Travelogue Costa Rica
December 26th, 2007 - January 7th, 2008
Prologue - Laurel and Sue's excellent
adventure! Initially Craig and I were to embark on this journey of
exploring Costa Rica via dual sport motorcycles. I almost cancelled
the trip after his accident but decided to stick with it and saw it fitting
that I continue the journey to explore. My good friend, Sue Watson,
was interested in joining me and so a modified plan was hatched and off we
went.
We ended up doing a guided tour instead of
a self-guided tour as neither of us had been to Costa Rica. We knew
many of the roads were dirt and navigation would be challenging at best with
few to no road signs and our Spanish isn't exactly fluent or anywhere close
to it. It was the way
to go in the end for first timers. Unfortunately Sue was only able to
stay one week, but I stayed on for a second week and continued to ride.
Day 1 - Wednesday, December 26th: El
Cafetal Inn
Sue and I arrived on different flights
from the States but we both got in as scheduled, whew. Our guide,
Wayne, retrieved us from the airport and got us settled into El Cafetal Inn in
Atenas, which is about 30 miles NW of San Jose the main city. The Inn
was lovely and where we would call home base for our trip during our first
night, return from 1st leg of trip, a rest day, and my return of the 2nd leg
of the trip. Below are a few shots of the Inn.
Click on the thumbnail pictures for a
larger view
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El Cafetal Inn entrance from driveway |
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El Cafetal Inn main entrance |
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Embrace life - how appropriate |
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Our view every morning at breakfast area |
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Main restaurant area downstairs |
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Entrance to walking path around the Inn |
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Beautiful bougainvillea bushes everywhere |
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Porch area of one of the rooms we stayed in |
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One of two cool Inn mascots |
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Sue with the other mascot, Junior was his name. |
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Day 2 - Thursday, December 27th:
Atenas to Arenal Volcano
We hit the road with our guide, Paul,
around 10:00am, after having to repack our bags. We read in our
itinerary that we had a support vehicle dropping our bags off at the hotel
each night. Whups, guess not. Not a big deal, we quickly threw
what we needed into bags they provided and bungeed them to the luggage racks
on the back of the motos. Off we zoomed on our excellent adventure.
Mostly street the first day, but some nice dirt trails too. The
routine as we'd come to know it was breakfast, ride, snack, ride, lunch,
ride, drink, ride, find hotel, clean up, adult beverages, oooh and ahhh at
the scenery, wander around town and take pictures, dinner/drinks, bedtime!
Our first stop this morning was to a cigar
shop that Paul's friends Mari and Pablo own in San Ramon. I had to
pick up some Cubans and the local Costa Rican blend for my friend and
neighbor. Sue bagged some too for her beau.
We bounced along some nice potholed dirt
roads for the afternoon. Suspension is a good thing on the motos as
the roads were rough. We soon learned that what we call a "goat trail"
in the US is a normal road on the map for Costa Rica.
We had a nice dinner with Paul at the
hotel for the night and then wandered up the street to a restaurant for a
nightcap of rum and some bananas and ice cream. Yum. Paul is
American but speaks Spanish and always had a way of having some sort of
libation or tasty dessert appear.
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Our route is highlighted in yellow |
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Sue getting ready to rumble from the shop |
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Kids in a candy store, and that was only half the fleet they had |
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Paul and Sue shortly after takeoff from Atenas |
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View from where we stopped |
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My trusty steed for the first leg. A 250cc Honda Tornado. |
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Mari and Pablo's cigar shop in San Ramon |
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On the road again....Sue and Paul |
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Scenery shot...many more of these from the front seat of my moto |
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Our lunch stop. Notice the "clean toilets" on the sign and they were clean, most everywhere. This is important :-) |
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Cabinas for the night at Arenal (Volcano area) |
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Picture of Arenal and Lake Arenal - view from our Cabinas |
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Hillside view from our Cabinas |
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Walking into town from our Cabinas in Arenal |
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Leaf cutter ants doing their thing. They didn't bite...it was the ones you couldn't see that were the biters. Yikes. |
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Day 3 - Friday, December 28th:
Arenal Volcano to Tamarindo
We awoke to a nice rainy/misty morning but
it was warm. This was my favorite day of this first tour for several
reasons - the misty weather, the diverse and changing scenery and terrain,
the German Bakery, critters in the road, and the zip-line adventure in the
afternoon.
We were on the road by 8:00am as we had a
loooong day ahead of us to make it to Tamarindo and fit everything else in
between. Paul brought us to the German Bakery in Arenal which was a
cool funky place with wonderful treats. Paul had a hankering for good
rum and good desserts...ha, my kind of guide :-). A number of
Americans were there and several jealous of the motorcycles and our
adventure. Smug satisfied smiles plastered across our faces.
Before the bakery we ran across a Coati in the middle of the road. It
is a cross between a raccoon and an anteater, surprisingly cute. Paul
had some bread in his pocket from breakfast, just in case we would see one,
and the Coati came within 3 feet of him to get some.
After waddling away from the bakery we hit
some fun dirt sections and through some little pueblos and finally into the
Guanacaste area for lunch. Later in the afternoon was the zip-line at
the Congo Trail. Sue ended up with quite the admirer - one of our
guides developed a crush on her throughout our treetop adventure. She
was a good sport and we all had a blast zooming along the myriad of cables
strung between the trees.
By now it was late in the afternoon and
Paul was hustling us up to get us into Tamarindo before dark (5:30pm).
But the Policia had other plans for us along the way, ugh. There was a
road block and they were pulling over non-locals, which meant us. Due
to a misunderstanding with exactly what paperwork I needed, I had left my
drivers license back at the shop. Whups. The Policia were none
to happy about this or the fact that I didn't speak Spanish to explain the
situation. Paul to the rescue with some fast talking, fancy footwork,
and a $20 bribe under paper shuffling and such. I thought better of
getting a picture to document the situation :-) ... and just hightailed it
outta there before they came up with something else that would get them
another $20. Adios.
We were on our own for the night as Paul
hooked up with some friends and ended up at a different hotel since ours was
full. But we managed nicely and found a cool little dinner place and
wandered around the town of Tamarindo.
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Coming down one of the dirt roads from Arenal |
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Coati on the road. It was very docile but still timid to humans, which is a good thing |
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Paul and Sue at German Bakery stop, still in Arenal area |
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Sue and I at German Bakery |
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Germany Bakery goodies...coconut macaroon, yum! |
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Sue chillin at the bakery |
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Shot from inside the bakery looking out |
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Back roads with windmills, wah-huh |
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Sue at the fork in the road |
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Views and scenery changing from mountains and volcanos to low lands and soon beach area |
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Sue at a junction near Guanacaste area |
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More dirt...goat trails and some big-ass spiders I saw |
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Same goat trail, sans the goats :-) |
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Snack bar is open. Paul and I getting some water at a little pueblo |
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Cute little kid at the snack bar that was not camera shy. He was entertaining us with bicycle stunts |
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Paul on the road to Guanacaste area |
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Road to Guanacaste area - beautiful blue sky and intense sun |
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Guanacaste area, I think this was Liberia. Half the time I didn't know what town we were in |
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Time for the congo line to form...zip-line here we come |
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Shot from zip-line canopy tour |
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Sunset from hotel balcony in Tamarindo |
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Shot of hotel driveway from Tamarindo |
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Zip-Line Canopy Pics from Day 3
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Howler monkey in cage area at the Congo Trail. Sort of sad since all his buddies were able to roam free elsewhere :-( |
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Day 4 - Saturday, December 29th:
Tamarindo to Samara
Sue and I rattled around the hotel in the
morning and Paul found his way over and joined us for breakfast. He
announced that a friend of his, Jogi, would be joining us on the ride today.
Groovy, the more the merrier. Jogi turned out to be a wonderful
addition to the pack. He's originally from Germany and has been in
Costa Rica for 12 years doing real estate.
We all suited up and zoomed off.
Paul had wanted to make a stop to talk with a guy that had a motorcycle for
sale. We could have sworn Paul said he wanted to stop at the
motorcycle dealership. Sue and I were all geared up for an hour of
ogling over KTM motos and such. Ah, well, it wasn't exactly a
dealership. We rolled down a dirt road and I was doing the preverbal
head scratching wondering why in the heck a dealership would be out in the
middle of nowhere. Paul ended up stopping in front of this big wooden
gate with a pseudo security guard. Ok, maybe it is in there.
NOT. The gates opened to this hotel and large area and trees with
howler monkeys protesting to the sounds of our motorcycles coming down the
drive. There were about 20 guys, motorcycles, trucks, and I was still
wondering what the heck was going on. Paul and Jogi were talking with
the guys so we faded into the background and tried not to interfere with the
testosterone fest going on :-) ...Paul later explained that it was a once a
year ride event that these local guys do and it just so happened to be on
that day when we showed up. Paul just wanted to talk to one guy that
was selling a bike, not a dealership. Ah, got it.
Time to move along as we had rivers to
cross, water to choke on (well, Sue did), dirt to inhale, and cerveza to
drink. After a nice lunch break we continued on to Samara, another
beach town. Along the way, Sue would cool herself down with river
water instead of ocean water. There were about 5 river crossings this
day and many other creek crossings. On one of the river crossings Sue
took a line that was fairly deep and ended up bogging down in the sandy
bottom. Our 250's were a bit underpowered with no low-end torque.
She didn't have enough power or momentum to get herself out of the middle of
the river. She took a nice header and plunged ever so gracefully on
her belly into the drink. Once we all composed ourselves from laughing
so hard, we got her to the bank of the other side. Actually some locals that
were swimming in the river got her righted and headed over. Heaven
forbid any of use wander in if we don't have too :-). And then there
was the 1.5 hour moto breakdown afterward from the bike laying in the river.
Long story short, after taking the carburetor apart and swapping out spark
plug, we found out it was a wet air filter. Who puts a paper air
filter in a dual sport moto...sheesh. Ran fine after we yanked it out.
Onward to that cerveza. The rest of the crossings were dry
fortunately.
We rolled into Samara later in the
afternoon and hit the bar for a beer, as we were parched! Jogi had to
get back home to Tamarindo so he took off but he promised he'd be back in
the morning to ride with us to Mal Pais. We all got cleaned up and
headed over to a cool hangout on the beach called Shake Joe's and had a
fruity pina colada. When it was dinner time, we stumbled down the
beach, a bit tipsy thanks to Paul tipping the waitress to put extra rum in
our drinks, to El Lagarto restaurant for an American steak. I know,
totally unimaginative, but it was damn good.
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Paul's friend, Jogi, who joined us for 2 days of riding |
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Bunch of locals (Tico's) going out for yearly ride in the hills |
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Jogi, Paul and some locals at snack stop in a little pueblo along the way to Samara |
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Snack stop at a little pueblo along the way to Samara |
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Coastline along the way to Samara |
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Me and Sue along same coastline |
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Gas stop...too funny. Not all gas stations were non-existent, but on the back roads they were |
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Unknown fruit...no one could tell me what this was |
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More scenery on the way to Samara |
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Flora and fauna at our lunch stop |
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Ah the infamous river crossings. Paul taking of picture of me in the lead and Sue right behind me |
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Me. Whups, get that leg outta the water |
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Me successfully making it across |
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Sue successfully making it across on this one too |
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Sue wasn't so lucky on this one. Thanks to the 3 guys in the middle there for helping Sue so we didn't have to get wet |
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Sue looking a little damp in her riding attire...did you fall in the river perhaps? :-) |
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Our hotel in Samara for the evening |
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Paul and Sue at Shake Joe's in Samara. Great shot! |
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Beach shot from Shake Joe's |
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Beach shot from Shake Joe's |
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Shake Joe's hammock, looking very tempting |
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Mojito anyone. Yeah, we were a little slow the next morning. Sheesh. |
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Day 5 - Sunday, December 30th:
Samara to Mal Pais
As promised, Jogi showed up, eventually.
On his way down from Tamarindo he had a flat tire but we waited for him.
Ja, no worries...couldn't leave a pack member behind. Soon we were off
for another day of fun and games on the motos. We boogied out of
Samara in search of more river crossings for Sue. Actually, Paul had
mentioned the night before that there were more and deeper ones for today.
I think Sue tossed and turned all night thinking about it. But she's a
quick study and once Paul and I coached her a bit, she was the river
crossing goddess! No torque, no problem, she just hauled-ass through those
darn things...when in doubt, gas it!
Paul found us some fun little single-track
side trails through what seemed like backyards and such, too funny, and too
much fun. We stopped at a favorite spot of Jogi's in Playa Coyote for
a break. We were in for a treat of locals drunk off their asses at
10:30 in the morning. One guy was dancing, well actually staggering is
more like it, with a chair to his chest and singing at the top of his lungs.
We watched the local color for a bit and then bolted. Lunch was at a
neat little place in Santa Teresa which had great pizza, hit the spot.
Our hotel for this evening in Mal Pais was
my favorite as it was a beautiful setting with no Americans. So far we
had run into a handful of Americans and most were obnoxious. It was
nice to get away from that. The sunset was gorgeous as we sat at the
patio bar and recapped the day's ride. Jogi went into town and met up
with a friend but Sue, Paul, and I were beat so we stayed at the hotel and
ate and yakked and relaxed.
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Coastline of Samara heading down to Mal Pais |
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Scenery shot from the hills |
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Scenery shot of pacific coastline from the hills |
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Snack stop in Point Coyote where crazy drunken locals were dancing |
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Our lunch stop in Santa Teresa |
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Myself, Paul, and Jogi at our lunch stop in Santa Teresa |
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Paul and I at our lunch stop in Santa Teresa. Gee don't we look clean, NOT. Don't get any on the pizza, Paul. It was all dirt day |
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Evidence of all dirt day by my not so clean riding gear |
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Shot from hotel at Mal Pais |
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Shot from hotel at Mal Pais |
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Shot from hotel at Mal Pais |
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Myself, Sue, and Paul at the hotel |
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Sue in the Alice in Wonderland chair :-) |
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Views from hotel in Mal Pais |
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Views from hotel in Mal Pais |
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Sunset from hotel patio bar in Mal Pais. |
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Sunset from hotel beach in Mal Pais. |
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Cool shot thanks to Sue. Those things scare the ba-jesus out of me! |
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Day 6 - Monday, December 31st: Mal
Pais to Playa Hermosa
We all had breakfast in the morning and
then we said our goodbye's to Jogi, someone has to work, right :-). We
sure missed him as he was very entertaining and so enjoyable to chat with.
The highlight this day was the crocodiles in the river at Tarcoles.
This is a famous spot where everyone stops, walks over to a main bridge and
looks down at these massive prehistoric reptiles. **Shudder**.
These things creep me out, they are just wrong I tell ya.
The morning was a quick ride to the ferry
at Paquera, which we rode over to Puntarenas. We just made the ferry
and it was quite a scene. I've never seen it packed so tightly with
cars, Sue got a good shot of that aspect. Puntarenas was culture shock
after spending a few leisurely days on the beaches. We were assaulted
with somewhat dirty streets, one of the only places I recall that was sort
of dirty, and crazy bus drivers that came within two inches of both Sue and
I while they were trying to pass another bus. It was very
industrialized and fortunately we were just passing through. Move
along, nothing to see here.
Lunch was at a nice little restaurant and
a cool kitty cat caught my attention when we were leaving. There were
very few cats, I think I saw three total, but the ones I did see were very
well taken care of. We rolled into Playa Hermosa a bit early for the
day, but it was nice to get cleaned up and chill for the afternoon.
Sue and I played some ping pong at the hotel and wandered around.
Unfortunately the other guests were all American, seemed like two groups of
families. And of course there was one really obnoxious one in the
group.
Paul met us later for dinner and we ended
up at the patio bar again, big surprise, for New Year's eve. As we
were all sitting there talking about saving the world and the upcoming New
Year it starting pouring. I've never seen rain coming down that hard
before. Sue made a fitting comment that it was washing away the old
year and brining in the New Year, a better year, AMEN!
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Ferry just leaving from Paquera |
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Ferry ride from Paquera (Nicoya Peninsula) to Puntarenas |
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Crocs at Tarcoles. Yes, they are real |
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Vendors selling their goods by crocodile bridge at Tarcoles |
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Vendors selling their goods by crocodile bridge at Tarcoles |
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Vendors selling their goods by crocodile bridge at Tarcoles |
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Kitty kat at our lunch stop |
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Our hotel for the evening in Playa Hermosa |
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Our hotel in Playa Hermosa |
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Shot from the beach looking back at our hotel |
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Sue - living la pura vida |
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Yikes, think I'll stay on the sand |
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A few of the many brave surfers |
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Pay phones still everywhere |
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Jungle area near our hotel. I wasn't brave enough to venture in, might be spiders in there |
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Another hotel down the way from ours |
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That one's for you Lisa B. :-) |
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Day 7 - Tuesday, January 1st: Playa
Hermosa to Atenas
Today was a combination of dirt and street
riding with most of the dirt riding being tropical into the mountains and
away from the beach. We needed to head back over the hills to home
base in Atenas and Paul picked some great routes with amazing scenery and
views back down to the coast. We only stopped briefly in a little
pueblo for some drinks and Chickey's (a wonderful little chocolate cookie
that Paul was addicted to and tried to addict me). There was a local
Policia man wandering around so I quickly ducked into the snack bar while
Paul chatted with him in Spanish. I guess I was a little gun-shy at
this point and didn't need anything to go wrong on our last day.
Paul took us up one tough section of dirt
and Sue was hating life. There were three nasty steep sections with
nice sized rocks, the kind you pogo over from one to another, constantly
off-balance and thinking you are going down at any moment. Sue made
it, hooray, but she pulls up to Paul and I and belt's out "I almost
CRAAASHED..." Paul and I almost giggled at the state she had worked
herself into, ok we did laugh later, but at the moment it wasn't appropriate
and she needed encouragement. She was not a happy biker, but she took
a deep breath and soldiered on over the next two sections, which were a bit
easier, whew. Later she admitted she was cussing Paul in her helmet,
which gave me a great visual and another giggle.
We eventually wandered back into Atenas
and our home base. Paul and his family happen to live in Atenas so we
had lunch with them at a Chinese restaurant. Ever hear a Chinese man
speaking Spanish, too much. I don't know why it made me laugh, I guess
I've only ever heard English or their native language and it just struck me
as funny.
We dropped the motos off at the shop after
lunch and then Sue and I caught a taxi back to the El Cafetal Inn. A
journey like none other! The company and camaraderie we all shared for
a week was very special and unforgettable.
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Views from the road on our way back to Atenas |
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Views from the road on our way back to Atenas |
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Views from the mountains on our way back to Atenas |
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Views from the mountains on our way back to Atenas |
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View from the pueblo where we stopped for water and Chickey's |
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Views from the mountains on our way back to Atenas |
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Neat bridge on our way back to Atenas |
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Oooh, where's the river kayak... |
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Water under the bridge... |
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Day 8 - Wednesday, January 2nd: Rest
Day in Atenas
Today was a free day. Sue would head
to the airport tomorrow afternoon and I would head out on the second leg of
the tour with the other guide, Wayne. As much as I love riding, it was
really nice to just hangout and do something close to nothing. We got
massages in the morning and then we sat out in cushioned patio chairs and
read books for most of the afternoon. We talked a lot and recapped the
trip and how it went by so quickly, how much we had done and seen and
experienced, where we wanted to go back and spend more time.
Paul had a few days off as well and
invited us to dinner with his family and a few other American friends that
were visiting. It was a nice mellow evening at an Italian place with
some vino and nice conversation. Paul dropped us back at our hotel
later and we called it an evening.
Day 9 - Thursday, January 3rd:
Atenas to Playa Dominical
And the beat goes on. Wayne and his
brother RJ met us at the Inn for breakfast and we discussed the plans for
the next journey I was to partake in with Wayne. I really wanted to
get down around Panama and check that out. Unfortunately we couldn't
take the motos over the border but we did eventually get to the border.
Wayne hadn't been down around much of that area either so we were on a quest
to discover and discover we did.
Sue headed over to Paul's and they went
souvenir shopping before her flight later in the afternoon. We said
our goodbye's and Wayne and I headed to the shop to gear up and hit the
road. I swapped out my anemic Honda for a nifty KTM 640 LC4.
They had one they had lowered and I could barely touch the ground, but good
enough for me. A much sturdier ride overall, however, a bit squirrelly
and a bit of a handful in the dirt. I improvised, adapted, and
overcame after some time in the saddle though.
Zoom zoom and off we went on our way down
south to Playa Domincal. It was a long haul but a fabulous ride down
there on a combination of dirt and street. We dropped down from the
dirt trails around Playa Hermosa, hey, first time I recognize somewhere that
I had already been. We stopped for a quick lunch and then headed south
on the road for a while. I managed to run out of gas and had to pull
off the road to figure out where the darn reserve switch was. This was
the first of a few funny little bike quirks - later my mirrors broke off
from too much vibration (from the dirt, stop snickering). I did make it to
the gas station though and it was good to know how far I could go on a tank
of gas. Always something to keep in mind while exploring and not
knowing where the gas stations, or lack there of, might be.
Heading into Playa Dominical it was pretty
dry and dusty on the main road of dirt which happens to be like a freeway.
The proper riding position is to ride next to and slightly behind the person
in front of you so you are not eating their dust and they have room to
maneuver around any obstacles, which are many on those roads, without you
crowding them. This worked ok but there were too many cars and
potholes and kids and dogs and bridges to maneuver around to keep a steady
speed and constant pace behind Wayne. Most of the time I took my
helmet off to discover my face, and gear, caked in dirt and a silty taste in
my mouth, lovely...but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. The
freedom and adventure of discovery was too exciting to let a little dirt get
in the way.
Since it was just Wayne and I, we didn't
have a set plan or itinerary, we were winging it with hotels and didn't have
any reservations anywhere. December is high season but we weren't too
worried and it always worked out. We rolled into Playa Domincal just
as it was getting dark. We parked the bikes at the first hotel with no
luck, but Wayne wandered down the drag and found us a couple of rooms at a
cozy little place. Well, not so cozy for him as he ended up with the
party crowd next to his room all night, complete with x-rated sounds and
noises. Partying like a rock star is alive and well in Costa Rica.
We cleaned up and headed in search of an
Internet Cafe and found a nice Italian restaurant for dinner. It felt
strange to not have Sue around. We had such a great time on the first
leg of trip and had worked into a fun routine. But onward to new
friendships and adventures with Wayne.
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Route is highlighted in yellow |
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My trusty guide and traveling buddy for the second leg of the trip |
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Views from the mountains while we headed down to the coast |
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My ride for this part of the journey. Notice the missing left side mirror :-) |
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Playa Dominical area, looking down the street from the hotel |
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Beach in Playa Domical, across the street from the hotel |
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Day 10 - Friday, January 4th: Playa
Dominical to Golfito
I think this ended up being our longest
riding day with so much discovered and explored. Probably my favorite
day on this leg of the trip. Wayne wanted to check out a place called
Puerto Jimenez and some towns around the area. My favorite paved road
of the trip was this one. It went for miles and miles and had
beautiful views. On the way back we wicked it up and it was one of
those rides that sticks in your head. Everything felt good and right
and dialed-in, complete with singing music to yourself in your
helmet :-).
Puerto Jimenez had a beach but it was in a
bay so it wasn't on a long stretch of coast as we had seen before. We
rode around town and then to the outskirts checking out hotels and nooks and
crannies. We went back into town and had lunch and chatted with a few
locals. We wanted to catch the ferry over instead of having to go
back out and around the bay but the ferry only took people. Before
going back we decided to head down the road in a different direction
to check out more playas. We found some cool beaches that were nearly
deserted.
It was getting later in the afternoon but
we made the call to bypass staying in Puerto Jimenez and go back the way we
came so we could be in a better position to get down by Panama. We
finally rolled into the town of Golfito after dark and found a hotel.
We managed to head the wrong way down a few one way streets...whups...that
was exciting...beep beep. But at least no one yelled obscenities,
well, none that I would understand anyway. We checked in and then met
for dinner later. The hotel was kind of fun in that it had a casino
attached to it. I am not much for gambling but I watched Wayne get his
butt kicked in Black Jack. I think I was bad luck.
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My favorite road on the way out to Puerto Jimenez |
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Views on the way to Puerto Jimenez |
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Views on the way to Puerto Jimenez |
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Nearly deserted beach past Puerto Jimenez |
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Nearly deserted beach past Puerto Jimenez |
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The horses taking a much needed break on the beach past Puerto Jimenez |
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Wayne being philosophical or just plotting the next adventure |
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Day 11 - Saturday, January 5th:
Golfito to Manuel Antonio
We busted out of Golfito in search of
Zancudo and Pavones and Panama. Originally we had talked about
spending some time in Drakes Bay, which is supposed to be gorgeous, but it
didn't work out as planned. But, we didn't really have a plan so it
was all good. We started heading down paved roads to the south to see
where we would end up. We rode through some beautiful valleys with
flowers that I wished I had stopped and photographed as it seemed out of
character to everything I had seen and experienced so far. This was the
joy and beauty of the trip in that every time you turned around you saw or
experienced something unique and different. We followed the road signs
to Zancudo, yes, occasionally there were signs, and we were rewarded with
the neatest little town. I wouldn't even describe it as a town.
It was really just one road that went to a point and on both sides of the
road there were house and little restaurants dotted along the way. The
dirt road was very well maintained as were most all the properties.
We stopped for a soda at a bar/hotel and
chatted with the American owner and some other patrons. It is clearly
a little slice of heaven that the average American tourist hasn't discovered
and flocked to. We jetted off in search of Pavones which is supposed
to be some of the best surfing. I am not a surfer but I do know a good
break when I see one. They called this place the best left break in
all of Costa Rica and you could see why. We grabbed some lunch and
chilled with the surf crowd for a bit.
We went back the way we came but then
forked south at one point to make it to Panama. Almost there, we
think. After a long stretch of road we finally start heading east and
pop out into a crazy little town. We are pretty sure it was Paso
Canoas which is right on the main highway heading in and out of Panama at
the border. To spice things up a bit, Wayne decides to try his hand
again at some one-way streets. Oh, is that what the "No Hay
Paso" sign means (Do Not Enter - I later figure out). More beeps and
honks and shouting ensues and we quickly duck down a side street and into
another maze of one-ways and roundabout type intersections that make
absolutely no sense. Wheeeeeeee, well, not really, but Wayne figured it
out and got us going in the right direction back on the main highway.
We boogied on up north to Manuel Antonio
for the night. We had a bit of trouble finding a hotel but the third
time is a charm and Wayne splurged on some gorgeous rooms. They were
huge and I felt lost in mine. The porch was beautiful and complete
with big rocking chairs and great jungle fauna. I was visited by
grasshoppers and lizards in my room too. Dinner was at a fun place where the
bar was an old airplane and the dining area was upstairs and had beautiful
views of the ocean.
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Rickety old river ferry on the way to Zancudo |
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Rickety old river ferry on the way to Zancudo
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Same rickety ferry...chugging away on a lawnmower engine |
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Bar/restaurant in Zancudo looking out |
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View coming back from Pavones |
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Hotel room in Manuel Antonio |
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Beach at Manuel Antonio from the hotel |
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Beach at Manuel Antonio from the hotel |
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Hotel at Manuel Antonio - go figure, don't know the story behind this one |
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Day 12 - Sunday, January 6th: Manuel
Antonio to Atenas
This was a fun day of discovery and
exploring and probably the most diverse from a scenery perspective. We
first rode down to the entrance of the Manuel Antonio National Park.
We didn't have time to do the tour, but next time. The beach was
gorgeous and there were a bunch of vendors selling jewelry and such.
We headed for a day in the dirt and to find our way back home. We rode
up some fun muddy goat trails up into the misty tops of mountains and then
finally popped out on to wonderfully paved road and sunshine...amazing how
that happens there. Wayne wanted to check out San Isidro so we did and
were treated to more beautiful and freshly paved twisty roads.
Yee-haw. As we were going through the area we noticed many coffee
pickers. Very Indian looking and dressed in colorful attire. I
don't think they get many motorcycles up through their neck of the woods as
we got some crazy stares when we road by people.
We zoomed by an interesting looking
western bar/restaurant and had to turn around and check it out. It
looked like something you would see in Lake Tahoe, Wayne said. It was
completely out of character, or so it seemed. It was a
country/western/cowboy type place with old old country western music
playing. Very rustic and fit for cowboys...and sure enough as locals
started rolling in for lunch, they looked like Costa Rican cowboys.
Our waiter spoke very good English and had lived in New Jersey for years, so
he was happy to chat with us in English.
Again we were in new territory for Wayne
and we needed to figure out how to get back to Atenas. We had bought a
map in Manuel Antonio but it wasn't the most detailed and we were struggling
a bit to navigate back home to Atenas. We found more cool mountains
and hillsides and a huge damn building construction project. We got
all the way down from this very steep gravely road to be turned around by a
security guard at the bottom. We had to go back up and around and down
to the south to get across. We finally figured it out and got to the
other side and wound our way on more dirt roads hoping we'd pop out
somewhere that might be on the map. We did but, we ended up taking a
wrong turn or two and getting sucked down into San Jose. That place is
a nightmare at best to drive around in. There really are no rules for
driving and it makes the Indy 500 look like child's play. At this
point both of my mirrors had long since vibrated and snapped off. I
was trying to follow Wayne, yet not get rear-ended or run off the road from
behind. At one point we were going too slow and cars were lane
splitting to pass us. Sheesh. A bit unnerving coming from
civilized driving :-) but we made it in one piece and back to the shop in
Atenas by late afternoon. I headed back to the El Cafetal Inn and
later met Wayne for dinner at La Trilla restaurant in Atenas.
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Views from our scramble up the mountain headed way from Manuel Antonio |
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Our fun western bar/restaurant outside of San Isidro. Called La Vaca Flaca - the skinny cow |
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Hydrangea outside of La Vaca Flaca. The only ones I saw in Costa Rica |
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Day 13 - Monday, January 7th: Fly
Home
Certainly a day for relaxing and
reflection of another great week. It was nice traveling with Wayne, he
was a pleasure to hangout with, a good navigator, and we could cover a lot
of ground since it was just the two of us. Larger groups get unwieldy,
especially when it comes to meals and stops. We both had the same goal
of wanting to explore and find things that were unique and different and not
overrun with Americans or other tourists.
I caught a ride to the airport this
afternoon with an American guy that happened to be visiting his buddies at
the Inn. He used to work there and offered to give me a ride.
Cool. He was from New Jersey and had moved down there 2 years ago and
loves it. Hmmm. Seems to be the common theme. It was
interesting to hear all about his adjustments from moving and settling into
a different pace, life, financial status, the differences you don't see as a
tourist. Nice guy and nice chatting with him.
Epilogue - The beauty, scenery, riding, people, feelings, emotions are
all hard to put into words. Around every turn and every new town there
was something amazing and beautiful to discover. It is rare that I say
I will be back to a vacation destination, as I like to continue to explore,
but this is one place I will come back to! I thought of Craig many
times during the trip and was sad at times thinking that we did not get to
share this together. But sharing the trip with Sue and making new
friends along the way leaves me with many wonderful memories and thoughts.
