Coastin Rica!

To address the question from mobiusjones about our map link, (which if you have not checked out is on the right hand side of the page below our information) yes we still do use that but.... here in Central America it is the rainy season and it has been very very very cloudy recently and so our GPS that uploads the coordinates has not been able to work. But, here is a quick rundown of where we stayed in Costa Rica North to South along the West Coast; Canas Dulces, El Garabito, Jaco, Damas, La Uvita, Ciudad Cortes, Rio Claro, and Coopabuena.

We have been running behind on blogging because we have met so many people to stay with recently that it has been hard to find time to use the internet! Anyhow, we just finished riding the Coastal Route of Costa Rica. It is pretty amazingly beautiful. All along the way are small beach towns, tons of coconut trees, banana trees, birds, iguanas, monkeys and other animals we do not know the name of. Also there is lots of foreign investment in property, condos, luxury hotels/spas and that kinda thing.

We stayed in a small town of Damas. We stopped into the local school to see if they would be willing to let us sleep on the grounds for the night. They very graciously offered us a classroom to stay in so we could avoid being out in the nightly rain. Sadie, one of the teachers, invited us over for coffee and cookies that evening. She is not only working as a primary school teacher, but also going to school for her masters in Administration and raising two children...whew!! She was very chatty and told us about the palm trees that are lining the side of the highway where we had been riding. She told us they are palm plantations, from which Costa Rica is one of the leading producers in Palm oil. She told us how the people that work on the plantations are forced to live in company housing and work for no pay. They receive rice, beans, and cooking oil for their labor. A very sad example of modern day slavery. Sadie was very candid, she believes that tourism is having a strong negative impact on Costa Rican culture. It is understandable because much of Costa Rica's coast is being taken over by large resorts that locals could never think of entering.

Random stories!! In Ciudad Cortes we met with the president of the local area schools and he lent us his newly constructed rental house. We got to be the first two people to sleep in it!

One day I decided I had had enough of the coconuts taunting us from the trees along the side of the road. We pulled over and for about 10 minutes I tried throwing, climbing, coaxing a coconut to fall. Finally, it did. Eric 1 Coconut 0 Fresh Coconut is delicious! I guess I changed sides mom.

Costa Rica has good bread and brown rice! Finally.

In Rio Claro we asked the police if there was somewhere good to stay. They told us we could stay in a community center and invited us to eat dinner with them. We had a nice dinner of rice and cabbage salad and oatmeal water. Oatmeal water is actually pretty good. One of the officers is making not one but TWO collections of all 50 state quarters from the USA. He is missing 2 quarters from one collection and 6 from the other. Washington state is missing from both. DOH! Great gift idea to bring with us missed!!

Then we climbed. and climbed. We went up to Coopabuena. It rests roughly 2000 meters above our nice flat coastline, and we went up to it in under 20 kilometers. We went to meet a friend we had been in contact with through helpx.com. He is making an organic farm in Coopabuena and invited us to stay with him. We got to a small house where we met Scott. He lives simply and basically. He has a love for bananas and hacking things with his machete. We did not do much work, but that was fine with us because we always need some rest. We cooked us huge pots of soup and sat around sharing bike excursion stories. Scott took his own trip last year from Seattle down to his farm. We tramped through the mud looking for guava and taro root, but the bugs got the real harvest; fresh blood. We send our thanks to Scott for his hospitality and hope to see him when he rides back to the PNW.

We decided it was time. Time to say we have biked through every country in Central America and so we headed into Panama. Crossing the border was just as annoying as usual. There was a lack of signs, too many people yelling and trying to sell us stuff and border officials who like to tell us nothing about what is going on. For the first time we were brought into customs, and as they were about to search our drug laden bags a bus full of people showed up and the inspectors decided two dirty bicyclists pose little threat to the safety of the Panama. So here we are Panama! Somehow we have to go around the Darien gap, probably the hardest spot on this trip. Our road ends. We have to take a boat.


Photos; Costa Rica landscapes, children and Sadie from Damas, Eric opening a treat, Merilee showing off her bug-bitten leg