Day 314 Thursday 8 Feb San Jose to Dominical Beach 207km

It took most of the morning to turn our Bad-Luck around, but I am happy to report that The KTM Train is back on its tracks. I am writing this blog sitting at a beach bar named Tortilla Flats, with a Margarita in my hand and some serious Reggae playing.

This morning we split into 2 groups, Pie and Tex set off in the traffic back to Pie’s bike to find the electrical fault, and Milsy, Rocky and I went to sort out Rockies Tyre at a place down the road. I gave my new tyre to Rocky and it was fitted. His old tyre will be used in an emergency with a tube, and on the next trip he will bring me a new tyre, it looks like mine will make it to Quito in Ecuador.

Look at the watch worn by this Tyre Repair Shops owner:

It looks real, but it is brand I don’t recognise.

After we got Rockie’s wheel back on his bike we checked out of the hotel and rode the 40km to where Pie’s bike was being fixed, fighting our way through the traffic, which was hectic due to all the roadworks and bridges being built. It was such fun to ride in the traffic with so many local bikers who showed us all the tricks to get through the traffic (riding on the pavement and in the oncoming lane is 100% acceptable here.

When we got to the shop an hour later Pie’s bike had been fixed but we decided to spend some time there and having all the little jobs on the bikes attended to. So the Wiring for Milsy’s new GPS was done, the problem with Milsy’s front tyre slowly losing air through the spokes was fixed with putting some Gorilla Snot in the tyre, and Rocky’s bike got a new globe for the headlight as he only had brights.

As Dad-Ass and Tex’s bikes had no problems we sat next door and had some local “Sock Coffee” and the lady also made sandwiches which she toasted using fresh rolls with a variety of items on. Sadly I relied on my pointing at the options and ended up with some grated carrots on my ham and cheese sandwich, but it still tasted very nice as she makes her own garlic-chilly-mayo.

At 14h00 we hit the road. We chose the Mountain route and not the coastal road which turned out a big success. The road started very busy and we climbed up to 1800m stuck behind busses and trucks, and with the road so twisty overtaking was almost impossible. At 1800m we were covered in the clouds and had very poor visibility, but at 2000m we broke through the mist above the clouds and continued to climb up to 3350m where it was 12 degrees, and we went through sunny patches and then rainy patches and some windy patches, but we had now left the traffic behind the slowest truck and had clear road ahead of us, it was twisty and we were in high spirits, the bikes were running again and I was confident that we have left our troubles behind us. There was no shoulder on the road so stopping to take a photo of the forrest was impossible, but it was something spectacular with lots of vines growing between and connecting the trees. Tarzan swinging through the trees would not have looked out of place. Every now and then we passed through sections where I think the farmers we saw walking with their gumboots on must stay. Fruit is also in abundance and I saw the biggest bananas I have ever seen being sold next to the road which I will have to taste next time if it is safe to stop and buy some.

We rode through a National Park at the very top of the mountain at 3350m and saw many hikers walking along the road waiting for a lift back to their hotels after opening the day hiking in the mountains. Many busses and tourist and places to stop to buy curious and coffee.

Every time we stopped people would walk up to us and ask to have their photo taken with us or photos of them next to our bikes, we felt like real celebrities. The people are very friendly and apart from just being able to say our names to each other, no other communication can happen as we have no way of communicating, so its just friendly smiles and lots nodding.

Last night we spent some time re-packing our bikes and just checking what was hidden on the bike that we had hidden at the bottom of a pannier or curried under some spares, Milsy discovered his Face Mozzi net from when we were in Alaska plus his flag, which he insisted on wearing to dinner.

These FJ 40’s are very common in Costa Rica and we saw several of them today. In South Africa these would sell for R300 000-00 each as Toyota never imported them to South Africa and only a handful were brought in from Australia.

And so ends another day which makes me realise why we continue to do what we are doing in spite of some days when I feel the time has come to stop.

Tomorrow we ride to Drake Bay to spend some time in a Rain Forrest Resort hiking between Jaguars, Lemurs and Sloths, with plenty of parrots and waterfalls, or, we stay another day here and go scuba diving, who knows, time will tell, life is good again, very good.

Luv Ja All

Fleisch