Barra Honda -> Limonal -> La Fortuna de Bagaces (by car)

From Barra Honda we rode northeast to the ferry across the Rio Tempisque, and continued to Limonal where we met Quincho.

We racked the bikes and climbed into his car to head to La Fortuna de Bagaces to visit his brother and our friend, Climaco. We spent a lot of time in Fortuna visiting with friends, making new ones and practicing our Spanish.

We also spent a day with Climaco visiting two Nicaraguan brothers and their father who work a cattle ranch on the slopes of Volcan Miravalles. The brothers offered to take us to a waterfall in the jungle and we never say no to an offer like that. Climaco asked how far it was and they said about a kilometer if we went the short way and two if we went around. We opted for the short route, which turned out to be straight up a slope so steep you could reach out and touch it without bending over.

After nearly an hour of the three of us sliding and clawing our way up behind our guides who climbed like goats while simultaneously swinging their machetes to clear a path, they announced that we were almost there. Climaco wryly commented that Nicaraguan kilometers were a lot longer than Costa Rican kilometers. It was the longest kilometer I had ever climbed as well, but I think the difference in perception centered more on our fourtyish legs versus our guides teenage ones, than differences in nationality. Standing under the catarata and letting the sweet tasting water pound the stiffness out of my muscles and scrub the sweat off my body was worth the climb.

We did some riding around the area and took a day trip by car to Playa Conchal to visit our old friend Roiner at his new job at the Melia resort.

After a few days Quincho returned to Heredia by car taking our mutual friend Marina and her eighty year old mother to the airport along the way. It would be their first time in a plane and when they arrived in New Jersey their first visit to the United States. We set out by bicycle on jeep roads north between Volcans Miravalles and Rincon de la Vieja.

There were times when we felt like adventurers, but having been to New Jersey once, I’m not sure who’s adventure was more intrepid.