Day 3 – First Day on the Santa Cruz

I woke up early this morning only to find Anna had already gotten up. She was walking on the beach. I went down and met her on the way back from her little exploration. It’s still so crazy to see the sun come up here bright and full of life by 5:15am. I believe it starts to rise a little before 5am. You just can’t help but want to get up and start the day.

We had done quite a bit of traveling over the last few days and didn’t take out the bikes until this morning. Ashley got his put together pretty quickly. I on the other hand had some technical difficulties with the pedals. But, we got the on after a bit and then decided to grab some breakfast, before saddling up and heading to Mal Pais.

The road we were going on today was the same one Anna, the kids, and I stayed on when we last visited Cabuya, back in 2011. It’s a pretty easy grade for the first 500 yards or so and then it goes straight up. And did I say it goes straight up? Cause these roads have some serious grades. For me, these were the steepest uphill and downhill roads I have ever been on with my bike – period!

We left and rode the gravel straight across the Nicoya Penisula to Mal Pais. There we took a right and headed into Santa Teresa. I stopped back by where we were in 2011, but the place wasn’t open yet. However, we ended up finding a neat bakery in the town and had some smoothies and a beer.

Back on the bike and we headed back through Santa Teresa to Cobano. From there we headed through Cobano and took a right to Montezuma. We continued on until finally getting back to the lodge at around 11:30am. Boy – that was a pretty hard right and I do not believe I have ever sweated so much in a short amount of time. The humidity here is high and can seem oppressive.

Anna greeted us upon arrival. I hit the bar and got a Coke and Imperial immediately. Ashley headed back to Cabin 5 for a quick rinse. I decide to wash off in the outside shower – bike spandex and all! It was amazing! The cool water just seemed to douse all heat trapped in this old body. I downed the coke in a matter of about 20 seconds and then totally enjoyed the shit out of the Imperial.

All cleaned up and Anna and I headed to Cabona to fill up on gas and grab some groceries. Ashley stayed back at the cabin and checked his eyelids for holes. When we got back Anna, Ashley, and I were off for some grub. We ended up eating at a new place, which was located right across from Café Coyote, named Cabuya Restaurant and Bar. Eyes were pretty big today. Needless to say, the boys were very famished. Ashley ordered a BBQ Chicken Pizza. Anna got a chocolate encrusted fish with rice – phenomenal!! I had a few sushi rolls and a chicken with rice dish. All of it was very tasty and Ashley ate the pizza for the remainder of the evening.

After Lunch-Inner, we toured around Cabuya and headed to Cabo Blanco Nature Park just to show Ashley where we would be hiking in the morning. We didn’t stay long and headed back to spend the rest of the evening at the lodge. Papa went to Super Chicos for some Absolut Vodka and Mama ordered us some pineapple smoothies to make some mixers. YUMMY!!!