Mountain Bike Ride to Barra Honda National Park, or, Balls Out in Costa Rica

Today I went on a great bike ride with Marcos and his friend Raymond.

El equipo cycliste de Nicoya

Of course, because it{s Costa Rica, there was a mechanical breakdown and emergency roadside repair made possible by the kindness of Costa Ricans, who seem knit together by a sort of kinship expressed in the term Mae. It reminds me of the cousinage in Mali.

We saw black Howler monkeys in the trees above us. I watched them and they watched me. I love their hooting, groaning calls in the hills all around us, and this was the first time I{d seen them.

There was a lot of climbing, and sometimes I just had to walk my bike. AT one point it was so steep that Marcos had to walk, too.

We had to carry our bikes up slippery mud trails through limestone ankle twisters.

Raymond is super-strong and carried my bike up a particularly steep bit of trail for me.

We rode to Barra Honda National Park, which is famous for its underground caves, in what looks like limestone. We didn{t go in the caves, that costs $35 for a guide and it{s not always open in the rainy season, but we rode to the mirador (viewpoint) at the top. It was beautiful - the entire valley of Nicoya spread out below us, green and pastoral as England, with the Gulf of Nicoya and Isla Chira in the distance.

We came down in a torrential downpour and got soaked to the skin and beyond.


Now relaxing and watching the US - Costa Rica football game at home with Marcos and Raimond, while Cesar does a beer & BBQ run and Karo & Ernesto (the grownups) go to bed.

(And yes, I did it in Tevas.)