tantramar

Pretty Place

A few people wanted to see some more landscapes from Costa Rica so I've posted some up on my Flickr page if anyone wants to have a peak.

Costa Rican Art

In Costa Rica when we were crossing the continental divide we stayed at a crazy little lodge balanced on the top on a mountain. It had some really nice stuff there including a 1960s Wurlitzer but the thing that caught my eye, was some of the art.

Sweet little tiger painting

Some local villagers… with no faces! Either, it’s a spiritual thing, or the guy just couldn’t paint faces, I think it’s the later.
Oh and this painted rock! I have no idea what it is or who made it, but you gotta admit it’s pretty unique.

Costa Rica - Day Seven

Day Seven – Finca Pacuarito to Caribbean

We had to get up super early for the Kayaking – still very much nighttime. We packed up our gear for the last time and start paddling in the dark with head torches on. This was pretty novel and kinda fun.

I don’t know if anyone has ever tried kayaking 40km, but it’s pretty hard work especially in 35-degree heat. Everyone got sunburnt, all 60 of us. I applied factor 30 four times and still got burnt.
Happy days.
There was a 14km race, which was seriously tiring. We were in pairs and my kayak came 3rd out of 30 kayaks, which I was quite pleased about. We weren’t allowed to paddle right into the sea as the rip currents are very dangerous not too mention the Bull sharks and Caiman. Perhaps not surprisingly no one argued this. We then reached the Caribbean sea and had out pictures taken.

We were all pretty tired after a week of pretty intensive physical activities. I was pretty sad it wasn’t going to continue though. I couldn’t have done much more but I felt I wanted to try. I certainly didn’t want to go home. We then caught a boat up river to where we would take our bus. It was about 4pm. Nearly everyone fell asleep.

Costa Rica - Day Six

I can't believe I'm still writing this account, but there you go!

Day Six – El Nido del Tigre to Finca Pacuarito

We rafted 20km today, which wasn’t too stressful, but by now we really needed a slight rest. We spent sometime drifting downstream on our backs in the water. A very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

We also had a raft-flipping contest, which we were amazing at in the practice and rubbish at in the real event. Typical.

By the end of the day the rapids had ended and we were on flat water – sea level! Just the Kayaking to go.

Costa Rica - Day Five

Day Five – Turrialtico to El Nido del Tigre
Much of the biking was off road and downhill, some of it was brilliant and some of it was suicidal. We were forced to walk down some sections and quite frankly people would have died trying to do it. This was over 20km dropping from 800m to 200m. We were nearly at sea level!

On the very last section of the biking I managed to come off the bike quite impressively, bruising both thighs, my hip and chest, cutting my knee, hands, chin and cheek. That was literally 50m from the end of the biking.

I know. I was delighted.

We got in the rafts and rafted for 7km on the Pacuare river, which actually takes quite a while. The scenery was stunning.

This was obviously brilliant fun. Here’s nice shot of Dan coming a cropper and deciding to investigate the underside of our raft.

That night we finished up at stunning camp in the middle of the rainforest.

This was a zip line that the local indigenous tribes use to cross the river. They all have very large machetes, ripped jeans and Wellington boots, seriously. They make money crafting hand-made goods, which they sell in the local town. There were a lot of mosquitoes here!

Costa Rica - Day Four

Day Four – Orosi to Turrialtico
More biking, like we were gonna get away from it! We had the impression that since we were dropping from 1200m to 800m then this would be a nice descent. The trouble with a mountain range is that it goes up and down…obviously. So while there were some nice downhill sections, there were also some pretty brutal uphills. Great!

The downhill sections on the road were amazing though – bendy good roads snaking through the mountain. It felt like we were in the Tour de France. I scared myself to death several times by going too quickly and at one point I was so sure I was coming off I unclipped my feet from the pedals, expecting the worst. But as I’m writing this you obviously realise I didn’t cripple myself.

Day four also included a 15km race, with teams being released at 1 minute intervals. This was great fun if damn hard work with every team going hell for leather trying to gain points. We think we either came first or second in this, but they screwed up the timings so we’ll never know. We over took several teams and no one over took us so we had to be pretty high on the board. We were slipstreaming and everything, well, we were sort of slipstreaming.

Everytime we had a pause, everyone took the opportunity to stuff their faces with sugar. I think I drank more coke and ate more chocolate in a week than I normally do in a year.

This was a really good day of biking – 46km, and by the time we climbed the steep hill to the hill-top lodge everyone was shattered. I say hill-top as it was exactly that with stunning views and a pretty impressive sunset. We could see them burning the sugar cane for miles and miles.

Everyone was ecstatic - we had beds and hot, well warm showers. There were animals and birds virtually in the rooms, but no one cared, this was the best accommodation we’d seen and boy did we need it.

That night everyone had several beers and the odd Sambuca, after all we'd earned it and tomorrow was downhill to the river. How hard could that be?

Costa Rica - Day Three

Day Three - Santa Maria to Orosi
This was the one everyone was worried about - a 45km cycle climbing 730m with a very steep 14km uphill race. We had to get up at 5am to start early (everyone was thrilled about this) otherwise the sun would be too hot and the uphill cycle would be too difficult. Basically after the 14km race we would take us to the highest point of our trip - the continental divide at 2330m.
The race went badly for our team, we broke a chain and got two punctures. We came about 5th out of 11 teams. We probably would have won it as we had one of the strongest team on the bikes. I have no photos of the race because we were all praying to God to give us strength to carry on. It took just under two hours to complete the run and for 80% of that we were in the lowest gear on the bike – pedalling like madmen but going very slowly. At the top it was perhaps unsurprisingly quite chilly and after being so hot - working so hard for two hours, several people went into shock.

In the afternoon we had some off road sections to attack, which were pretty fun. We also had the uphill challenge. For this, each team had to cycle up a very steep hill and the winning team was the one that got highest up the hill without putting their feet down. This was very hard. The track was only 500m but it was virtually vertical. The biggest struggle was getting enough air into your lungs to feed your legs. Only one person in the group of 60 made it to the top without putting their foot down. That person wasn’t from our team but we did win this event as we had the best average.

We were camping in the Orosi valley. Cold Showers again, but there were small pools feed by hot springs, which were very very welcome.

Cost Rica – Day Two

Day Two – Naranjillo to Santa Maria
More hiking  - oh my lord.

“Hike uphill all morning – very steep, hot and challenging”
We started getting injuries and several people; well maybe just me thought we were in trouble. 12km uphill to 1500m on our way to Santa Maria.

In the afternoon the biking began. But this was pretty easy only climbing 100m over 16km. You still knew you’d been cycling though. And yes there were a few bits, which no one could cycle. Steeper than it looks.

The campsite in Santa Maria was picturesque, pretty much like all of Costa Rica so far. Cold lightless showers again, although this time there was beer.

Costa Rica - Day One

I wrote a post about the journey out to Costa Rica a while back. It was the worst journey I have possibly ever made. We had been travelling for 27 hours by the time we arrived at our hotel at 1am.
We then had to get up at 5:30am to have an early breakfast and get under way. Everyone was pretty shattered but at the same time very excited by what lay ahead. Left, Dan, Tom and Mike (half of our team) show their enthusiasm.

Day One – Quepos to Naranjillo

We started our journey on the Pacific coast. So here it is. After a short spell of people sorting out their pedals and saddles we were under way.
We Biked 20km from sea level to 200m. This was from the Pacific Ocean to the edge of the mountain range that we somehow had to cross. Everyone pretty much cruised through this, eager to get on the road and get going.

This is what they told us about the afternoon:
"Afternoon hiking into the mountains of Central Costa Rica. The distance covered is not huge, but will be tough going – it’s a constant steep ascent and will be very hot."
Oh my God, they weren’t kidding. I’ve hiked a few mountains in my time and I tell you this was hard going. It was very rocky and arid, 30 degrees and very uphill. Everyone in the team was part broken by this and we all got quite worried that we hadn’t prepared enough and that this was only going to get harder. It was only 14km and I thought I was going to die. But then we had just climbed 800m in the burning sun, so maybe I was meant to be tired.

We camped at a really picturesque campsite in the tiny village of Naranjillo, eating our dinner in a covered area, used during the day by the village school. It was pretty charming although primitive, with open cold showers that were pitch black, and to top it off there was no beer! I should point out that this was a staff tent and we were in itty bitty tents.

Costa Rica Coast-to-Coast Challenge

You may have noticed that I have been doing some posts about Costa Rica. I came back from there recently after completing a seven-day cross-country challenge, raising money for the Prince’s Trust. I’ll be posting some pictures over the next week detailing what we did in the land of coffee.

Latin Lovers

How charming is this little drawing! I saw it on a farming hut on a hillside in Costa Rica. I have a fairly romantic viewpoint of love in Latin American countries, perhaps derived from the novels of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Louis de Bernières of which I’m pretty fond. Romance and passion have always seemed as much part of life there, as sunshine and coffee.

Cabin Rental Sign

This was in a remote bar on the side of a hill in Costa Rica. We stopped for lunch after cycling uphill for what felt like half my life. This is actually a cabin rental sign. It says (according to Babel Fish) “rent familiar cabins” and then “we reserve the right to refuse admission”. I like the bit stuck on the bottom (with the eye). It’s really strange. Why does it have bumps all around the edge? It’s almost like a deformed whale. Weird.

Which Way?

This great sign in Costa Rica was not at a tourist spot as you might expect, with a sign of this nature, but simply at a cross roads in the middle of nowhere…literally. They don’t really have much commercial printing or sign making in Costa Rica (lucky them) so therefore virtually everything is handmade and is pretty lo-fi.

Texas Hold Em In Costa Rica

This is a very typical early morning small town street in Costa Rica. I don’t know what this sign means. I was kinda hoping that it means there’s a Texas Hold Em game on the street, but I doubt it.

Best Men’s Toilet Sign Ever

This was in a small lay-by somewhere in Costa Rica (I have no idea where). The toilet was pretty scummy, but the little painted man was amazing. His arms join his body at the elbows, which must be inconvenient. Plus he has a very small forehead, so there cant be much brain in there. Nice big mouth though – a burrito in one bite.
There was no ladies toilet, so no painted lady sadly.