2018 COSTA RICA DAY 11 In Samara 01-21

Yesterday has a hard day on the motocycle even thought we saw lots of great scenery. So today we just hung out at the beach at Casa Valeria Beach Cabins and scoped out Samara.

The beach here is easy going with just enough surf to make it fun. The sand is fine with no gravel to walk on and the as you can see the sunsets are something else.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 10 Left Mocezuma for Samara 01-20

Back roads to Samara along the beach via Malpais again. We crossed three rivers. We had a nice breakfast at Moctezuma and saddled up our bikes. We were off by about 9:00 and we had a 90 kilometer day before us. The route I planned was all unpaved roads which has become the norm. There were however a few surprises in store for us on the coastal route north to Samara.

Wendy ended up falling just as the had made this crossing, ouch, but like a trooper posed for the photo. Crossing rivers is not something we have ever done and is certainly a new skill we will be working on.

Above is our route for the day.

So Wendy didn't say much about her falls the past two days but the bruises were getting pretty bad so she couldn't hide it any longer.  Naturally I then tortured her by making her apply ice the whole evening.  We think it did help even though some of it was a day late.

 The reward for the day was sitting on the wonderful beach at Samara, a place we would come to really enjoy (maybe the best place on the trip.).

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 21 In Bejagua 01-31

Wendy felt better today it looks like the tea worked.  We started the 2.5 kilometer hike to Cataractas Falls but only got a little more than half way since Wendy wasn’t feeling that good after all.  We headed back for dinner in Bejagua and then went on the “Frog Paradise” tour from 17:30 to  20:00.  Frog Paradise is an old farm which a son and his father converted to a nature preserve about fifteen years ago.  They planted native plants that supported innumerable insects, reptiles, birds, and mamals.  As the inhabitants grew and continue to grow they began giving night time 2.5  hour tours about ten years ago.  Wendy and I had a wonderful time with the dad who could not speak English but carried a book with all the critters in it to show us what he was pointing out in real life, in the dark of night. We saw all sorts of frogs, bugs, spiders, and sleeping birds.  Thank goodness we saw no snakes although we were looking for them.  We had a great time and by the time we got to bed at about 21:00 we were really tired having walked a lot today and Wendy still not feeling completely well. Tomorrow we head for the coast again but this time further south.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 18 In Playa Papaturro 01-28

Today we went on a bike ride around Orosi and Cacao.  This was the first time we got into the “Cloud Forest” which was beautiful.  On our way we ran into a giant wind farm.  The shear size of the turbans perched up high on their columns was very impressive.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 17 Left Playa Coco for Papaturro 01-27

On the way to Playa Papaturro we drove out on a peninsula to try to tour the new Four Seasons Hotel there.  Wendy had heard it was quite an exciting place from a design stand point, which it did turn out to be only we were not allowed to tour the place.  As we approached the 12 kilometer long entry drive we were greated by a gate manned by guards who asked us what our business was and if we had a reservation.  At about $2,000 per room per night for the cheapest we did not make a reservation.  We just mumbled something about wanting to take a look and that we were an architect and interior designer.  They must have been amused by that given we had two weeks of gross road grime on us and didn’t quite look the part with our luggage strapped to our bikes.  In the end they signed us in and let us pass to the second check point about ten kilometers down the road. The guy there manned a bigger more monstrous gate but after a little conversation he let us pass as well. As we arrived in the parking lot we were greeted by a third, this time a female, guard who directed us to the lot.  She was quite pleasant and pointed us to the reception area.  We made it as far as the check in counter which is where the lady concierge told us that would were not allowed to enter and offered us a bottle of water while firmly denying us entry and asking us to leave.  So we took a few pictures of the life style of the rich and famous on our way out and retreated with our tails between our legs. 

Sadly as we left Wendy left her new glasses on the back of the bike and they fell off and got run over.  We didn’t realize they were gone until we were beyond the first gate and had to back track to the lady at the parking lot who stood there with broken glasses in hand which she handed to Wendy.  All in all a nicely done “Disney Land” sort of place but not for our kind.  Reserved for Oprah and Bill Gates.

The rest of the trip north was quite nice while relatively uneventful  as we hit highway 1 and neaded northward.  Highway 1 separates Santa Rosa National Park and Guanacasta National  Park from one another as it heads north between them.  Almost the whole 30 kilometer distance the road is overgrown with a beautiful, and blooming, canopy of trees which makes it a wonderful ride to experience.

We arrived in La Cruz at about 15:00 and headed east to the “Blue Dream” resort.  It ended up being neither blue nor so dreamy.  It was not on the beach but on a very steep hill above the beach.  Our room was even further up, about 200 feet up, on a very steep (sort of) driveway which we couldn’t really navigate with our bikes.  We had to carry all our luggage up this hill.  It gave us a little sense of what it must have been like for the those miners going up Chilkoot Pass in Alaska as the headed toward the Yukon with their one ton grub stake.  Admittedly we only had to schlepp our stuff up once and not the fourty five times those guys did through the snow.

Ok so all was not lost since were greeted by a tree full of white faced monkeys which made the place a lot more fun than we had originally though when we saw our neighbor lady shake a scorpion like creature out of her underwear.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 16 In Playa Coco 01-26

Crap I woke up with a good sized hemorrhoid which I will need to deal with today, first find a pharmacy.  After getting hemorrhoid cream we went on a day trip with “Johnny D.” (tour guide/hustler).  It was really nice.  We had a driver named Carlos and we went to Palo Verde National Park which was about 90 minutes away toward the east.  On the way we stopped to look at an interesting operation where native locals harvested sand for construction from the river using oxen.  They had oxen pulling about cubic yard cart that they drove right into the river.  Then another guy scooped sand from the river bed, under water, and filled the cart.  Once it was full they hauled it up to a yard were they dumped it so that it would dry and then at some point would be picked up by truck and hauled to local construction sites where they mix concrete on site.  I’ve yet to see a concrete truck or a batch plant in Costa Rica.  Johnny D. said only natives were allowed to do this work and only in that fashion by government regulation.  It all had to do with local, native, employment and not destroying the river by dredging.  Anyway that’s what he said.

There we got on a boat which took us around on the Tempisque River which forms a huge 240 KM long estuary which reaches way up north to the Palo Verde Park.  The boat ride lasted about 90 minutes and the wildlife we saw was plentiful and exotic.  We saw numerous Iguana and Crocodile and the birds species were to numerous to even start counting.  We also saw white face monkeys were really sweet and very human like in many ways.  On our return trip we saw a McCaw which was nesting in a tree.  There is this kid that runs around the roads and looks for the McCaws and then directs tourists to them for a tip, Johnny D. paid him with a bag of cookies he bought earlier at a bakery that we stopped at on our way in.

On the way to the park Johnny D. stopped at a community house where they sold pottery made by natives (so they said) and Wendy bought  one.  Our plan was to mail it back home since we couldn’t take it on the bike.  When we got back we went on a couple hour adventure walking a store for packng material and then to a post office which resembled our DMV for mailing.  One more tip to Johnny D. for the effort of guiding us through the mailing process we settled in for dinner and planning for the next day’s departure. 

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 20 In Bejagua 01-30

Yikes Wendy came down with a case of Montezuma’s revenge, nasty stuff.  She skipped breakfast but the owner of the Cataracatas Bijagua Lodge named Warner told of this tea that he makes from indigenous plants that would help.  So nothing ventured, nothing gained I asked him to brew some up please.  I took it up to our beautiful newly built cabin where Wendy was suffering.  Warner warned me it would taste very bitter and it did.  Poor Wendy being the tough person she is drank it down anyway and sure enough it did help.  By the end of the day she was on the mend.

As she was laying in bed sweeting it out so to speak, I took off to Gejagua to find the repair shop to fix the bikes.  Once I found the place they started doing the work immediately and were very nice about it all.  They did a remarkable job under fairly primitive working conditions and I left with my bike fixed and with Wendy’s new brake lever in had which I installed once I got back.

We just hung low the rest of the day so Wendy could recover.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 19 Left Playa Papaturro for Bejagua 01-29

We were going to go on highway 2 east then south to Bejagua but since I needed a right side mirror which fell off plus my rear fender was about to fall off since the two tubes holding it broke and  Wendy’s bike fell over and bent the brake lever so badly I didn’t feel it was safe to go on like that, so we went south to Liberia instead in search of parts and fixes.

I did manage to buy a mirror at a honda shop in Liberia for $20.  I had to buy a set of two so now I have a left side spare mirror.  They didn’t have an AKT brake lever though.  After calling Carlos the bike guy we set up a repair session with a bike shop in Bejajagua.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 15 Left Samara for Playa Coco 01-25

Sadly left Samara and headed for Playa La Coco.  Crossed 2 rivers (creeks) on the way with no problems.  They were not very large and we are sort of getting to be old hands at this stuff…….sort of. 

The hotel in Coco was hard to find.  It had a really back way access point with hardly a sign.  The GPS coordinates for the place were wrong so we didn’t find it that way.  Long story short Wendy finally ferreted it out and we got signed in.  It’s ceratainly one of the more depressing rooms I’ve ever been in.  All concrete with just one small window and air conditioning which makes the place cold.  On the up side we seem to be sharing the space with a little geko that makes noise every once in a while.

We went to dinner at a sea food place and I had some pretty good food.  Wendy wasn’t so lucky she got  a dry red snapper.  But again on the upside all of a sudden a parade formed going down the street.  We had no idea what it was all about so we asked the waiter who told us that the rodeo was in town.  So after dinner we went to a Costa Rican Rodeo, cowboys and all.  I had no idea Wendy was a rodeo fan but she is.  She had a great time watching the young crazy daredevil cowboys riding bulls and admiring the lasso horses and riders.  We ended up turning in about 2200 which is late for us but it was a good day.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 14 In Samara 01-24

We just played today first heading up the beach to the north finding a way around a river ford.  Then we headed back south to explore a beach to the south of Samara.   Finnaly back to our place for dinner then bed.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 13 In Samara 01-23

Five AM arrived early as we got out of bed, had breakfast and got ready for our tour of the dry jungle by a really nice guide called Burt.  Interestingly enough he was married to a german lady from Frankfurt, but he didn’t speak any German.  We ended up with two other visitors on our tour.  It was two guys from Switzerland, small world.  It was fun to chat with them. 

Burt was amazing at what he did.  He spotted birds and little critters as small as cicadas for us to see.  The whole thing took about four hours and was really very enjoyable.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 12 In Samara 01-22

We found a almost dried out Belen Falls. Then we just had a beach day. Belen Falls: 3 meters high. 18 kilometers from Samara on the way to Nicoya you'll hit Bar Cascadas on the left, before you hit the town of Belen. It has a red "Pilsen" sign outside. Turn left on the dirt road right before that sign. Travel 500m until you hit a fork in the road and go right. Travel for another 1.5km and just after you pass a lot of corn fields on your right you'll see a property on your right with a sign on its gate that says "privado" (among other things) in red. 20 meters before that property there will be a couple of tall poles in the fence on that side, with a pass leading from them. Go between the poles and walk for 100-200 meters to find the falls. Don't swim in the bottom pool as the current is dangerous. The top has little pools out of the current that you can sit in. Great views from above down the river.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 9 In Moctezuma 01-19

We got up kind of late and had a good breakfast after an early morning swim. This was our first dip in the warm waters of the Costa Rican Pacific. After that we road our bikes on dirt roads out to the Absoluta Cabo Blanc National Park. The roads were starting to be a bit of a challenge to say the least. We went on a short two kilometer hike/walk through the rainforest there. Its hard to beat the Pacific Northwest when it comes to a rain forest and this one didn’t do it. It was interesting and lush but the best part of the day was really watching the brown pelicans dive bomb for fish. We did see two crittters: first a big iguana like lizard that crossed the road and later when we parked our bikes at the park we saw a ????? (Like a little bear sort of).

After leaving the park we went to Malpais via the most horrific roads known to man. Wendy fell four times on these stupid roads. When we arrived at Malpais we sat down for dinner as it was getting dark. We had a decent dinner in this very touristy town but the traffic was nuts. The red rental 4x4 ATV’s were around us like flies and they were all going too fast and were driven by people who had no idea what they were doing. Alas after I made a quick stop the ATM for some cash for the Samara hotel and then we headed home to Moctezuma in the dark again. I seem to recall that one significant piece of driving advice for Costa Rica was “DON’T DRIVE AT NIGHT”. We arrived at the hotel and basically passed out exhausted.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 8 To Moctezuma 01-18

Today we learned about toll roads in Costa Rica as we traveled 102 kilometers from San Jose to the ferry at Punterenas. Wendy says this is the first time I “went Tica (native)” on her, meaning split lanes in city traffic and do some other stupid maneuvers on a motorcycle. She says after that I went Tica quite a bit, I don’t really believe that is true but she says it is. We got on a small ferry which took us to the southern end of the Nicoya Peninsula to a town called Paquera. We then road about 45 kilometers to Moctezuma and checked into our Hotel Moctezuma located right on the beach of this small “Hippy Dippy Surfer” town.