We woke up early and hit the road at around 6 am. What a difference starting early. The weather is bearable and the shadows make for comfortable riding.

AND

there is less traffic.

We passed through Tambor and came across the Tambor airport. One runway heading straight for the ocean.

You can see the gate and waiting area here.

The ride was lovely and refreshing to be able to notice the scenery.

It’s amazing to think that I am here in Costa Rica riding my bicycle.

We arrived in Paquera just in time for a cafe con leche and a brownie also a pineapple turnover.

Paquera is one of the Southern most towns on the Nicoyan Peninsula.

It seems like a small country town and we were welcomed by everyone. Some stranger came over and started to talk with us as we sipped our coffee and had our snack. He explained to us that he has glaucoma and was going to Mexico to have surgery. At least that’s what I could understand. You see he spoke no English! So from what I gathered from hand gestures and “ no entiendo” he has lived in Paquera all his life.

We also met a couple of other cyclists, one from Texas and one from Tokyo. They were travelling on the same route as we were and had stopped in Paquera for lunch before continuing on. They had pizza.

They were camping along the way and we’re travelling light. 1 small pannier.

i guess I should say that we are NOT travelling light. I have a pannier that I haven’t even opened. It has my sleeping bag, bed room, and pillow.

We had intended to camp but have decided that air conditioning and beds are a good thing.

Downtown Paquera

our accommodation was called grey house 160 which means grey house on route 160 . After a bit of looking and discussion with the host We tracked down the house and moved in.

Bob went out to get pizza.

And brought it home on his bike!

This house was clean and well equipped with a beautiful fridge, electric hot plate and coffee. The host was very thoughtful and left cold drinks and some candies for us.

The house was directly adjacent to the main route so there was significant road noise by that seemed to diminish as the evening wore on.

We had an early morning visitor on top of the ceiling of the bathroom.

It must have been the warmest place.

I think I know what was making noises in the walls.

Although we are not breaking any records or providing new insights into Costa Rica we are satisfying that need to do the things which are important to us. I’ve listened to the stories of the cyclists that we’ve met and shared our stories with others.

The thing I like most is the sharing of information without the one-up-man-ship.

i also like when perfect strangers come up and talk with us. And you can see it, or maybe I can imagine it, that they would like to be able to do something as daring, adventuresome, or interesting as travel by bike across a country.

Today while we waited for the ferry a gentleman came up to us, I think German, and questioned what we were doing. We explained that we were from Canadá and are travelling via bicycle through Costa Rica. And told him our route. He gave us a thumbs up. I really think it was more than that. Maybe we planted a seed. Maybe he will finish his vacation and pick up his bike when he gets back.

We can all be a bit more adventuresome. Just take some baby steps.