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Coast to Coast in Costa Rica

© Suzanne Wade

The sweat was running down my back as I tried to pedal up the small incline in Costa Rica. What was I thinking? My husband and I had voluntarily signed up to cross Costa Rica using only bikes, our feet and kayaks. It sounded like so much fun when we called about it, and here it was, day one into the trek, and I was wondering whether I could go on. We didn't train hard for this adventure. I was used to being a middle of the pack person and not having to many problems, but we were the only clients on this particular trip.

It all started out so wonderfully. We flew into San Jose and were met by our guide Fernando. He was a tri-athlete from Argentina, and would be taking us through the trip. He got us settled at a wonderful bed and breakfast for the night, and promised to meet us at 6 the next evening. The day was ours to explore San Jose. We went to the fascinating flea markets and visited a beautiful museum full of pre-Columbian art. The weather was on the warm side, but such a treat from our snow covered town of Ellensburg, WA, we didn't mind a little heat---at the time. Now, as I forced the pedals around one more revolution, I really minded the heat.

Thinking back to the night we met Fernando and one of the owners of the company (Brenda) we happily signed the requisite waivers of liability. Such an American thing to do. Fernando informed us that he'd pick us up the next day, and we would fly to the pacific side of the country and stay near Manual San Antonio Park. We would have the whole day there to explore the park. I hoped to catch a glimpse of a sloth, or possibly some iguanas. The flight over was uneventful, although there seemed to be a lot of confusion at the airport. Luckily we had Fernando, who sailed us right through. We arrived at our hotel, Tres Banderas, and were pleased to find very lovely accommodations and a full size pool. It was a little sticky here near the ocean. Perhaps a breeze would pick up-or perhaps not. We explored the beach and the park,. White-faced monkeys mocked the tourists and there were plenty of iguanas, although this was not my day to see a sloth. We had ahi sandwiches and plenty of cold beer. We ate well that day, for the next day we would get on our trusty mountain bikes and begin the adventure

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