2nd day on the Bike - La Fortuna to San Jose

27FEB09
Although it comes with the room, and Ernesti was disappointed, I opted not to breakfast at the hostel but rather to get on the road. I don't know if there are more guests during high season, but I cannot imagine how the restaurant, much less the hostel, stays open. The only guests I saw were two other couples.
Passing through town I found one of the 'other' hostels (there were several, ranging from one side of 'you gotta be kidding me' to the other) about 500m from town towards the volcano with a pool, hammocks and the underlying current of excitment I'd wanted. For 14$ a night dorm. Next time.

Knowing the southerly route was impassible, I took the paved road around the north side of Laguna Arenal past, ah, Arenal, Tilaran, and, after some horrible dirt roads that would have made trail or trial riding seem comfortable, finally Mesa Verde, where I stopped for coffee. This is a bad habit of mine not to stop as frequently as I could/should to savor my surroundings and maybe meet some of the people. In MV (Santa Elena, actually) I took coffee with a German couple. The opener was a (hopeully) humorous remark on my part that he was sitting in a quaint cafe in an out of the way village in Costa Rica with a beautiful (truely) woman and had his eyes glued to his IPHONE!!! They did laugh, and he confessed he was trying to spool back up so that returning to 'civilization' tomorrow wouldn't be such a shock. I shared my philosophy that if all the animals and/or people aren't moving in the same direction in a big hurry then the news can wait. He'd cracked an ankle kiteboarding on their first day in (two weeks ago) and been hobbled since. Made me think about medical insurance for these trips again.
After coffee I continued on the marginally better dirt road towards the coast. At one point I was treated to the most vivid and vibrant rainbow I've ever seen - and it was BELOW me! I felt I could walk out onto it and slide down to the valley floor. But what would I do with the bike?
On the Pan American Hiway for a short while I reflected on Danny Liska's trip through here in the 60's, and how these trees and macadam were probably the same ones he rode by and on. Probably hit the same pothole.
At Puntarenas I dropped down along the beach, taking just a moment to visit the black sand playa and marvel at an old 4 masted sailing ship. There was also a little toddler with her mom and aunt taking sun. Again I made mileage with the hard candy. This costal road is under construction to take pressure off the PanAmerican and we were cued up at several points. Bikes to the front, anyway you can! Around cars, over the excavated roadbed, etc. Wound up in a group of BMW R1200GS riders from NY and CA heading south. One had been robbed at gunpoint in Managua, confirming that city's history to me. At Orotina I cut south on a two lane towards Santiago and, hell, I don't know. I wound up having lunch at a thatched hut roadside sopa where I got rice, chicken, a drink and some salad for 4 bucks.
I also crossed a one lane, wood planked suspension bridge! Video on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HRyp8fQK14

Back into San Jose I was on a major artery approaching from the southwest, and as traffic thickened up I got more interested in the manner by which the other scooters dealt with it. Like the construction zone there if there were no barriers then everywhere was fair game just don't hit anyone and don't get hit. Simple rules. Around, between, gutter, dirt - just filter to the front until you couldn't go any further and stop. When the traffic moves again go for another entrance into another channel between the cars/trucks and keep moving. Seemed to work well, no animosity, and at the low speeds everyone was moving, a low chance of accidents.

Thomas was at the shop, I turned in the bike (for an additional 20$ off because of the brake), walked back to Bekuo and, you guessed it, went to sleep like the old man I am.