More Costa Rica

Today's entry is being written from a small beach along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. I'm not sure about the name of the town, but there's quite a number of little motels and backpacker spots dotted along the coast road.




The sun is coming up to my left, burning the mist off the tops of the rain forest covering the spit of land jutting into the ocean.

Getting to this beach was just a short walk from the Cabinas las Bambu we stayed in last night.


The cabins are smack in the middle of the forest (thank goodness for my mossy tent). About 2 minutes of strolling the path cut through the dense undergrowth, and you'll reach a wide road cleared beneath a stand of coconut trees that stretches 3 kms north to south. Just beyond the far edge of the palm trees lies the long, sandy beach.

In the time it's taken me to write this, two groups of morning jobbers have started their morning runs up the beach. I can still see the first lady, Yvonne and her dog. They've almost reached the far northern end if he beach. The second group of runners, are about 2 minutes behind them.

The cabins we are staying in are run by Yvonne and her father. Mom and Dad ran the place for 23 years, and Yvonne just came back 3 years ago after spending more than a decade in Orlando, Florida.

There are no clouds directly above the beach, or the shoreline, as far as I can see. The sky is bright, and clear. A few miles out to sea, there seems to be a rather thick bank of clouds building, and slowly darkening.

I hope to get on the road, and into Panama before midday today. Hopefully that timing will keep us ahead of the rains as well...

Yesterday we really took our time coming up the road. Initially, the plan was to reach the CR-PA border that day -- a long, but seemingly doable 350 kms. With a late start, lots of traffic, a newly instilled fear of speeding tickets, and just so much lovely scenery along the way ... Well, we just decided to take as much time as needed.

We stopped at a supermarket for lunch and were told by an older man that we were about to face certain doom in Columbia. Cory said we keep hearing that about the "next" country along the trip. Which was apparently not the right answer for this guy. He accused Cory of considering himself invincible, and being foolhardy for not taking his advice. Funny thing is, he didn't actually give us any advice.

The next stop was far more nourishing for the soul. We stopped at the Savegre River, as it crossed under the highway on it's way to the sea.

The river was strong, cold and refreshing.


A half-hour later, our wonderful river lime concluded, we remounted and headed south.

My hostility towards this expensive country is beginning to wane...

Next stop - Panama!