Costa Rica w/John
During Apr 30 through May 9, 2005 I took a trip to Costa Rica
with John. Here are some pictures and trip notes.
total KM on bikes: 260, John 300
Apr-30 PC Market - buy sandwiches and fruit for breakfast in
Houston. No problem at Portland airport with oversized boxes with
John's metric wheels inside. Milk crates are no problem too. Full
plane, almost empty plane from Houston to Liberia. Walk off
freezing plane into 90 degree heat. Build bikes in shady area, have
some trouble with my fork bearings and John lost a nut for his rack
to seat connection. Go to Hotel Liberia, nice but the owner is
acidic. Walk around town after siesta in hammocks. Cake and ice
cream.
Band Playing in Liberia
Relaxing at Hotel Liberia
May 1 - Meet Mark from Columbus, OH who's going from Columbia to
the states on his bike. He went to Colorado State University. Have
breakfast with him. He has wanderlust like me. Stop at grocery,
look for glass case for John before giving up and heading out of
town toward Rincon. The short portion of the Pan-am highway we go
on is surprisingly good, the dirt road starts out okay but after
about 7KM turns bad with lots of big boulders and no flat spots on
the sides. Bail out at Curubande, it's really hot now but we walk
around this tiny town. Talk with rambling old guy in wheelchair,
he's talking really loud and fast so I can't understand anything
he's saying. Walk over to the store and get a soda. The walk up to
a bar/guest house that is on the way out of town. Meet owner/lawyer
Luis and Jose sitting at the bar who's got 5-6 beers lined up. Most
of them assumed to be empty. Jose agrees to take us up to Rincon,
we can leave our bikes with the owner of the bar. Jose drives us up
in his 200,000 KM Isuzu which is rattling and shaking like it's
only seen road this bad. At the park entrance, the worker (Rafael)
tells us that the park is closed on Monday's and we can't camp
here. He says there's only camping at Santa Maria so we tell him
we'll hike over to Santa Maria, so he sells us entrances and Jose
leaves. After hiking the loop we realize that it's too many
kilometers to hike from Santa Maria to Rincon so we go back to park
headquarters but Rafael's gone and an older lady tells us we can't
camp. After telling her we can't walk the 3 KM to the lodge that
she recommends, she tells us to illegally camp on the neighboring
ranchers land, so we do. Eat peanut butter and mango jelly (John
thinks it's too much like marmalade). and watch stars until we get
tired of standing. Look for the Southern Cross. Finally crash.
Hiking at Rincon
Hiking at Rincon
Hot Springs at Rincon
Camping near Rincon
May 2 - It's rough sleeping on the mattress pad so wake up with a
bad backache. Talk with Rafael and head up to Rincon. See toucans,
coatomundi, lots of beautiful rainforest, butterflies. Stop many
times and take in all the cool animals. It starts getting really
windy as we approach the top, we feel like we are going to be blown
off a trail along the rim of the volcano. The inside of the volcano
contains a milk-like liquid with little waves and lots of steam
coming off with very caustic smelling gasses being emitted. It
reminds me of a witches brew. The whole experience is awesome and
surreal. Hike down and talk with the manager, she calls the lodge
(Rincon) that is 3 KM away and gets us a room for a pretty good
rate. Hitch a ride down, eat amongst the Dutch tour group and
French couple and the campers. Everything is good here but
expensive. Try walking to the hot springs, turn around after some
monkey decides to poop on my (never stand directly underneath a
monkey!). Gross. Almost get lost coming back. Do some laundry.
Hiking at Rincon
Hiking at Rincon
Hiking at Rincon
Hiking at Rincon
Hiking at Rincon
Hiking up Rincon Volcano Rim
John on the edge of Rincon Volcano Rim
Lake in Rincon
Looking down into Rincon Volcano
Rincon Volcano
May 3 - Get up a bit late and hitch a ride with the French couple.
Chat with Rafael for the third day and head up the path for
waterfall number 1. It's really spectacular, like a mini Angel
Falls (it's called Hidden Falls). Swim, it's pretty cold but
refreshing. On the way to the other waterfalls meet Nicolai from
Vienna, Austria, a feisty water polo player. This waterfall is
bigger with a blue lagoon (a natural swimming pool) with three very
high walls around it. It's awesome too, swim. Meet Julia, whose
writing an alternative travel book on Costa Rica. Hike out and wait
at picnic table just outside the park headquarters, play Frisbee,
chat with Julia and Nicolai. Cram 11 people into a Land Cruiser and
head to Guashipelin so Nicolai can make a phone call and grab her
stuff. Head down to Curubande, where our bikes are stored and we
get dropped off. Have a beer and talk with the Luis and his son and
daughter. Help her practice English, the son agrees to take us down
to Liberia. Find a place to sleep next to a Mexican restaurant. Eat
a fabulous meal at probably one of the best places in town. Go back
to our hotel to find that it's next to a very load karaoke bar (the
Mexican restaurant) that finally stops at 1AM.
Hiking at Rincon
Hiking at Rincon
Hiking at Rincon
Hiking at Rincon
Hiking at Rincon
Butterfly at Rincon
Hiking at Rincon
Hiking at Rincon
Hiking at Rincon
Monkey at Rincon
Blue Lagoon Waterfall in Rincon
May 4 - Up at 5:30, head out past the airport to the German bakery,
have breakfast and a dessert, get to Playa Coco and John checks out
a souvenir shop and I do post cards. Do Internet. Watch a girls
soccer game through a fence for a while. Ride down to Ocotel but
there's no where to stay. Drown our sorrows with four beers while
playing pool. Foolishly head to Playa Flamingo at 4PM. It's dark in
two hours but this trip will take 3 minimum. Find we can't go
directly but have to go back through Playa Coco - my bike seat
keeps slipping, slowing us down. Hit lots of bad dirt roads, give
up and start hitching. Finally a couple picks us up just past dark
and takes us to Potreiro where we shower at the Italian owned
resort. Have another really good seafood meal in town and crash.
Girls Soccer Game in Playa Coco
Bar in Playa Ocotel
May 5 - Sleep through my alarm, although John claims he heard it.
Head down the coast on dirt roads that soon turn to pavement, stop
and have a good omelette for breakfast. Get to the point of turning
for the natural part and decide not to go because the hills look
parched and not too good for hiking in the hot sun. Near Tamarindo
come across a giat 100 foot long wall that was sculpted with lots
of indigenous art. Hit Tamarindo near noon and find a nice place
for $15. Talk with a Dutch couple (Mark) that's at the end of their
vacation. He's a city planner who speaks English real well. Lots of
foreigners stay here. Francisco is the manager who flirts with all
the girls and jokes with the guys. Meet Christina from Paris, she
works for Delta. Lots of rasta guys hanging around the hotel,
probably surfers. Do Internet. John take his bike to get the broken
spoke fixed. Walk around on the beach, a really nice wide beach
with not too many rocks. Everything's expensive here. Christina and
I head for the beach while john checks on his bike. A soccer game
materializes in front of us on the beach. John comes and we go
swimming while Christina watches our stuff. We try to get her to
swim but John tells me later that she was spooked by the ganja
sellers on the beach. John and Christina eat at a sushi place while
I drink a beer with John. Walk the beach and then go over to the
Best Western and dance to a really good live latin group. Crash at
12.
Carved Wall Near Tamarindo
May 6 - Alarm at 5Am. Go for a swim in the Pacific, shower and head
out, first 4 KM of paved then 15 KM of dirt (our last) and 15 KM
paved to get to Santa Cruz. A very refreshing town after the real
estate sales dominated Tamarindo. Visit the Saturday Market and
check out the great fruit and vegetable selection. Have a great
breakfast near the square and get a room at a sweet ladies pension
(Isabel). Walk around town, shop, eat lunch at a real good
restaurant. Get a haircut, almost go to sleep waiting for the
previous client who's getting a perm. It's really hot inside the
hair salon. Come back to Isabel and crash for a while (siesta).
Walk around town, then go over to the Tamarindo wall architect's
house. His wife greets us as we admire his work that covers his
house. She runs and gets him and he invites us in for a tour, it's
unbelievable. He's designed and built the entire house in stone,
masonry and porcelain with lots of metal pounding pieces. Lots of
indigenous art. He is so full of energy it's contagious. His cute
grandson tags along blowing bubbles. He shows us his office where
he brings out photos of all his work around the world, much of
which is in U.S. Eat seafood soup in a cool open-air restaurant
near Mango Square.
Saturday Market in Santa Cruz
Saturday Market in Santa Cruz
May 7 - Up early but the gate is padlocked. After many "Ola's!"
trying to wake someone up, the chiropractor Luis gets up with his
full length pajamas on and lets us out. We apologize. Bike on a
really flat 24 KM to Nicoya, go to a grocery and ask a guy if the
road is paved to a beach town called Samara (37 KM), he says yes
and very little hills. The former turns out to be true but the
latter false. Decide to go for it and immediately run into hills.
It's getting toasty out so going up the hills in the sun is pretty
brutal. The reward is going down with the breeze drying off the
immense amount of sweat from the climb. Begin stopping lots of
times to rest from the heat. Repair Johns flat tire in a nursery,
at least there's plenty of shade from all the trees. We find John
actually has two holes so this stop sets us back an hour. Now it's
really hot. A girl runner runs by as we rest in the shade. Running
in this heat must be intense. Coast down to Samara through a really
nice area that is slightly less parched than the previous areas.
John hunts for a place to stay while I check bus schedules for the
way out tomorrow morning. Talk with a Nicaraguan guest worker about
social differences between her country and Costa Rica. Hook up with
John and get settled in the nice place he's picked. Go for a swim,
the waves are huge, if they hit you right, they can be brutal,
sucking you up inside them and tossing you out. Meet cute couple
from Wales, she's (Nelly) of Indian descent and an art instructor
for 6-10 year olds. Meet couple from Olympia, WA who's shopping for
a country. She's German. They are sick of the U.S. Late lunch at a
soda (Costa Rican for little restaurant) then swim and Frisbee on
the beach with father (Richard) and son from Nicoya who motorcycled
here for the day. The dad is an older guy who is really into
Frisbee antics - catching with his feet while on his back, catching
with his knees! Throw for a really long time. Shower, then talk
with Portland couple, he went to Montana State in Computer Science
and does ASIC design, she's an editor. Go out and have a really
strong caprinha while John eats and has a pinha colada. John
crashes and I talk with the drop-outs till 10. Nelly stops buy
toward the end.
May 8 - John decides to bike back to Santa Cruz solo. We plan to
meet at Isabel's in Santa Cruz. I walk the beach and swim one last
time. Try to get on the bus with my bike but no dice, it's too full
of people. Hitch a ride on a farm truck to Nicoya. Run into John
while looking for a restaurant - very bizarre! Bike to Santa Cruz,
another flat on John's bike while enjoying great watermelon. Park
our bikes at Isabel's and walk-shop. Not much to buy, it's really
hot. Do Internet, hang out at the park near Isables for a bit,
until about 4PM when it starts to cool a bit. Clouds move in and it
really does cool nicely. Hit the road to Filadelfia (24 KM) and get
there about 6PM. A sort of Karaoke band is playing in the main
square so we listen to them for a bit. They are good. It's two
singers and a guy on the karaoke machine. John scouts out a hotel.
We decide to give our bikes away in this town instead of at the
airport. Head down to the bus station to check out the schedule to
the airport tomorrow morning. John hangs at the hotel while I hit a
restaurant.
May 9 - Up early and catch the bus for the airport. Pay the tax and
say "adios" to Costa Rica. In Houston, take a bus downtown and eat
at a good Italian place. Bus back to the airport and fly to PDX.
Get to the light rail just in time. Drive home, arrive at 11PM.