Riding Along

Following the jungle experience in which the system emergency lights went on I started a retreat back towards Santa Ana to recover at my apartment. The last of my fumes were used to ride 140 km over the 3300 m¨Cerro de Muerte¨ (mountain of death) from San Isidro to San Jose, a repeat of the last stage of the Vuelta. I´m not sure what was harder, riding it in 4 hrs at race pace with a pack of riders during a sunny day or by myself at my own pace (6hrs) carrying a pack through a rain storm. Either way I rolled into SJ pretty ragged and worked over thoroughly. Once in SJ I pit stopped at small cafe for a green tea and saw two other bike tourers who asked ¨How´s the ride over from San Isidro?¨ I looked at there sketchy 40 lb hybrid bikes with probably 80 lbs of luggage on them each, with a pink bell on the girls bike and shuttered. ¨It´s beautiful, nice mountains.¨ I left it at that and headed out. I figure they will have a grand adventure lugging there bikes over the mountains. Definatly a better day then passing through on a overcrowded bus.

Back in Santa Ana things have been peaceful. Lots of resting, a little bit of studying, plenty of spanish lessons and of course some riding. Its great to be able to go out for a bike ride knowing you have a shower, comfy bed and fridge full of fresh healthy food to return to. Yesterday the body was starting to feel normal again so it was off too Volcano Irazu. 80 km later I stood on top of the 3432 Volcano long enough to get a good feel of Canadian coldness. Once my hands started to numb I felt like I had my little piece of Canadian winter and happily retreated down the Volcano to greener pastures. 1 pack of Strawberries, 2 cocount waters and 2 hrs of pedaling later it was back to Santa Ana for a Salad feast with my friend Ronald and ¨Jungle House¨ adventure buddy Dan.

Road riding in Costa Rica is great. There are roads going everywhere with each one offering its own unique adventure. With the steep terrain, uncovered manholes, uncontroled dogs and some of worlds more crazier drivers there is never a dull moment. I have been lucky to have my buddy Ronald show me around as it would take yrs to find all the great rides down here. The biggest problem is the heat which makes sure most riders get out on the roads before 6 to insure they dont dry up before the ride is over.

Other than riding, CR is a pretty cool place to travel. I have found there are two main typs of travellers down here. Familys or couples on 2 week vacations staying in luxury hotels and the expats, generally single middle age men down here for the girls, beer and trying to do as little as possible. There are some backpackers as well but generally they like to stick to the cheaper surrounding countries such as Panama and Nicaragua. This is a bit of an illusion put on by amount of tourism down here. If you stay in the hot spots its will cost alot of money but at the same time if you have the will to adventure off the tourist trail then you will find the real Costa Rica and normal prices. As far as I can tell Costa Rica has the best structured tourism scene of any country down here and there are enough cheap crazy adventures to keep anybody busy for months. In Central America, probably only Guatemala can match Costa Rica in the # of wild outdoor adventures available. One day Honduras could join these 2 as well but at the moment there is very little tourist infrastructure and the crime is pretty out of control. For now I will stick to Costa for a bit longer as theres a few more Volcanos and a few more jungles to roam around.