Costa Rica: Trippin' with GR

Man, I LOVE that she hopped off and walked across the river like it was nothing!

I'm glad I found this RR, I am planning a 10 day ride down there in April and your notes will come in very handy. Keep the report coming!

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<o>River crossing looks familiar</o>
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She’s having fun now. <o></o>
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And yes this is why we bring the Mrs,



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Keep it coming.

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Same road



This road was a blast once I shut off the ABS.

THANKS for posting this. another destination on my bucket list :)

Playa Pelada to Matapalo. 01Dec2012

First let me say: THANK YOU ALL! 800+ views and a Hot Thread star.
Now, where were we? Oh yeah, we left off at CRASH.

Ana sacked out shortly after dinner and I had enough in me for a couple of Bavarias out by the dying beach fire.

Yesterdays long trip was brought to you in part by: LOST.
Out in these parts there is a heavy lack of signage. So when we would hit an intersection the process was this:
-Did you see a sign? No.
-Can you see the back of what possibly could be a sign down that road? No
-That road? Yeah!
-Drive up to it, nothing useful.
-Turn around.
-Drive down the last remaining road option. Bingo! It says &#8220;X&#8221; town is that way.
-Fack! That town is not on the map.
- Your turn to guess honey. Then hope to see a human soon to confirm.

This was the worst case scenario, and there were many variations of it throughout the day. Some went well and others not so much. The wife did get to experience her first get off when pulling a U-turn in the gravel. I stupidly grabbed a fistful of front brake and you all know what happens next. So subtract an hour/hour + half and 10-20 kms and you get a more accurate accrual of time and distance for Day I's ride. Also, google distances were likely not off. When plotting the path from Paquera to Samara G.Earth slipped and the path vanished. I then did the "big jump&#8221; plotting and left it to us to figure out the rest.

And just like that, A.D.D. rears its ugly head; Day II. Right!

We got a late start. Very late. Since we arrived in the dark, we had to stroll the beach and soak up the beauty of our surroundings.

Playa Pelada. 09:40. We walked...


...around the bend and arrived to Downtown. Right in front of Olgas Beach Front Bar.



It was before 10:00 so it was quiet. We turned inland.



Arrived here: Pinche Lalo's Mini Super


Lalo is an extremely nice guy, speaks more English than he lets on, and super tranquilo. It is only a supermarket, but he has tables and chairs out front. He also has cold beer and Olgas was closed. 10AM, ok just one.

Fastforward: 12:16 and three beers later. We are walking back to the homestead. More Playa Pelada.


Best thing about life on the beach is roads are forgotten. Take the beach, look for the dead root section of a very large tree (far left)

... and there is the path home.


IMHO, camping on Playa Pelada is a go. It is very low key and not well known because it is overshadowed by its big brother to the north, Nosara. There aren't many waves either so the crowds flock elsewhere. Maybe throw Lalo a couple bucks to stash the bikes and huff it 50 metros to the beach??? At the end of the path above are condos and since every day to the folks inside them is Saturday, they often do fires on the beach.

Now, I have a scar or two from and . Three beers, in two hours in nothing, but better wait a while. Did I mention A.D.D? Oh look! A pool!!!


Fastforward: 15:00. Out of the pool, packed and ready to go. We grabbed a bite at Rancho Tico in Nosara Centro. Back in the saddle again! Ana says "Best arroz con mariscos ever!" (sorry no pic)


A few water crossings but didn't even get the boots wet. , they were still wet from yesterday.





Rt. 160 is in great shape and not many cars. It has been a month and a half, but digging into the memory bank, I can't remember even one? I was getting used to the gravel and the floating feeling. The wife was comfy so 70-75km/h was the cruising speed with triple digits on a few straight shots.


For old time's sake baby? She declined.


More "highway" gravel. I was really finding a groove; lock the rear, slide into the corner then hard on the gas and drift it out.


Until this!


&#8220;You better check yourself before you wreck yourself&#8221; is what I sang, and brought it down a notch.

On my handy guide I had noted a "Y" in the road to cut away from the 160. Notes/Distances being correct today we found it and were treated to a real delight to ride. Two tracks, lots of bumps, dips and even a river to cross. This road takes you off the 160, through Paraiso and San Jose Pinilla (Ref: NatGeo ADV Map for cities and the "Y" in the road coordinates are 10° 9'28.20"N - 85°47'15.68"W)

Great Road



Roughly two hours have passed and I can see the sun is beginning to drop, fast! Just past of San Jose Pinilla is tarmac, but I know we will not make it to Matapalo before dark. From the looks of things, it was shaping up to be a great sunset. I run a plan by the wife: we duck into Tamarindo to catch the sunset, please!!! She accepts, and we got one helluva show!


Perfect!




We even found the perfect vehicle for my wife!


Show is over, and all slab from here to Matapalo. Time: 18:40 and we have arrived to Cabo Velas.


FIN day II. Under 100km. We were supposed to meet our friend Daniella for a bite, but this time we both CRASHED.

Days 3 and 4 on the way!

Mind if I come along for the ride? Always good to see CR

Looks like your wife chose the same path as I did. About 2 feet in front of her is where I got stuck.

More soon...

Yes it is! Mal Pais Cabuya Rd./shortcut. "One" of the highlights from day one.

Por supuesto que SI! More teh merrier!

Thanks folks for coming along!

Days 3 an 4 to come ASAP, but the CPU took aon me. Cooling fan not functioning, blah, blah...
So this is where I am now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaH4GLDHgms.

Matapalo to Playa Langosta DAY III. R&R. 02Dec12

Re: Prev. post... Once again Youtube University saves the day from a potentially expensive, very easy CPU fix. That out of the way, time for a CR fix!
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We left off at the end of day II, roughly 19:00 and sleeping. We had made it to the town of Matapalo, Guanacaste. We stay at Cabo Velas (www.cabovelasestates.com). Now the prices here aren’t exactly “shoe string”, but one place can sleep 6 folks, all on a bed. Also, Daniela, one of the many great people involved with the establishment is a friend of mine from 2004. She and I studied in the same semester abroad program and fate would have us both relocating to CR within a few weeks of each other in Nov of 2006. The condo details are on the site so I will spare you the “It is so close to many beaches, comfortable…”. PM me if you will be stopping by. She and I have discussed a possible ADVrider “financial aid” program.
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Ana and I got an even later start to Day III. We slowly come to life and wander the few hundred meters to downtown and the local Supermercado. Time: 10:40.

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The overcast skies of the past two days have cleared up and it is typical Guanacaste weather; SMOKIN’ HOT! We hunker down in the shelter of the AC and our humble accommodations for a nice breakfast.

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Then the rest of the day is spent between the fridge, :slurp

The pool…

The hammock…

… and laundry. No need for a dryer, it’s 100+F's with a slight breeze.

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After a grueling day of R&R we saddle up for the daily, evening show. Neither Ana or I had walked on Playa Langosta so that is the venue of choice. It didn’t disappoint. Time: 17:00.




Movember is over and I had to lose the Nascar look.

End of today's sunset Show!

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From Langosta we head into Tamarindo. We are to meet with Daniela and head over to a friend of her’s place for a late dinner.
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We had some time so we grab a couple batidos and an appetizer of fried calamari. So so quality, beachfront prices.
We should have listened to Daniela and gotten fish tacos. We then sat in the center of Tamarindo waiting for “the call” from Daniela and off we went to dinner with a great bunch of fabulous people. It was an international pasta event of tourist and permanents from a wide range of coutries. Sorry no pics, I was having too much fun.
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Waiting in Downtown Tamarindo.


Day III Recap: . No real miles to speak of. I did push the bike into the shade. Maybe 20 kms and 50 yards.

Hasta tomorrow for the fourth and final day. I do promise some seat time on the next instalment.

Matapalo to Alajuela 03Dec12

On this day we were well rested and got an early start. We took the main, but gravel, route into Santa Cruz. Sorry to be negative, but I would have preferred pavement. This section is 3 lanes wide and there are way too many cars, driving way too fast on washboard gravel. When they pass, they get as close as they can, you can hear everything rattling to pieces on their car and then you see nothing as you are engulfed in their dust trail. Try and pick up the pace? They do too and machismo takes over, male or female. They block, swerve and speed up to make damn sure nothing gets by them. I guess they assume I am on a little 125cc? So, sorry, no pics and I will find back roads for the next trip.

Did I mention we started early? The dust rally is behind us and we have made it to the "Friendship Bridge" donated to the Costa Rican govt. by Taiwan and finished in 2003. A few years later the CR govt. slapped Taiwan in the face and jumped into bed with China.
Time: 08:19


After the bridge we planned on taking the first right (NatGeo Map) and were going to follow the coast into Colorado. We found the road, but ended up at some type of factory with excavators everywhere. The guards came out promptly to tell us "no hay paso". I sense shenanigans and that they were doing bad around the bend because this seemed like a public road, it was the only road and my map shows it going all the way through. Anyhow, spun around asked a few locals how to get there. One said on the road we were just on and many others were just guessing base on their body language. We continued on driving down any road we could find. Most looked like this:


After almost 2 hours we gave up and headed back to the pavement and cruised the main route to Colorado. I will find this route someday, attacking it from the other direction.

Time: 10:11 Arrive Colorado


If you want fresh fish/seafood, this is the place. We picked up 2kgs of jumbo shrimp.

Now we were on the intended route; non paved and no traffic. We stayed as close to the coast as possible.



After a while I had to relive myself and as I was doing so Ana found this. She says it is an “elefante” but I don’t believe her. It is way too small.


Back on the bike and back to the scenery. This area is known as the "Costa de Pajaros".



One of my wife’s many family members lives on the coast here so we stopped in for a quick break. It wasn’t quick, but we had a fantastic fish lunch. After that we had to rearrange the luggage, turn the trunk into a cooler to keep the shrimp we bought and the fish we were given cold for the 2+/- hr run home.

Time: 16:44 and we are home.


Summary: 4 days. I lost count of the number of river crossings. We got lost a few times. Stuck mainly to gravel roads. Relaxed, drank beer and watched sunsets. Total mileage, in kilometers was 611 and I broke in a brand spanking new pair of boots.


Thanks for riding along. More Rides to come, but the next thread is likely to be a "Pre '96 DR650 Overhaul" thread.:eek1

Hasta el proximo RIDE compañeros!

Hey Greg,

I just stumbled across your RR. Excellent job!!!

I've been in the Nicoya peninsula a few times and it's always great time (including the getting lost bits! ). I've made some notes of the ways you went, so these will be nice to check next time I'm up there. Actually, I plan to join again the BMW's "Vuelta de la Peninsula" trip in mid-March - it was lots of fun last year. 4 days mostly offroad. It'll be a good opportunity to try out the new big bore.

I'm tied up until end or March, but we should try to set up a ride somewhere after that. I'll send you a PM when I get back.

Safe riding!
-Steeve

I love the magic of ADVRider! Connecting people around the world!

I too live in Costa Rica, but we met thru JDowns'RR (http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=831076), when John stayed at Greg's place and they both came by my place for a quick visit.

ADVRider is indeed an amazing community! Too bad a have a full time job!

Chicas mucho gusto hombres con motos!!!
Seriously Greg I am always looking for more ride reports on CR and every time I like it more and more. We vacationed down there in 2010 for 10 days and had a blast driving all over the Nicoya peninsula. Can’t wait to go back!!

I leave tomorrow for San Isidro area, taking parts for my 300 and some warm water wax. Be glad to buy you paisanos a beer or take you on a trail ride

Thanks Greg for the nice write-up - who says you're not a writer? I think you are descriptive, engaging
and concise - it's what the people want! Good job.

Also, it was nice to see you and J Downs hookup as I read in his trip down south. I'd love to get down that
way one day but it will have to wait. I agree with Free Radical, it doesn't suck being you!

Last, wanted to say Latin women are pretty amazing as in "pretty AND amazing" so smart move there -
mine's from Guadalajara so you know ella tiene ojos bonitos.

Thank you for reading. Like you need another excuse: great kite surfing on the North end of Lake Arenal!