Nicaragua/Costa Rica border. March 10, 2016
the usual truck lineup at the border
Entry was simple, a stamp and I am in. Didn't even have to take my helmet off. Right after I met Reto, a swiss who has been cycling from Vancouver. We figured we can ride together for a bit.
Reto is 40 and retired and wants to see it all, he is on an open ended tour to Panama and south america. We also ran into two americans, who continued their trip south after finishing the GDMBR. I guess its sometimes nice to be on the beaten path, I havent met many cyclists on my way down.
It was decided to ask a restaurant for camping, and the answer was yes. Wifi, bathrooms and actually - potable water included.
Two kids hung around camp asking questions. What is this and that, how does it work, arent you afraid camping. I also gave them a photo from my trip. The boy took it and the girl said "what about me?" So I gave her one too. The boy also wanted another one and you know what that meant, a 2nd one for the girl too!!!
Then they got a hold of the camera...
Retonegociating road space with some semi's. Although the drivers here are nicer, the pan american highway is not a great place to be on a bike.
Reto was heading straight for Liberia but I had my eyes set on going up a mountain. Anything to escape the hot nights near sea level.
A man at a small town who runs marathons gave me a medal although I barely understood a word of his costa rican spanish. I guess I got a participation medal for biking from Alaska :)
It was hot but the strong headwinds kept me cool. I would normally complain but without them the hills would have been tough.
Since my old pump kicked the bucket, I am now rocking a genuine Nicaraguan FOX pump, $2 at the market.
Animals took keen interest in my journey. I doubt they see many bicycles here.
This is the best view of the mountain. Its apparently a national park
I rode through long forgotten roads listening to the deafening sound of the jungle. Hundreds of bugs, birds and who knows what else chimed in to make almost unbearable cacophony.
And before I know it, I am pushing my bike up a steep pasture looking for that flat spot to call home tonight.
This is the first thing I see when I rejoin the road in the morning. The wild costarican west!
I take the dusty downhill to Liberia, few thigs to sort out before heading to Nicoya.
Nicky, an austrian exchange student who found about me online wanted to meet. It's kind of cool having friends all over by now. After lunch he watched my bike at the supermarket. The security guards hassled us over where the bike should be. Seriously costa rica?
If you can handle the buzzing sound, camping under powerlines is quite nice. Same view as those expensive houses littering the hilltops.
6am, already on the road. It's hot. The Nicoya roads are steep up and steep down. So steep that they are sometimes paved otherwise non 4x4 cant make it up.
Two flats on the front, both at the valve... Cant figure out what the problem was but I am out of tubes. Two canadians give me their spare tube and I make it to a bike shack to grab 2 more... just in case. The roads are super dusty and at times very busy. No fun squinting for 1 to 4 minutes after a car passes. Most of them don't even slow down. I can spot monkeys hanging up the trees, I muster the best "O-o-o-o a-a-a-a-a" that I can and in return one starts shaking the branch above me, he is challenging me. It's on buddy! I hang around for a bit, glad that I am not directly under them as they are constantly pooping. Before I leave I get to hear their collective call, a certain kings of growling that carries far and sounds pretty intimidating.
Since I already spent so much time fixing flats, I figured I can help this man fix his. No easy task removing all the junk on the wheel and taking it out. After putting it back on we found out there were two holes :) he barely spoke english but knew the names of a lot of fruits, he drives the fruit truck for a living.
The motorist told me that beach camping is okay so I went to the next one to see it.
The waves were a little too loud so I went up a hill.
Then they found me. Cows. Annoying costa rican cows, licking my tent and my bike. I had to cook next to my tent to keep them away. One would sneak by and try to take a bit out of my license plate... little buggers... see you in McDonalds.
It was tough, rough road, steep hills and dust.
Wasnt until stocking up on bananas and spotting a red squirrel that things were looking up.
By noon I was completely done, just like this dog.
Somebody told me that towns always have a football field or a chuch at the center. This one had both!
Decided to skip beach camping again, somehow worried about wind and having a tent full of sand. Plus, everything seems to crawl here.
5:30am, already fixing a flat. I like both the kenda and surly ET tires but they have 0 flat protection. Wish I had tubes with slime, as most flats are from thorns or truck tire wires... or tubes breaking at the valve, which I think has to do more with the quality of the tubes here.
Some awesome but at times diffocult beach-ridng and beach-bike pushing. A bird enjoying sun-cooked monkey, delish!
Instead of riding the last bit of the peninsula and potentially ending up in a national park, I cut across the hilly center.
Its always exciting to cross rivers, even if you look up to see the pedestrian bridge hanging 10 meters from where you are.
Easy pickings of cashew plant near the road. Its one cashew per fruit! Sadly the fruit makes your mouth dry so eating more than one isnt a good idea.
Time to ferry over to the mainland at Puntarenas.
In the morning I had a short reunion with the pan american highway,
But I was after the mountains. World class or not, i dont want to ride more beaches.
But more on that later!