Costa Rica, english

In the first hour of this country monkeys have given us a very pleasant welcome sign. There is definitely the North American influence on the west coast of the country. The cities are much cleaner and more complete. It’s the place to buy quality bicycle parts but labour is not good. If you are able to do it by yourself, make yourself happy and keep your bike in shape. Playa Del Coco is one of the beautiful destinations; it is located on the Nicoya Peninsula. It is very relaxed but we have the opportunity to observe monkeys and beautiful birds less than 10 feet away. Fantastic!
Dirty road to the periphery of the peninsula discouraged us to venture. We therefore proceeded towards the capital San José. The first one hundred kilometers were too easy! The crossing from West to East is more than just hills, one of which was more than 35 km uphill to reach San Ramon. The ascent would be not that difficult except for the absence of a shoulder and constant buses and big trucks. We even had the chance to do it in the rain, memorable.
Down to Puerto Limon we pass through a rain forest. It's majestic! It is green everywhere, trees are huge and some leaves as big as an adult. We made a stop in the Braulio Carillo National Park; unfortunately the vegetation is so dense that it is difficult to observe animals. We have still found 2 sloths and a few toucans. Then our little luckiest one, a small ant eater next to us for several minutes. This route segment is very pleasant, little traffic, it is surrounded by vegetation, the forest life is really loud and the mountain view is simply wonderful. Big blow of heart!
The Caribbean coast is very different, there is the Jamaican influence. The population is very dark black. The atmosphere is also different and Limon city is very dirty and has really extremely high crime rate. The Cahuita National Park however is a good stop. The range is lined with a fairly populated forest, monkeys, reptiles and others that we do like a little less.

RETURN PATH

What strange encounters sometimes! It came to the time of dinner, the time to find a quiet corner to break bread; an American has stopped us to go by his home. Special guy, a former Olympic wrestler, he would have even fought with Chuck Norris! Very nice, we slept there and he introduced us to the Mamon Chino (same family as the leeches). Road is good up to Dominical, then there is a long segment in the dirt, should I say in shit. The famous rainy season. More than a month with only rainy days. Normally it rains just a small period of time during the day but we experienced 3 days virtually without stopping. The climate is already very wet and heavy here is therefore nothing to improve things. Our bicycles seem to weigh 8 tonnes. We were intending to make the beach, take our time but Costa Rica is very Americanized and they have virtually protected throughout the territory by the national park designation. Then everywhere you must pay an entrance, and our restricted budget does not allow for several tourist attractions of this country. We must however keep in mind that we cannot see everything.
Surprise! Mundial of surf in Jaco. Not just a little bit of people. The city was full to the brim; it was a little difficult to find a place to camp.
After the crowd bath, we went to Puntarenas take the ferry to the peninsula. This time we do it all, go get the dirty road! What an idea... The beaches are not bad but still once quite dangerous to bathe. Max had a sinusitis since 1 month well done clean respiratory tract in having fun in the water and is no longer sick! It is still made surprise, roads are not full of shit and they go up and down without stopping. There we repeatedly push our bikes, what a test.
Under the ardent sun and humidity the hardest times that we lived through. One day we have to cross 3 rivers, it involves removing all our panniers therefore going back and forth four times each. There is one in particular we scored. We began to cross with water when it was calf-high and it finished 20 minutes later almost up to mid thigh. A bit later and it would have been impossible to cross. A Quebecois living there in recent years told us we were lucky not to see crocodiles at our crossing. It was enough; we took up the true road.