Part of Costa Rica’s allure is the reputation the country has for great, healthy living. Yoga, hiking, and healthy food are part of daily life here.


Yoga In this part of Costa Rica, we have six or seven options for practicing Yoga. While many of them are good, we recommend Dagmar’s class at Los Mangos Hotel in Montezuma, every morning except Saturday at 9 a.m.	Visit a Waterfall The Montezuma side of the Nicoya Peninsula has a few well known waterfalls and many secret ones. Click here to learn details about many of both. If you want to get away from the crowds and have a safe and exciting adventure without seeing another person, this is for you.	Hiking There are many great hikes in the area. Leave as early as possible in the morning if you hope to see wild animals. During the day, you may still see monkeys, coatis (pizotes), anteaters, deer, agoutis and possibly even a mountain lion or jaguarundi, all of which are active during the day.


Horseback Riding Tours Until 20 years ago, travel by horse or by foot was the only way to get around this part of Costa Rica. If you’re looking for an amazing horseback adventure, there are many options. One of the best is to ride to Cocolito Falls from Montezuma. Another is to ride from Cabuya overland to Malpais for a sunset dinner at Mar Azul, then back.	Orchid Hunting Picking orchids is illegal in Costa Rica, and orchid poaching is a common for the locals and a big problem for the environment. Many species are on the verge of extinction. But it’s fun to search for them and if you’re lucky, you might see one blooming. Look high in the top of large trees that are growing near to rivers, especially in early dry season.

Animal Attractions

Many people visit Costa Rica hoping to see wild animals, but where are they? Why did I hike for four hours in a national park without seeing a single animal? For those of you who think ‘animals should stay in zoos where they belong,’ you’re probably vacationing in the wrong place. Try El Salvador, where all the jungles have been destroyed. Here in Costa Rica, with a little effort, you will find Monkeys, Pizotes, Iguanas, Parrots, Whales, and many other animals in their natural habitat (not eating french fries handed out by tourists!) Who knows, maybe you’ll even get really lucky and see an ocelot or a kinkajou.


Montezuma Butterfly Gardens Montezuma has a new butterfly garden. Here you can see the amazing ‘blue morpho’ and other butterflies. It’s also a bed & breakfast, and the owners know a secret path to easily get to the rope swing at Montezuma Falls.	Rainsong Wildlife Sanctuary Spend a day volunteering at Rainsong Wildlife Sanctuary, which is currently building the area’s first wildlife hospital and spearheading a movement to protect wildlife and jungle habitat in the area. They need your help and your donations. Call 2642-1265 for details and directions. $5 minimum donation.


Whale Watching Montezuma frequently has humpback whales, orcas, and other types of whales frolicking in the waves right offshore. A great place to look for them is at Hotel Amor de Mar, or walk up the hill from the hotel and climb out to a bluff with ocean views above. They can be seen almost any time of year.	Cabo Blanco National Park Cabo Blanco has an amazing story behind it. It was the first national park in Costa Rica, founded by two Scandinavian immigrants who lived for years in Montezuma, and are buried here. Most of the park was originally cow pasture, but for over twenty years was allowed to grow back. No tourism was allowed in the park. Now there’s a single trail through the park to a rugged and wild beach on the other side. Its a two-hour hike each way. Don’t expect to see any animals unless you arrive first hing in the morning.	Curu Wildlife Reserve Curu is a privately owned park with an abundance of wildlife. It’s easy to find because its on the road between Tambor and Paquera. Curu has an amazing wildlife reintroduction program, and is the first place in the area to reintroduce both Scarlet Macaws and Spider Monkeys.


See a pet pizote If you’re just crazy about pizotes and want to see one up close, then you can walk one and a half hours up the beach north from Montezuma, where you’ll find an old Tico man with two pet pizotes. Look for a sign that says “Cafe Coca Cola”. The pizote (Coati in English) in this photo is 14 years old.	Pet a Peccary The peccary shown lives on Tortuga Island. It was born with an injured leg, and was rejected by its parents as a baby. It found its way down to where people were living and was adopted. Now it’s become a pet and a favorite among tourists who take the trip to Tortuga Island (a highly recommended excursion.) After meeting this peccary, you’ll wonder why they haven’t caught on as pets in other countries.	Birdwatching Many people aren’t aware that birdwatching is one of the world’s most popular pasttimes. It takes great skill and patience to find, identify or photograph rare birds. This part of Costa Rica has hundreds of species, including many that tourists want to see, such as Parrots, Toucans (Aracari here), Long-Tailed Manakin, and the Mot-Mot. The best time to look for birds is early in the morning, between 6-8pm. Or if you’re lucky and find an army ant swarm, dozens of types of birds are often following the swarm, eating bugs that are flushed out by the ants. The birds photographed above are, starting from the upper left and going around clockwise, a baby tropical screetch owl, red-legged honeycreeper, turquoise-browed mot-mot and baltimore oriole.

Bat Caves
The bat caves are part of Cabo Blanco park, and you’re not allowed to go there. You get there by driving to the far end of the road in Malpais, where you’ll see the sign shown in the photo. The caves aren’t far away. But remember, don’t go there because it’s on park land. People who have visited the caves in the past describe them as “filled with bats, and without a bottom.” Vampire bats live in this part of Costa Rica, and if you go into these caves, you may be sucked dry of your precious bodily fluids, so don’t go. Instead, perhaps wait outside the caves at dusk to see the bats fly out in droves.

Rio Bongo Crocodile Tour
Huge crocodiles, nearly the size of African Nile River crocs used to live in Costa Rica, but their wholesale slaughter has reduced not only the population, but the average maximum size for these tasty-tailed critters. In our area, there are three places to see them. Curu Park has a few living in the river mouth, Pochote has them in the estuary in Tambor, and the Rio Bongo, just north of Manzanillo. This is not a good place to take your dog to play frisbee unless Spot has chewed up your flip-flops one too many times. Occasionally a croc will swim from the Rio Bongo all the way to Cabuya or even Montezuma and surfers occasionally report seeing them swimming past in the waves. Luckily there are plenty of fish to eat, and thanks to all the toxic chemicals in modern food, we humans aren’t as tasty as we used to be.

Miscellaneous

There are many other fun things to do in the Montezuma, Tambor, and Malpais areas of Costa Rica when you get tired of hanging out with monkeys and surfers.


Gambling in Tambor Costa Rica is known as a fairly expensive country to travel to, but if you aren’t feeling you’re spending enough money, you can go lose it at a casino in Tambor. Why leave an inheritance for your lazy kids or grandchildren when you could spend hours with your eyes glazed over, pulling the andle on the old one-armed bandit? Cash your Social Security check and head for Tambor…	Quad Touring If you’ve visited the area before, you’ve probably had your eyes and ears assaulted by groups of incredibly loud 4-wheeled motorcycles known in Costa Rica as quads. They arrive with the sound of thunder and lightning, flattening lizards and all other small animals in their path, and causing children and monkeys to cry in fright. If you can’t beat them, join them and live out your Easy Rider fantasies in style.	Play Golf Tambor is blessed with two golf courses for visitors. One is at Los Delphines and one at Tango Mar. While in most countries, golf is considered a fairly safe sport, Costa Rican golf is a bit different. Crocodiles, venomous snakes, lightning strikes, killer bees, and drunk golf cart drivers have pushed Golf into the top spot for number of injuries per player for any sport in Costa Rica, just barely beating out Reef Surfing and Quad Hockey.

One Response to “Malpais Area Activities”

Brad Gregory says:

We are headed to Malpais on August 8th 2010. We are interested in doing a lot of scuba. We are experienced divers and would like to get set up for some dives.

Thanks,

Bo

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