Update Day 12, 378 Miles

January 22, 2008

Today was not very exciting yet still a good day like they all have been so far. I left the hotel in La Cruz Costa Rica and headed south toward San Jose, the capital. The roads were straight and fast with a lot of wind. To take a quote from Seinfeld and to make it fit my situation, "The wind was angry this day my friends. Like an old man sending back soup at a deli". I have a lot of time on my hands so bear with me a little. I get into San Jose and the main highway runs straight through the center of town but on streets not on a freeway. I miss my turn so I pull over to check my map. Before I even get off my bike a car has pulled in behind me and the gentleman is approaching me. He asks in perfect English if I am lost and need help. I tell him I think I missed my turn a few hundred yards back and he confirms that I did. He then proceeds to tell me he will take me to a better route and to follow him. He goes, I assume out of his way, a few miles and then sends me on my way. It was not the best marked way but after asking a few more times I was out of San Jose and heading south again. Once out of San Jose the road starts to climb and climb. I would keep pulling over to take a picture of the altitude on the GPS thinking I was at the top but it kept going up. I was not able to see very far because I was in the cloud forest as I believe they are called. When I finally reached the top I was at 10,973 ft and a cool 43 degrees. At the very top there was some construction which held up traffic. I cruise to the front of the line and when they let us proceed I am the first one and have a clear road all the way to the bottom to have my way with. Needless to say I had fun.

As I am nearing the border of Panama it is close to dark so I decide it is time to find a place to sleep instead of trying to cross the border. I see a sign for The Rain Forest Hotel and it says it is 7km off the road. I follow the dirt road down and go a little bit faster than I should because it is just more fun that way. I finally reach the hotel and ask how much for a room. He tells me $135 and I politely tell him no thank you. I think it turned out for the best anyway. As I was walking back to the bike I hear what an actual rain forest sounds like and there is no way I would have fallen asleep with all that damn racket! Now it is back to the road but now I need to go a little bit faster because it is getting darker. I make it to the next town and find a hotel. I get the room with air conditioning for $18 and it is a nice room. I go back to the bike to unload it and before I even get one bag off a guy walks up and asks if he can give me a beer if I will tell him about my trip. So the next 4 or 5 hours are spent with my new best friend in the world, his wife and a bunch of their beer. They are from Canada and flew in a few days earlier and are touring around for two weeks. It was a nice end to another good day.