Here we are again, cycling through Costa Rica. We were lucky last night to find a simple but charming little cabana which even had air conditioning! We were so tired that we went to bed early and woke at first light. We ate a couple plantains, packed our stuff, I put on my still wet biking clothes and hit the road. It is definitely better to get out early because afternoons get so hot.

There are so many palm farms in this area. This field of young plans caught our eye because it was so pretty.

Today, our goal was to reach the beach. The ride started out fairly smooth but after a while we were going  up and down hills again, not bad ones but enough to make you work.

Eliza spotted some great coconuts by the road

This pretty field was across the street, and the cow didn’t give us much of a look,

Pretty coconut tree

There has been a lot of traffic on the roads at times, and a lot of big trucks. Thankfully they are polite and move over when they pass. For a while the roads were heavily patched and bumpy in places, but later we had great roads, smooth and wide enough for everyone.

We continue to pass palm farms, some beautiful and tall, and others green and open with young trees.

Elza’s sharp eyes spot some huge mangos on a tree.

There were only a couple usable mangoes on the ground but they made a delicious snack for us

Elsa goes for a panoramic shot

When we pedal in to Coronado, Oso, we know we are getting closer to our goal of the beach. This beautiful river runs into the ocean not far from here.

This is the view as we cross the bridge into Coronado, Oso

We spend a bit of time in Coronado at the Movistar office. I bought a chip for my iPad with some internet time, but my tablet was showing no service for a while. I could get an explanation for how much data or time I had bought so I figured I might be out of time. The poor gal at the shop had such a hard time! They can deal with phones, but they don’t know how to recharge a tablet that doesn’t make phone calls. Finally after another guy did something on his phone, and we put the chip in her phone to call it in, the put the chip back in my tablet, things were working again! But even then as we pedaled along Internet has been very spotty. It works in some places, but unfortunately hasn’t been working where we spent the night last night or tonight.

So anyway, we we’re finally on our way after losing some valuable cooler morning time. The terrain seemed to change now with less farms, more natural areas but vegetation that was generally shorter than it had been before. The road was very nice and fairly flat for a while too.

We pedal on going west towards the beaches

After 2 1/2 hours of peddling and not much breakfast we figured we should stop for a break and something to eat. Elsa got out her nifty little beer can stove, mashed some papaya we had picked up with some plantains, cooked it with some oatmeal and it was really good. As she was cooking though we heard a pop and a whoosh and my front tire blew out, just sitting three in the grass, for no apparent reason! Thank goodness though, rather than when I was sailing down some hill.

I spent part of break time patching and changing the inner tube.

We didn’t spot any wonderful break spots by rivers or other scenic spots so we decided to just use this spot under some big trees.

Elsa spots some likely papaya trees along the road

We did find a couple fallen fruits that look like they will be ready tomorrow. Then, we pedaled on but it was getting into the afternoon, and it was getting seriously hot. I was starting to feel very wilted and we hadn’t been able to inflate the tire to full pressure so it was hard going. I made it up the smaller hills but walked any of the bigger ones.

We finally pulled in to Playa Tortuga and that was as far as I was going to go for the day!! Today was only 35 miles but it felt like as much as the other 50 mile days. We were lucky to find a nice cabana though, and after a cold shower, a few liters of water, and a bit of rest I was feeling more like myself. We set off in search of air for the tire so we could fully inflate it, and then we went to the beach.

There is no internet here so I am writing off line again, and now it is late and I am going to bed! The beach was lovely though and there will be pictures coming soon.

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