With the crystal, clear blue water and white sand of Mexico's caribbean coast still fresh in our minds, we left Guatemala City bound for Costa Rica. Despite having spent 8 hours waiting at Miami airport for our connection to Costa Rica, we arrived in San Jose late and looking forward to getting to the coast as quickly as possible. The next day saw us take a four hour bus ride to Puerto Viejo, the capital of Caribbean lounging in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, the first few beaches we saw looked terrible but with a free upgrade in bungalow size and the promise of much better beaches a short bike-ride away, we were very happy. We spent a few hours in our large, private wooden bungalow (with large deck, table and hammock) before heading into to town for a bite to eat.
A WORD OF WARNING: when hiring a bike in Costa Rica, take the first bike you're given and don't whinge about a little wobble on the back wheel.... Pete did. As a result of the whinge, the following events brightened the rest of our week.- Loose handlebars meant that a little too much weight would send me into 1960s racing mode
- A broken basket frame continually rubbed against the tread on the front wheel.
- A flat tire 5 kms from home
- Dodgy tire replacement from 'the apprentice' meant that 9km from home, the chain started slipping off the back cog every 100 metres.
We basically walked further with the bike than we rode it.
Despite the above hiccups, it was fantastic jumping on the bikes every morning and heading to Punta Uva (Grape Point) beach where we found the beautiful water and sand that we were looking for. We spent a very relaxing 5 days here before heading back to San Jose to take a flight to Mexico City (via Dallas, TX).
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