Costa Rica lives up to it's
name--Rich Coast
-- Story by Erin --
Sunday, Dec 29th: We crossed the border into Costa
Rica with relative ease. It took some time to process the paperwork on the CR side,
and $11 US for each bike, but no hassles. It was a short ride after this to reach
Turtle Beach on the Pacific coast, where we were meeting Chris' parents and their friends,
Avi and Hannah, at a nice resort called THE LOOKOUT. Hannah's brother Lev is part
owner and chef at the hotel.
Chris' parents treated us to the luxurious
accommodation while we spent time with them there. Its a huge treat for us
since our usual accommodation normally is backpacker accommodation in small rooms with
thin walls. While Chris' parents did the "flight of the Toucan"
through the canopy of the rainforest in harnesses and on special cables stretched between
trees, we were hiking on the forest floor looking for birds and spotting monkeys.
On the road that day, we met a motorcycle traveler
named Remus on a BMW R1100GS. Remus is a New Yorker on a trip from Alaska to
Ushuaia. He also happens to be of Romanian descent (he was born there) and
speaks a little Hungarian, which was a pleasant surprise in the jungle for Chris' parents
and interesting for us to hear his stories about immigrating to the US. He hung out
here with us for a few days.
Monday, Dec 30th: Frank and Rosa, friends
from New York, arrived to help us ring in the new year, AGAIN! Last year, we all
danced and celebrated the new year in Ushuaia, the southern-most city in the world.
This year the climate was decidedly more warm and humid. New Year's Eve day was
spent frolicking in a nice little waterfall nearby while enjoying the company of chatting
parrots and a dancing toucan in the trees. The owners of the property have several
of these lovely birds living freely (not in cages, thankfully) on their property.
For New Year's Eve, we had a wonderful top-notch
dinner at our hotel highlighted by the dessert------ chocolate lava cake!!! We rang
in the new year with Chris' parents, their friends Avi and Hannah, along with our mates
Chris, Simi, Frank, Rosa, and Remus. A really nice start to 2003!
New Year's Day, 2003: Lev's wife, Susan,
mentioned to us that there was a festival happening in Boruca, a village inhabited by
indigenous people in the mountains nearby. Since there are very few indigenous
groups left in Costa Rica, it was a good opportunity to visit one on a day when we could
see some of the richness of their culture. Good thing we all went in the
rented 4-wheel drive because the road was steep, rocky, with deep sand in places.
The village was at the top of a mountain with spectacular views of the valleys and rivers
below. It was the festival of the Devil, with dancers dressed up in costumes made
from local plants and hand-carved and painted masks. The dancers taunted one of the
participants dressed up like a bull. A four-day event, culminating with the bull
being killed, entails much drinking of beer and the homemade whisky, chicha. The
villagers were very kind and didn't seem to get irritated by us foreigners running around
snapping photos of them.
Thursday, Jan 2: We said goodbye to Chris'
parents, for the fifth time now on this trip. Robi and Gabi are now retired, and
there seems to be a competition as to who can travel to more places. They were
recently in Europe, China, and Tibet, and in May they are going to Russia to spend some
time cruising on a river boat -- Chris' only objection is they are spending his
inheritance! :-)
We were heading to the Caribbean coast, the folks
were heading north to see volcanoes, and Remus set off towards the south, to meet his
parents in Panama City. Our caravan of 3 bikes and a jeep headed across the
Cordillera mountains to the east coast. Soon after we left the Pacific coast and
headed inland we started the long climb over the mountains. The summit of this pass
was at 3,400 meters, quite high anywhere in the world let alone for a small tropical
country in Central America. Of course, we had just received our new mesh, summer m/c
jackets for Christmas and the first day we used them we crossed a high-altitude pass where
temperatures dropped to 10 C/50 F. We stopped for a much-needed warm meal at
lunchtime and dug out our fleece jackets to throw on over our new jackets. The going
was quite tricky as there were many curves, fog, potholes, and lots of truck traffic to
deal with. The scenery is beautiful though in this area with lush green cloud forest
and lots of interesting birds.
We arrived on the Caribbean coast at Puerto Limon
and its a whole different atmosphere. I started to notice the difference about
50 kms from the coast--- there was traffic but no one was driving aggressively. In
fact, no one was even driving the speed limit! Everyone was doing a good 10 kms
slower, and politely moved to the side and waved us by when they saw we wanted to pass.
In Puerto Limon, the population is largely Afro-Caribbean with the
"tranquilo" atmosphere to go with it. Most people here speak English just
as fluently, if not more so, as Spanish. Chris started speaking to a policeman about
directions in Spanish, when the officer broke in and said, "Hey boy, where you
looking to go?". Very friendly and a great laugh! After a brief stop here
to load up on cash, we set off south down the coast to Puerto Viejo (near the Panama
border), surfers paradise.
After a quick look around town, we found a nice
beach-side spot to pitch our tents. The nice owner of the land invited us for a fish
dinner of barbecued red snapper the first night. We were so close to the beach that
we had big crabs wandering around our tents at night. The days were brutally hot and
humid here, but we managed to deal with it by relaxing in our hammocks in the shade of the
palm trees. By night, it cooled off sufficiently for us to wander the small town in
search of a good meal and a cold cerveza. This village was discovered long ago and
is now a bit of a hippie hang-out, known for Reggae music, dreadlocks and marijuana.
Depending on how you look at it, it's either a happening place with lots of options
for eating, drinking and shopping, or overcrowded with Gringos with too much money and
time on their hands. We thought it was a bit of both. However, there are lots
of places to go up and down the coast to get away from it all and find quiet beaches and
jungle all to yourself.
Monday, Jan 6: Departed our cozy beach
campsite after a long good-bye breakfast with Frank and Rosa. We needed to get to
San Jose (the capital in the middle of the country) to get Chris' Ohlins shock repaired.
Frank and Rosa left for the beaches on the Pacific side for another week of
holiday. Where will we see you next year?
Now we are in San Jose with Chris and Simi.
It's your average big city capital, with lots of traffic, people and the resources we need
to get things done. Maybe because so many people painted a negative picture of this
place for us, that we now think its not so bad. There's a nice
walking/shopping district in the center and some nice colonial buildings. People are
very nice here, so it won't be a hassle to stay a few days.
From here we go north to the volcano Arenal, which
is still actively spewing lava, and then across the border to Nicaragua.
Sunset from our hotel over the Pacific.

Photo courtesy of Robert Ratay |
New Year's Eve 2002.

Photo courtesy of Robert Ratay |
Toucan giving us a show.

Photo courtesy of Robert Ratay |
Festival of the Devil in the indigenous village of Boruca.

Photo courtesy of Robert Ratay |
The perfect lunch: Cheap, delicious, and good friends

Rosa, Gabi, Erin, Simi, Frank, Remus, Chris, and Robi
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I picked up a hitchhiking grasshopper.

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Paradise on the Caribbean side.
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Looks like Frank & Rosa are enjoying their holiday
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