Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

Overnight heavy rain had left the early morning sky grey and overcast, but had at least reduced the humidity to a more acceptable level, at least long enough for me to take a stroll down to the beach before breakfast and take a couple of pictures to show what a beautiful beach this is...





Breakfast was equally good, fried eggs and streaky bacon with fried potatoes, with a half decent cup of coffee and fresh orange juice, just the way to start the day. Back in my room, I updated the blog for yesterday, the border story still very fresh in my mind, then noticed Tracy was online so we had a chat, which might be the last for a few days due to her forthcoming operation. She's a very brave person, but I still can't help wishing I could be in two places at once, so I could be with her as she goes through yet another stay in hospital. Hopefully this one will be short and she'll soon be home and on the mend...

After our chat I packed my stuff and loaded up the bike, the sun now having burnt away the morning's cloud cover and the humidity levels once again meaning that a simple job such as putting the bag in my panniers made me sweat like a sumo wrestler in a sauna... With the bike loaded and back in my heavy and now quite sweaty jacket, I put on my helmet (also now quite smelly), and Nick and I headed out of the hotel's gravel car park and back the way we'd come, then headed down towards Nicoya and on to the Amistad de Taiwan bridge, otherwise known as the Taiwan-Costa Rica Friendship Bridge, which ought to have been more impressive than it was, as it's a mix of cable-stayed and pillar-supported, and was only completed in 2003.

Shortly after crossing the bridge, I was riding along a straight section of road, when I saw a couple of big buzzards feeding off some road-kill in the middle of the road. As I approached, one took off and flew away, the other struggling to gain height and seemingly content to fly alongside me for a while, before it suddenly turned right into my path and I had to duck to avoid hitting it full-on with my face. As it was, I caught it's talons with my head, leaving a couple of slight scratches on the top of my helmet... close call! A mile or so later, we reached the Pan-American Highway once more, stopping at an air-conditioned petrol station for an ice-cream and cold drink (this adventure motorcycling lark is really tough sometimes...), then riding up the Pan-Am to Canas, before heading across country to Tilaran, where Nick and I got lost trying to find the road out, but using our common sense and natural sense of direction, soon found our way along a road that wasn't the one we wanted and became a dirt-road, necessitating a tricky u-turn and another trip through town until we finally found the right road. Now the road climbed up and opened out to afford us a great view over the lake, Lago Arenal, a man-made lake formed in 1979 and which is used to produce most of the electricity for Costa Rica...





Unfortunately the volcano (Volcan Arenal) was hidden from view by the clouds, so we continued on our merry way, the road twisting along the lake-side, dotted with pot-holes of varying sizes and depths, many on the lines we wanted to take through the bends and requiring increased vigilance and careful avoidance. But the riding was pleasant, our pace relaxed as we headed deeper into the rainforest, past some beautiful looking houses and lakeside plots of land for sale, before eventually stopping for a coffee in an Austrian bakery (next door to a German bakery where some of the other guys were eating bratwurst sandwiches). The coffee was truly excellent, made with local beans grown in the area, and Nick and I spent a happy half hour or so just relaxing and chatting, admiring the lovely scenery...





While we were sat, most of the rest of the group rode past, seemingly in no more of a hurry than we were. The road from the coffee shop improved dramatically, the tarmac now smooth and with hardly any potholes, but twisting tightly this way and that as it followed the contours of the lake shore, the riding very enjoyable indeed. But there was no dropping of concentration, as every now and then the road would throw a big surprise, on one occasion a short stretch of gravel and dirt on the exit of a blind bend, on several others pot-holes big enough to cover most of the width of the road, and deep enough to dent a wheel if they weren't avoided....

Then, rounding one bend we encountered what at first looked like an accident, some of the bikes parked by the roadside with their hazard-warning lights on, and Julia knelt in the grass by the roadside. It wasn't an accident, but the group had spotted a coatis (often mis-named a coatimundi) at the roadside and had stopped to take photos. The animal wasn't at all fazed by the attention, and when Al got out a nut bar, was keen to demonstrate how cute it could be, taking the food from our hands and posing for the cameras...





The last stretch of road to La Fortuna took us out of the rainforest, as the road skirted the bottom of Volcan Arenal, still largely obscured by clouds...





Soon we were at the hotel, the hot and humid conditions of this morning replaced by a slightly cooler, less humid and definitely more fresh feeling air of the rainforest. Rather than have a shower I got changed and went in the pool, the water refreshing and warm, then I remembered I needed to fix my horn (which had stopped working again, and I had gone to use it on several occasions to warn any oncoming traffic to my presence as some of the bends were tight and narrow, and the Costa Ricans, like the Hondurans, seem to want to use all the road, all the time). So I had to go and shower and get dressed, then quickly found the cause to be a connector that was no longer connected as the nut holding the horn on and rattled loose... with that quickly solved, I tackled my fog-lights again, fixing a short and replacing the earth wire, a job made more tricky as darkness fell quickly whilst I had one of the lights in bits. But with those 2 jobs done, I felt like I'd achieved something, then headed out for dinner with Nick and Al. We chose a restaurant on the corner of town, where Chris & Danielle were finishing their meals, and where Kevin & Julia were dining with some old friends, and Jeff joined us (the rest of the group also arrived later to eat at the same place). Seems we all chose well, as the food was truly excellent, from the Vietnamese soup I had as a starter, the stuffed chicken rolls on mashed potato for my main course right through to the home-made brownie and ice-cream and the fantastic coffee, made from beans grown on a farm and used exclusively by the restaurant... all for the princely sum of $30 including 2 beers...

Whilst we were eating, it started to rain, a proper monsoon rain bouncing high off the road as it landed, then stopping just as sharply as it started, before starting again a few minutes later. That pattern remained throughout our meal, and when we were finished and the bill paid, I took the opportunity of a lull in the storm to head back to the hotel, whilst Nick & Al went on for more beer (Jeff had left us earlier, having some chores to attend to...). It was still early when I got back to the room, so I sat on my bed and wrote the blog whilst letting the great meal settle. It had been a very relaxing day, despite my thoughts wandering homeward even more than usual...