2018 COASTA RICA DAY 7

Back into town we went today.  I forgot to mention that on the first day here I spent all day walking in my sandals without socks and created a rather large blister on my right foot.  So today, while I was healing, I was still hobbeling a bit and nursing it along.  I think I'll be ok henceforth although I didn't take the bandage and moleskin off since it's doing such a good job.  Anyway bellyackin aside we heading into town to go to the the big park at the eastern end of Avenue Central and the Costa Rican Art Museum.

On the way downtown we discovered more really cool grafitti.  Wendy loves to take photos of it and post it on Pintrest.  You should check it out when you have the chance, it's pretty fun.

Sitting on this park bench on the side of the road was this guy with a bicycle made to look like a chopper.  It looked pretty cool and the guy seemed to be having an enjoyable morning.

So this is the transitional space in the museum to the sculpture garden.  The floor is made of terra cotta tile and its color is just stunning.  

The second story of the museum was quite beautiful with a real attention to detail in the woodwork.

The wrought iron tension members at the bottom cords of the trusses were wonderfully crafted and detailed .

The intersection of the wrought iron tension members of the trusses was reflected in the oculus window behind it.

The walls of his room, which has been used as a reception area for foreign dignitaries, consist of a bas relief of plaster which tells the story of the history of  Costa Rica.   It was done by a local artist in the 1950's.

Here is Wendy, interior designer gone crazy with this space.  She is enjoying the space and colors.

These two over sized sculptures were done by the same artist and are bronzes.

This one honors the farmer.

Here is the back side of the museum.

Looking at the sculpture garden from the rear.

Well natrally we ended our day with rain and wind, what else is new.

On our way back to the hotel Arajuez we went through this graveyard which also happens to be a national park. Most ot the graves are in above ground tombs and typically are owned and occupied by  families.  Some of these structures are quite amazing.  When walking between the graves it really feels like walking through a city of the dead within the larger city of San Jose.

This is a particularly beautiful family tomb.  This sculpted from marble and houses members of the Ferrer family.  It's really interesting to see this level of investment in the home for the dead and their memories.  It really shows mans struggle with death and hope for the existence of an immortal soul.  Walking between these grave sites was a deep contemplative moment for both of us.

After about an hour we headed home by train but exited at the wrong train station (long story) so we ended up tacking a taxi the rest of the way back.

Tomorrow we head off for the coast in order to find some heat and sunshine of which we have had almost non here.  Oh and yes Wendy's 250 was delivered at 21:00 so we now will ride a matching pair.  So we'll be up at 5:00 eat in the room, pack, fill up tanks, and head off for our 100 KM ride to the ferry which will take us to the peninsula ultimately to Playa Montezuma where we will stay two nights and then head up the coast.  More on that tomorrow.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 6

We spent the day exploring San Juan some more.  We started by purchasing some new lenses for Wendy's old but cool glasses.  David the optometrist who helped us was very knowledgeable and good to work with.  We got some lenses for half the cost as in the United States.  We'll pick them up in February.  On we went the the National Museum of History of Costa Rica.  The museum focuses on the development of a socialist state the dissolved it's military over 60 years ago and lives quite happily without one.  Both healthcare and a college education is free to every citizen.

Here is Wendy holding up the ceiling at the courtyard of the museum

This is an interesting artifact that we discovered in the museum.  It is a Costa Rican flag that was taken to the moon and back by Apollo 11 and then given to the people of Costa Rica.

To us this was a reminder of what the United States used to stand for in the eyes of the world.  A country that took global leadership and was generous and respectful to other nations.  That was a time both Wendy and I yearn for today.

Since this museum was an old renovated armory, guess what this is?

Yep its an old gun port to shoot at the attackers.  Before this fortress was used as an armory it was built to ward off pirates.

When you enter the museum you through a lepidopterarium.  So there I said it!  Its a  butterfly house chocked full of native plants with lots of butterflies.  Many of these plants we see at home as house plants but here they are indigenous  Its a beautiful wal to enter the building and start discovering the museum.

They also had an area where the butterflies hatched from their chrysalis, very interesting.

I forgot to mention before we got to the museum we stopped again for coffee.  In this photo Wendy is eyeing a "Nutella Cake".  Naturally she had a piece and I admit I had a bit too.  If I haven''t said it before they have great coffee here.  I normally use cream and sugar but here straight up is just fine, it is so mild not bite at all.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 5

Off we went again undaunted by wind or rain on our way to the Poás vocano. via a town called San Pablo.  The town was very sweet, we should have stayed there but no we continued on our way to the volcano.  As we climbed the rains began driven by huge gusts of wind.  Naturally we again disappeard in the clouds only to get soaked to the skin, boots filled with water, and freezing cold.  I've provided the link to the volcano above so you can see it, we never did, nor did we take a single picture on this now the third miserable weather day in Costa Rica.  Tomorrow we give up trying to see the countryside and will go to the museums downtown.  We had reservations for the Arenal area but will cancel and head to the west coast instead because it's too damned wet and cold in the inland area right now.  We'll swing back later.  Here is a picture of the volcanoe and a beach somebody else took.

Until tomorrow friends.

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 4

So today even though it was raining and windy we decided to head up a volcano called  Irazu.  The ride was about 55 kilometers over very tiny roads up into the mountains.  We got lost a couple of times but we did make it to the park gate which was about 1.5 KM from the visitors center.  We were in the fog and it was raining.  Our fingers were frozen and  wet, yep this must be Costa Rica.  My bike had carburator problems and stopped running so we didn't go into the park.  I thought I might be out of gas so I coasted down the mountain to a gas station.  But before I got there it started again so I'm thinking there was an altitude problem with the carb.  Not sure but it runs fine now.

Since it rained most of the day I though I would post this  picture of hope for tomorrow, it was a beautiful rainbow.

We never did see the  volcanoe because everything was so socked in.  We did however find a great lunch place on the way up.  These are a couple of pictures of us getting warm close to the fire place and resting up a bit before the final assault.

It's very stormy and wet so we may just go to the museum tomorrow and poke around town some more.  

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 3

It is our third day in Costa Rica and today we received our motorcycles.  We were supposed to receive two 250 CC bikes but we didn't.  What we got was one 250 CC and one 200 CC Honda.  We were promised to get the other 250 on Wednesday night so we'll just hang out in San Jose one more night no big deal.  I installed the GPS mount and wired it in.

Please sinor don't worry I'm going to tear that stuff apart to wire in my GPS anyway.

They delivered the bikes on a small pickp and had a narrow plank to get it down.  I help Carlos AKA Charlie unload the two bikes.  We soon figured out that a plank on a pickup truck wasnt to tough a glide path as we were soon to find out.  So we headed out of town about 2:00 PM

After about an hour of traffic that rivled the Puget Sound Region o n steroids we arrived at Cartago which is on the edge of town.....sort of.  It was about 14:00 so we were hungry (ravinous) and went looking for a restaurant.  We didn't find but a small caffee at which we stopped, if for no other reason then to get a break from the traffic.  The drivers here are truely almost as bad as I am.  Thank God that they don't move too fast (about 40 MPH or so) because they split lanes and weave in an out like an accident waiting to happen.  We saw one accident between a semi an small passenger car wheich showed just how crazy it gets around here.

We didn't find a restaurant that was open so we stopped at this coffee shop with a very helpful and kind owner who was more than happy to educate us about coffee in Costa Rica.  We had him pick out what to serve us since we had no idea and the guy seemed trustworthy enough.  He was very enthusiastic about it all for sure..   When we did get our coffee it was quite amazing.  I usually use sugar and cream in my coffee.but with this stuff neither was a good choice since it stood on it's own.

Some of the best coffee I ever had for sure!

Check this guy out.

Well we did a little route planning based on the input of one of the hotel employees who rides a Honda 500 last night.

  He did not steer us wrong.  When we busted out of town we started to experience the true landscape of  Cost Rica which is lush, green, wet, and comes with lots of landslides.  I started to feel more like we were on the open roads that we so much enjoy, curves good, sharp curves better, land slides and dogs not so good

Below is the route we took this afternoon, it's about 55 miles. 

At this point I need to give Wendy a bunch of credit.  She has been riding about 5 years on a cruiser bike and has never really been off road.  Today was the beginning of her motocross experience and she showed her guts and determination as we road over over a couple of very gnarly landslides which  crossed the road .  These things were about six foot tall mud speed bumps and she weathered them in great fashion.  She's a pretty amazing girl. 

Before we left I read on the internet that the most important thing was not to drive in the dark in Costa Rica.  Well on this our first ride we got caught in the dark and the rain. We didn't get back to the hotel in San Juan until 19:30 at night.

We did stop at a grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner and food for tomorrow.  A good hot shower back at the hotel made every thing good.

Pura Vida (more on that later).

2018 COSTA RICA DAY 2

Here we are on the morning of our second day in San Jose, Costa Rica.  I washed my socks last night but they weren't quite dry so Wendy, being the resourceful squirrel that she is, finished drying the for me using the hair dryer.

We also decided the each day we would post one photo of each of us that the other liked best on that day.  So here are the two for the day.  Wendy like me at lunch in the cafe of the National Theater of Costa Rica and I like the photo of her in the lobby of the same.

I suppose what impressed us the most on our first day here in San Jose was the art work that was everywhere, from the graffiti, to the sculpture, to the National Theater take a look at the following to what I'm talking about.

I can't let this post go without saying something about the food here.  From what I read and what people said Costa Rican food was sort of hum drum.  I have to say we have had four meals here and the have all been good and last nights dinner was great.  Lots of vegetables we don't have at home and wonderful sea food.  Wendy has had fish twice and she isn't so crazy about seafood.  

We had a nice conversation about motorcycles with the young man at the Hotel Desk.  He rides a Honda 500, which is fairly large for around here.  He turned us on to some areas to go riding in.  All the folks we have met here so far have been very welcoming and kind.  We've been using the Google Translate App  and I've been totally amazed by it.  It has one feature which allows you to use the camera to do the translation.   So if the menu is in Spanish you simply hold the camera over it and you can read it in English.  It's quite amazing.  You can also speak into it and what you say is immediately translated into Spanish.  The person you're talking with hears it in Spanish and then they can speak Spanish and you hear it in English.  The whole thing blows my mind it's soooo helpful.

Tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM we get the motorcycles.  We are both excited about that.  It even makes me forget about the giant blister I got today from walking in my sandals without socks.  We must have walked a good five or six miles.  Oh well I'll heal up.  We are also looking forward to having breakfast again tomorrow.  I'll close with a video at today's breakfast of a squirrel.